While at first blush the protection of cultural diversity...

While at first blush the protection of cultural diversity seems like a worthy cause to support for many of us, there are much deeper implications than the prima facie faà §ade multiculturalism suggests. Instead, there is a â€Å"deep and growing tension† (Okin,1999; p10) between the ideals of feminism and those concerned with the protection of cultural rights. This tension is exacerbated when the protection of those rights safeguards the continuation of practices such as female genital cutting (FGC) in the name of ‘culture’ and ‘tradition.’ Every culture is dynamic, complex, and rich in its own ways. However when cultures come together and interact there are inevitably tensions and one such tension is centred on gender and gender norms. In this†¦show more content†¦For this reason I will again turn to Okin (1999) to describe a claim made in the name of cultural rights and â€Å"in the context of basically liberal democracies† (p10) th at â€Å"minority cultures or ways of life are not sufficiently protected by the practice of ensuring the individual rights of their members, and as a consequence these should also be protected through special group rights or privileges† (p11). This claim is at the forefront of many contemporary discussions around cultural group rights and even more specifically the claim that groups, â€Å"even the illiberal ones that violate their individual members’ rights, requiring them to conform to group beliefs or norms- have the right to be â€Å"left alone† in a liberal society† (Okin, 1999; p11). The latter is the claim I will be arguing against using the case study of FGC as an example of why torture is not culture and therefore should not be â€Å"left alone.† In the spirit of clarifying terminology I would also like to defend my use of the term ‘female genital cutting’ (FGC). While the World Health Organization (2013) uses the commensurable term ‘female genital mutilation’ (FGM), I feel that the use of the word ‘mutilation’ carries a strong negative connotation and is needlessly inflammatory, instantly slanting perceptions towards a negative viewpoint. While the term ‘cutting’ isn’t free from these undesirable undertones, it is more of a technical term to describe the actual procedures that take place. While it could be