Male and female genital cutting among Southern Thailand’s Muslims: rituals, biomedical practices, and local discourses

Merli, C.

Abstract

This paper explores how local people in a province in southern Thailand perceive the practice of male and female genital cutting. In order to understand the importance placed on these practices, a comparison is drawn between the two and also between the male circumcision and the Buddhist ordination of monks as rites of passage. Discourses on the exposure or concealment of male and female bodies, respectively, witness to the relevance of both the local political-historical context and biomedical hegemony to gendered bodies. The comparisons evince the need to reflect upon the theoretical and ethical implications of studying genital cutting and focusing exclusively on one of the two practices rather than, as this paper claims to be necessary, considering them as inextricably connected.

Citation

Merli, C. (2010). Male and female genital cutting among Southern Thailand’s Muslims: rituals, biomedical practices, and local discourses. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 12(7), 725-738. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691051003683109

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Mar 29, 2010
• Deposit Date: May 12, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 14, 2014
• Journal: Culture, Health & Sexuality
• Print ISSN: 1369-1058
• Electronic ISSN: 1464-5351
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 725-738
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13691051003683109
• Keywords: Southern Thailand, Male circumcision, Female genital cutting.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1548213