Torture vs. Culture
Ms. is an American feminist magazine that began publishing in 1971 and remains publishing on topics that revolve around feminist issues. In the July/August 1996 issue of Ms., the headlining news article is titled “Fleeing Mutilation, Fighting for Asylum” written by Sheryl McCarthy. Pictured on this page, the article follows the story of seventeen year old Fauziya Kasinga (left) who fled Togo to escape having her genitals cut before her arranged marriage. Upon arrival to the U.S, she turned herself into the immigration office asking for asylum on the grounds of fearing gential cutting. She was then imprisoned for months on end waiting for her hearing, stating she would rather be in jail in America than back in Togo facing the procedure she has tried to escape [4]. Written by a white female activist and published during the time the Clinton administration passed the Genital Mutilation Act of 1996, Ms. magazine portrays the uninformed and sensationalized narrative of genital cutting within popular press.
McCarthy refers to gential cutting as female genital mutilation and by using the term “mutilation” implies that all young women are being forcibly tortured by their parents decision follow through with the procedure [5]. McCarthy's use of the term "mutilation" sharpens the white women's need to be the prime activist on female genital cutting by referring to it as a torturous proceedure that non-White women need protection from.
Within the article, McCarthy interviews Nancy Kelly, co-founder of the Women Refugees Project in Massachusetts, who argues that Kasinga’s experience represents what is wrong with the American immigration system more generally; women do not experience the same level of justice as men [6]. Again, by referencing Kelly, McCarthy hones a narrative that white women need to advocate for women at risk of gential cutting from the American legal system and protect women from returning to the countries they are seeking asylum from.
Sensationalization of African cultural practices is seen when popular press’ such as Ms. state that the only purpose of gential cutting is to repress and withhold independence from the women who are exposed to genital cutting. Written and advocated by white women, Ms. uses the case study of Kasinga to exploit the argument that African women need to be protected by white women activists instead of allowing Kasinga to become a role model for escaping genital cutting in her own right.