The main arguments presented was that there was an underlying need to conform to societal standards and those standards change according to time and place. 

The topics covered included body confidence, male opinions and social standards. 

The video focussed on discovering the truth about labiaplasty – a surgical procedure typically done to reduce the size of the inner lips of a women’s genitalia. The idea that where the issue of societal standards stems from is unclear. 

 

Assessment - 

 

It provides an insight into how individuals conform to societal standards. It raises the question of whether vaginas are really that different and if it really matters? 

It acted as a useful resource as it was informing on the topic of certain procedures that women under go in order to feel confident with their body. Until seeing the video members of the group were unaware that such a procedure existed. 

 

Reflection - 

 

In our society there is an image depicted of how a woman should look, should act and how they should maintain themselves in order to comply with societal norms. 

The topic was relevant as it looked into the concept of belonging and the norms that differ in various countries. 

 

It is useful to help individuals in western culture to understand that it is acceptable in other non western cultures therefor brings forth an argument on what is right and wrong.

The topic is relevant to understand  the different positions in society and how it may be necessary to respect other cultures wishers. The Victorian law is helpful to understand that in our culture it is not accepted. It helps you think about policy because two different cultures have different perspectives on this issue meaning it may be difficult to create a policy where everybody is satisfied.  The significance of this reading is that only 64 western English speaking individuals gave their thoughts on the issue.  

Summary: 32 words Braun in her article is showing how the idea of choice, within western societies, and more specifically women’s choice, is used to distinguish between female genital cosmetic surgery and female genital mutilation. 

The source is pretty useful and very specific it is clear that they are trying to go towards a consensual mindset and that’s it’s a choice, compared to other readings it is highly specific and provides a somewhat extreme but opening view of the idea of assimilation, the information has to be fairly reliable as it was published in a journal and simply if it was not reliable it wouldn’t have been published and the source is fairly objective. 

· For example, we are interpellated by schools, politics, or religion, specifically, if a young girl reads a child book for girls she may get certain beliefs such as girls like the colour pink or girls have long hair.

Example #1: FGM laws coming into place. The government chose to make laws in regards to this matter however Women that it applied to didn’t have the power to speak back against the law. Didn’t feel like they had the power of political influence.[The feeling that the nation does not belong to you] 

Example #2: Adam Goodes incident where he called out a 13 year old racist spectator. In this instance Goodes felt as though the nation belonged to him and that he had the ability to act, or in this instance request security to act in order to have the girl removed. [The feeling that the nation does belong to you] 

2) Making a new law made people from the affected community seem like criminals, child abusers or potential child abusers so they look like bad people.

3) She argued that the new law silenced women from those communities, and it made them look like they were victims of their own culture.

Assessment
Is quite difficult to read and can be repetitive in the points made, making it hard to comprehend. It is heavily referenced and includes information from elite sources such as the Family Law Courts, however, it can be seen as a subjective outlook and from a feminist perspective.

Reflection
Its relevant in helping to understand different positions in societies that arise from different cultures. In regards to policy, it tells us that though in Victorian law, female circumcision is not accepted, and in a  multicultural society it is difficult to have a single accepted policy where everyone is satisfied. 

Tuesday 10am-3pm.

Annotated Bibliogrpahy: 

 

Summary: 

What are the main arguments of the Text? What topics are covered? What is the text about? 

Arguments: 

-       Argument: Women are under constant societal pressure to look and present themselves a certain way usually in the context of grooming themselves to feel pretty and look pretty for men. Women then feel pressured to make decisions about changing their bodies to look the part or groom their bodies in a way that is acceptable by societies standards. 

-       Labiaplasty surgery for both medical and cosmetic (cosmetic being the most prevalent), the normal or abnormalities of the female genitals. Male preferences and how they viewed female genitals. Raises the question of why women would go through the surgery knowing the complications and risk factors. 

-       Only makes reference to white females and fails to mention other ethnicities. 

