Case Study in 1994, a 17-Year-Old Girl Named Fauziya Kassindja Entered the Entered

Case Study
In 1994, a 17-year-old girl named Fauziya Kassindja entered the United States seeking asylum. She had fled her native country of Togo to escape female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM is a permanently disfiguring procedure that UNICEF estimates up to 200 million women have undergone. Though Fauziya's immediate family opposed FGM, her father suddenly died when she was 16. After her father's death, Fauziya's grandfather arranged for her to undergo FGM (read more on HYPERLINK "http://www.pbs.org/speaktruthtopower/fauziya.html" PBS).
Fauziya's mother and sister managed to help her escape to avoid FGM. However, in the United States, Fauziya was imprisoned for two years while the authorities decided what to do with her. She was finally granted asylum but not before becoming center of a controversy about how Americans should regard the social practices of other cultures. A series of articles in the New York Times argued that FGM is a barbaric practice that should be condemned. But others were reluctant to be to make such judgments, worrying that it would be intolerant or imperialistic to condemn other cultures' social practices, even if they were clearly immoral by the standards of American culture.
-Suppose we judge that FGM is morally wrong. Are we making a universal moral judgment or merely applying the standards of our own culture? Does cultural relativism entail that the latter kind of moral judgment is the only legitimate kind?

Correct Answer:

Answered by ExamLex AI

The case of Fauziya Kassindja and the pr...

View Answer

Unlock this answer now
Get Access to more Verified Answers free of charge

View Full Answer For Free