to wonder about The Tribe and FGM

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I can't help wondering (and worrying) whether the girls in this program have been subjected to the horrendous practice of FGM.
If they have, will the program makers gloss over the fact, or even fail to mention it?
They are dissecting their lives after all, so surely they will touch upon the subject sooner or later.
They have a moral obligation to bring it to the viewers attention, surely.

Should we even be watching it if they don't?

Sorry Angola Three - Alabama Three is a band I really like!

Good to know that Ethiopia has outlawed the practice aintgonna, you have to wonder whether the message gets through to the very remote areas.
Hopefully it does, but I have my doubts.

If anything is wrong "straight of the bat", then it's FGM.

But nah, they won't show it. It's doesn't make cutesy tea-time viewing.

Oh and I've just seen the US have blocked the release of the last of the Angola Three despite a Judge ordering his release earlier this week ( i'm a member of human rights groups and on their e - mail lists).

There is abhorrent shit going on all over the world all the time.
Sadly true

It's good that people care.

OP - no it's not in most cases. I know an Ethiopian woman now living here who is desperate to stop her Mum from having FGM performed on her younger sisters (in Ethiopia). There is little she can do.

It will be a very, very long fight. But there are Ethiopian women (and men) fighting it there and here. That is a huge step forward.

Of course people care. But new ideas take time to replace old customs. It cannot happen overnight.

I daresay the people from The Tribe would find many of our own customs barbaric and cruel. Just as an example - our care for some of our elderly. Shove 'em in a nursing home or leave them in Hospital and make them SEP (someone else's problem)........

but this is all going from the absolute that THIS specific tribe practices FGM

all the comments about elephants in the room and cutesy tea time viewing

it's like every documentary with Irish people in HAS to mention the troubles, every one with Muslims in must mention 9/11, every documentary with DJ's in must mention Saville

Of course it should be mentioned and challenged IF this tribe practice it but you can't assume they do and get huffy because it's not mentioned - it's entirely possible they don't

FGM is a very serious very abusive practice which of course must be challenged, especially from within the societies that practice it, but you and I don't know that this tribe do

The entire show is patronising and paternalistic.

I haven't watched it Xxed but I can imagine

I wonder how many people happily go to places like Sharm when Egypt is a country where over 90% of women said they had arranged 'medicalised' FMG for their daughters ...or trot of to Kenya for Safari (46%)

this isn't an odd practice of some distant tribes

source www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/fgm/fgm_trends/en/

Not every remote tribe in Ethiopia practices FGM you know

I worked in Ethiopia for a year as a volunteer in a health care capacity. I really enjoyed the tribe... I don't think it purports to portray the whole of Ethiopia, let alone the whole of Africa.
The culture in Ethiopia is so diverse, and is often very paternalistic. That's reflected in the one episode we've seen. I'm hoping we'll see lots more different aspects of this tribes culture in further episodes.
FGM is a huge problem, but there are many more harmful traditional practices that still occur, for example uvulectomy and burning by traditional healers. I hope it's addressed in the series, but it's only one part of the culture.

wimble when have you seen contrasting images of Ethiopia being portrayed. And how many other images of Africa do you see? Also when I said it was paternalistic I was talking about the show producers

Well things like this ( if I can make the link work) www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18998898

You are comparing a brief news segment and a series in a prime slot. Really, head tilt.

Wibble - honest posts with actual experience of working in these communities as I have (admittedly in my experience in this country). With no claim of speaking from other than personal experience.

And of course film-makers are not 'patronising and paternalistic' at all when it comes to first-world subjects and always present measured and equal versions of their subjects.

Blinged up babies, benefit street and high class call girls - all programmes on UK TV in the last fortnight. Just a small selection. Are they patronising and paternalistic?

If it's agreed they're patronising and paternalistic (I think they are) perhaps we should challenge the exploitation in our ' own yard' first.

God. I have no experience with such tribes. But I felt I must point out to my 12 yr old that this is a very paternalistic tribe where no women were called upon for their wisdom in any decision making. Women were bought and if a deal could not be reached then force would be used to secure the female into the tribe. The men could have multiple wives if they were important but no woman could do the same. I understand the elders of the tribe want to keep the traditions of the tribe but some of these traditions are anachronistic. It was not the programme I was expecting from those cutesy trailers at all.

I was a bit concerned about the scars the "wife to be" had on her back. Not deliberate tribal markings like others, but thick scars. I found the programme interesting, but it was tough to accept the woman being battered over.

*bartered

Yeah, I noticed the scars she had as well.

I think the most important thing in programs like this is to listen and not expect the participants to pander to what is important to you.

aintgonna was that directed at me, I will respond anyways. If you read up thread I mentioned benefit street and benefit tenants. I think Channel 4 need entire management over haul which I mentioned earlier.

I have been to Ethiopia though I was based mainly in Zimbabwe when I graduated I worked for an NGO which altered my view of how charities and NGOs work drastically.

Also when you say I worked in these community's my eyes immediately role back and I get this image in my head. www.psmag.com/business-economics/instagrammingafrica-narcissism-global-voluntourism-83838

www.arbore.de/Literaturen/Peller_OtherCountries.pdf

Page 4, second paragraph, 6 lines down

"The Hamar do not practice any form of ritual genital operation on their females"

Thanks, Ibani. Having seen the presenter on morning telly yesterday I was looking for a similar link.

Before we start decrying the way other people live, maybe we could educate ourselves as to the realities. Western life is not the only life. It is ridiculous to try to homogenise the whole world. Rather, do as this documentary is doing and find reasons/people/cultures to enjoy for their diversity.

Oh, and such tribal living is one culture you would expect a paternalistic attitude... or do you think the presence of mobile phones magically makes all the very real dangers and every day hardships just disappear?

"Western life is not the only life. It is ridiculous to try to homogenise the whole world."

Are you talking about tribal life in general, or about the specific practice of FGM? Because it is not ridiculous to want to free babies and girls in other countries from the horror of FGM.

FGM is not a cultural difference in the same way that wearing the five articles of faith or not using scissors on the Shabbat (for ex.) are. It is, without exception, a human rights abomination that has no place in any civilised society.

Obviously people who practice it can be wonderful in other ways, and obviously they're not choosing to mutilate their daughters in a vacuum devoid of any cultural pressure, but the act itself is utterly, utterly indefensible and the behaviour of barbarians.