Beauty standards vary in different cultures among different countries across the world. Beauty is also defined differently in the eyes of each individual. Nevertheless, there is still a socially constructed opinion of what is a feminine beauty consists of. In other words, there are specific ideal characteristics that women should have in order to be considered beautiful by society’s standards. For example, in the United States, suntanned skin, a narrower facial structure, high cheekbones, longer eyelashes and fuller lips might be some of the qualities that are considered as beauty standards.  

This week is very interesting and something that I can totally relate because female genital cutting (FGC) is something that is normally practiced in Malay culture. In Malaysia, the tip of the clitoris is nicked using a penknife or razor and was done at a very young age as young as one or two months old. Younger age is preferred because of the believe that the skin is thinner and it is easier to hold down the child and to avoid embarrassment, pain, complications and for quick wound healing. This practice used to be done by female traditional practitioners who are not medically trained. However, due to campaigns against risky practices in unsanitary conditions, more FGC are being performed by healthcare providers in clinics in Malaysia. Historically, this practice predates Islam and although FGC is not solely practiced in Islamic communities, it is often linked to Islam. This practice occurs across different ethnicities, cultures and socioeconomic classes. According to a study, the main reason for the practice of FGC in Malaysia is because of religion influence since majority of Malaysians are Muslim. (Rashid & Iguchi, 2018) Most of the women interviewed said that a person is not a Muslim if they have not undergone this procedure. Some believe that it is written in the Holy Koran that this procedure is compulsory. Therefore, most parents consider it as a parental responsibility and do not consider FGC as a violent or an oppressive act. Studies in Malaysia and Indonesia have shown that most of the Muslim women wanted the practice to go on and they will continue the practice on their daughters and granddaughters because they do not see it as harmful to health based on their personal experience (Rashid, Patil & Valimalar, 2010). Even though the strong belief of the practice of FGC is highly associated with Islam, it is, however, contradicted by the religious scholars. I believe that FGC must be looked at beyond just a health issue but a complex interrelated issue involving society, religion, culture and tradition. If this practice wanted to be outlaw, culturally sensitive interventions should be put in place with the support of the community rather than criminalizing the practice outright in Malaysia.

Chinese footbinding has many different perceptions from different people. Some said that it is a cultural fetish that lead to a brutal tradition intended to keep women obedient to men. A study by Melissa Brown, the managing director of the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, suggests that the main factor for this practice is economy. The study suggests that it is one of the ways used to keep girls on task producing handcrafts such as spinning thread or weaving cloth, which is needed to support their families. (Brown & Phillips, 2018) This is because in Chinese culture, the daughters contributed a whole lot more economically to their households. In the footbinding lecture, there is a discussion on the reason why mothers bound their daughters’ feet is because they thought it would help them to have a better marriage which means they would be able to eat better. However, a study shows that about two-thirds of the women we interviewed had ever had bound feet, and only about one-third were still bound at the time they were getting married, but 99% of them got married. This means that they did not need bound feet to marry. Nevertheless, families keep binding their daughters’ feet because it has been a strong belief among the society on that time. This study found that the practice of footbinding was not stopped because of social pressure but due to the construction of road or railroad that brought cheap, machine-reduced goods, which could be sold for less than handmade items.

References

Rashid, A. & Iguchi, Y. (2018). Female genital cutting in Malaysia: a mixed-methods study. British Medical Journal, 9(4), 1-10. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/4/e025078

Rashid, A., Patil, S. & Valimalar, A. (2010). The practice of female genital mutilation among the rural Malays in north Malaysia. The Internet Journal of Third World Medicine, 9(1), 1-8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267329919_The_Practice_of_Female_Genital_Mutilation_Among_The_Rural_Malays_In_North_Malaysia

Brown, M., J. & Phillips, D. S. (2018). Economic correlates of footbinding: Implications for the importance of Chinese daughters’ labor. Public Library of Science Journal, 13(9). https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0201337