NY Times Health Editor: The term 'genital mutilation' is culturally insensitive

quote:

---

According to New York Times Health Editor Celia Dugger, journalists shouldn't be using the term "female genital mutilation" to describe female genital mutilation. Her reasoning? It's culturally insensitive, so watered down terms should be used instead. From Fox News:

Health and Science editor Celia Dugger said she came to the conclusion to refer to the act of removing the female genitalia of young girls as “genital cutting” during a trip to Africa in the 1990s. She spoke about her decision in a Times mailbag article in response to a reader’s question.

“I never minced words in describing exactly what form of cutting was involved, and there are many gradations of severity, and the terrible damage it did, and stayed away from the euphemistic circumcision, but chose to use the less culturally loaded term, genital cutting,” Dugger wrote. “There’s a gulf between the Western (and some African) advocates who campaign against the practice and the people who follow the rite, and I felt the language used widened that chasm.”

The reason young girls are subjected to the horrific practice of genital mutilation centers on culture and religion, specifically in Africa and predominantly Muslim countries.

---