Paediatricians have erred by suggesting that ‘nicking’ female genitalia should be allowed as a cultural compromise

At the end of last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a revised policy statement on female genital mutilation (FGM) called “ritual genital cutting of female minors,” suggesting that the federal and state law in the US should permit paediatricians to offer a ritual “nick” of girls’ genitalia as a compromise to appease the cultural needs of their immigrant clients. International women’s rights organisations from the US, Africa, and Europe were quick to respond to this outrageous proposition calling on the AAP to retract its 2010 statement and revert back to its much stronger 1998 statement on the subject.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/11/female-genital-mutilation-us-nicking

During the weekend of the 20th-21st of March 2010, Meem organized a gender and sexualities camp which gathered about 20 persons.

The themes discussed during the weekend ranged from analyzing gender as a social construct to the binary concept of sex and gender as a fixed formula.

Standardization of sexual organs was also discussed specially through  unnecessary surgeries and interventions to protect the hetero patriarchal system which generates different forms of oppression such as sexism, heterosexism and transphobia.

Feminism had its share through an overview of feminist and women’s movements in the region as well as different types of feminist thoughts. We also discussed how the feminist and lgbtq movement advocated and still do for freedom of gender expression, as for  Transfeminism, it  broadens the concept of gender, holding that gender is a question of performativity, choice and right, the right to gender ambiguity and gender equality.

Jan 28th 2010

| DOHA |

From The Economist print edition

CROSS-DRESSING is on the rise among young Qataris. The local press says that more tradition-minded locals are upset by the growing number of young women affecting a masculine style of dress, baggy trousers, short hair and deep voices. These women, who call themselves boyat, which translates as both tomboy and transsexual (and is derived from the English word boy), are being seen in schools and on university campuses where some are said to harass their straiter-laced sisters. In an episode of a talk show on Qatari television, called Lakom al Karar (The Decision is Yours), a leading academic said that the “manly women” phenomenon was part of a “foreign trend” brought into Qatar and the Gulf by globalisation. Foreign teachers, the internet and satellite television have been blamed. So have foreign housemaids, for badly influencing children in their care. The studio audience was divided over how to respond. Some called for the death penalty for cross-dressers, while others favoured medical treatment. A rehabilitation centre for Qatari boyat has been set up, but a local report says that as many as 70% of them refuse to give up their “abnormal behaviour”. It is not just Qataris who are rattled. A year ago the ministry of social affairs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched a campaign against “masculine women”. The project, entitled “Excuse me, I’m a girl”, involved workshops, lectures and television programmes, stressing the virtues of femininity and raising awareness of the presumed dangers of women looking like men. An emirates’ foundation is helping to fund a research project on “gender identity disorder among Emirati youth”. One official describes the “deviant behaviour” of the boyat as a “menace” to society. But others sound less fazed. An American university lecturer in the region says the short hair and gym shoes worn by these young women would look perfectly normal on an American campus. That is just what unnerves the traditionalists.

http://www.economist.com/world/middleeast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15403091

Two of our Meem members joined a one-week workshop called “Take That Gender!” in Bologna, Italy. The workshop included gay and straight participants from the Euro-Mediterranean and dealt with issues of gender identity, sexual orientation, diversity, and equality.