 

Assessment: 

-       We thought it was a useful source in the sense that there isn’t many like it. It covers taboo topics that many are afraid to speak openly about. Any example straight from the text being a girl who was arranging to have the surgery and wanted her identity covered as she was embarrassed. 

-       It was a more visual source thus making it a little more confronting, but we found we learnt more. 

-       Information is definetly reliable as she went straight to the source. 

-       providing several different perspectives, both for and against labiaplasty, there is an element of objectivity.

-       in addition to this the woman conducting the research said she would never get the surgery and didn’t understand why other women would put their bodies through it but still in 

-        

 

Reflection: 

-       The topic has links to belonging.

-       It bought about a lot of perspectives from women and men. I think its also important to note the discrepancies in womens views of men and women. As 75% of men said they thought womens bodies were fine the way they were. A lot of them liking women to be natural and confident about their bodies. 

Rogers argued that the amendment to the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) s 32 and 33 were unnecessary because genital mutilation of women would come under pre-existing Child Abuse laws. Further, the legislation failed to consult the communities concerned which was culturally problematic by assimilating Western ideals upon non-Western cultures. 

ASSESSMENT: 

It was difficult to ascertain her contention from her ambiguous language as to whether she was for or against female genital mutilation. Prima facie, she appeared to take a satirical approach which was difficult to assess in light of such a serious matter. 

REFLECTION: 

It highlights the importance of consultation in the policy-making process. Arbitrary policies will never have successful application due to their subjective creation.

Summary

With the creation of the FGM act 1996, not enough community groups impacted by this policy was consulted in the short time frame they were given. Policy only in English, thus hard for non-English speaking groups to understand to a high standard. The wording in the policy painted women impacted by FGM in a negative light furthering stigma and social isolation from being regarding as ‘mutilated women’

 

 

The article is useful for understand the scenario as it was logical and flow was easy to follow, less heavy, compared to many of the other readings we have done this semester. Source is peer reviewed which is reliable however the article would have more credibility if it involved more stakeholders personally impacted by the policy.

 

 

This week’s topic was multiculturalism. The fact the main stakeholders weren’t consulted goes against the theme of belonging as they didn’t get a voice in the creation of this law. Important to notice the language different between circumcision and mutilation. 

 

Rogers, J 2003, ‘Making the Crimes (Female Genital Mutilation) Act 1996, making the '(non) mutilated woman', Australian Feminist Law Journal, vol. 18, pp.93-114.

 

Summary: The main argument of the text is related to the choice related to Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery (FGCS) and how it can differ from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) based on the choice of the individual. One main difference being that FGM is criminalised but FGCS is not.

 

Assessment: This is a useful source as it is peer reviewed, well sourced and very informative, including statistics and facts from experts in the field. 

 

Reflection: I believe it is relevant to this week’s topic of multiculturalism and ‘belonging’. It highlights the difference between the two main topics discussed, being FGCS and FGM, and the difference between Western society and other cultures. It has changed my views on the topic by differentiating the two, and relating it to belonging and wanting to fit in. 

Assessment: The article is a peer reviewed journal article, so the piece is reliable and has academic merit that provides valuable information to the discussion. The Article is written from a predominantly feminist perspective, so there is some bias that exists but the views in the article were justified.

Reflection: Helps provide an understanding the difference between FGM and FGCS and the different cultural stances behind each practise. It also raises discussion on whether we should closely analyse what the norms are in western society to determine whether any moral superiority exists to justify condemning the actions of others. 

Eg. ‘Hey you!’ 

·  Feeling that you have an opinion which matters. 

·  Feeling that your opinion ties in with dominant culture. 

·  Active role in society. 

·  Take part in decision-making. 

·  Speak back to the law. 

·  Powerful. 

·  Set the agenda and terms. 

·  Eg: Mulsim women only being able to speak back as victims, example of nation not belonging to them.