better, and healthier, and has made them more complete women.
The problem here is one of cultural relativism, with anthropologists judging the actions of others on what is the norm in their culture rather than what is the norm in the culture they are studying (Salomon, 1997, 367). While they may disagree with the practice from their point of view, it is not their place to change the views of those who do practice the act. It is practiced for different reasons by different ethnic groups - some religious, some cultural (Shweder, 2000, 217). Although to Westerners, FMG is a cruel, ugly practice that needs to be stamped out, to those who undergo it, the practice is a beautifying one, and many of the tribes concerned react with horror at the though of uncircumcised female genitalia, seeing them as ugly, and abhorrent. They see the circumcision process as smoothing out the female genital area and so making it more beautiful esthetically.
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