Women's Rights Versus Women's Rites: A Study of Circumcision Among the Ketu Yoruba of South Western Nigeria

The outpouring of western concern over the issue of female circumcision offers a case study in how well-intentioned efforts of Americans to improve the lot of oppressed people elsewhere in the world can have precisely the opposite effect. In at least some societies targeted, the practice has increased.
Beginning with a critique of Alice Walker's novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy, the book employs in-depth anthropological study to decipher the cultural logic responsible for female circumcision. The study suggests that in fact the practice continues because traditional culture identifies procreation as the measurement of self-worth and links fertility with circumcision.

Emmanuel Babatunde is the director of the honors program at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, where he teaches anthropology.