Female Genital Cutting in American Foreign Policy – Proposal for Harm Reduction

Authors

• Charlotte Racine, Bates CollegeFollow

Abstract

Female Genital Cutting/Mutilation (FGC/M) has gained international attention as an issue of human rights and violence against women and girls. The United States, as a leading world power, has openly opposed its practice and actively condemns it in communities and countries of the Global South, yet it fails to oppose or condemn as staunchly identical procedures within its borders. The simultaneous condemnation of FGC when it occurs in “undeveloped” countries and acceptance of American procedures like cosmetic genital modification surgeries, male circumcision, and “corrective” surgeries on intersex infants produces a narrative of cultural superiority and imperialism that harms the international community as a whole. Rather than condoning FGC, we critique American framing of the issue: this policy proposal suggests shifting American foreign policy’s focus from the eradication of FGC as a serious human rights violation to the medicalization of FGC to reduce harm while still acknowledging both the validity of non-Western cultures and the validity of the trauma experienced by survivors. Implementing a medicalized FGC foreign policy would not only help promote the health of women and girls internationally, but also show the United States’ opposition to narratives of coloniality and American exceptionalism.

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Recommended Citation

Racine, Charlotte (2026) "Female Genital Cutting in American Foreign Policy – Proposal for Harm Reduction," Bates College Journal of Political Studies: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 13.
Available at: https://scarab.bates.edu/bjps/vol3/iss1/13