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From: notes@iuvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Re: Rape in Libya - (nf)
Message-ID: <323@iuvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 11-Apr-84 01:08:52 EST
Article-I.D.: iuvax.323
Posted: Wed Apr 11 01:08:52 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 12-Apr-84 05:06:11 EST
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#R:ihuxt:-39000:iuvax:9200011:000:1033
iuvax!dsaker    Apr 10 11:47:00 1984

Reply to Martillo:

I just wanted to say that I am on your side.  Your observations strike me
as quite accurate.

As an anecdotal aside on the clitoridectomy issue, back in Canberra, 
Australia, a female doctor friend of mine was involved in the problem
of muslim immigrants continuing the practice of clitoridectomy on their
female offspring.  This doctor told me that in her experience the women
muslims were the staunchest supporters of the practice.  (Which is not to
say that all women supported it, just that more women seemed to support it 
than did men, and that the women"s support seemed more vehement.)
One can excuse these women on the basis of the psychological pressures in 
their environment, and one can similarly excuse the men who support the 
practice.  What I want to stress here is that the practice is perpetuated
not by "nasty men who get their kicks out of oppressing women", but by
a set of social pressures that mold the attitudes of both men and women.


     Daryel Akerlind
  ...ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!dsaker