Female circumcisionThe World Health Organization defines female circumcision as “a procedure involving the partial or total removal of the external genitalia for cultural, religious or non-therapeutic (1)”. It is commonly practiced by Muslims in Africa and various parts of the Middle East. According to Loretta Kopelman, more than 80 million women have undergone some variation of this procedure. Female circumcision is classified into three types: The first type is the complete or partial removal of the clitoris, the second type completely removes the clitoris along with part of the labia minora, and the third type is known as infibulation, the stitching closure of the vulva leaving only a hole large enough for urine and menstrual blood to pass, after removal of the clitoris, labia minora and most of the labia majora (Kopelman, 221 ). Should female circumcision be considered a cultural practice, or should it be considered a crime, regardless of cultural views? The article Female Genital Mutilation: Crime or Culture addresses the concerns shared by many people around the world regarding this abhorrent practice. This procedure, which is common practice for most Muslims and some Christians in Africa and other parts of the Middle East, is mostly considered unacceptable and a violation of the rights of girls and women that can potentially have lasting physical and emotional consequences. Physical consequences can include infection and death, not to mention the pain felt during the procedure, which takes place without anesthesia. On the emotional side, being circumcised as a woman removes any pleasure a woman might derive from sexual intercourse. This makes the woman an object controlled by a man. The supporters of excision...... middle of paper......o never finished. For cultures that depend on paying dowry for their daughters, it is a way to charge more, it ensures purity, which will pay more when the girl marries (Kopelman, 219). The concept of cultural relativism protects these cultures from judgment, but the ethnocentrism of other cultures, particularly the United States, makes it difficult not to judge this practice.ReferencesDefinition used by the World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en. Kolody, C. (2014). Female genital mutilation: crime or culture. HuffingtonPost. Accessed online at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carina-kolodny/female-genital-mutilation_4_b_4734728.htmlKopelman, LM (2000). 15: Female genital circumcision and conventionalist ethical relativism. In , Globalizing Feminist Bioethics (p. 219). Perseus Books, LLC.