Step 2: Answer Questions1. Should Fauziya have stayed in Togo and accepted her country's cultural practices? Why or why not?2. Do you believe that there is an objective basis from which we can derive a moral standard? If so, how couldwe go about convincing people in a given society to apply this standard without improperly interfering in thecultural values of that society? Is there any reason to think that we should not affect a society's culturalvalues?3. Can you find any basis for justifying the practice of FGM? Are there any objective moral values or principlesthat may support it?4. What are some reasons against practicing FGM? (You need not limit these to moral reasons.)5. Could a society's cultural approval of FGM ever make such a practice morally right or even the moral duty ofwomen in that society? Tie your response in with the discussion of relativism. Step 1: Read ScenarioThe practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), or female circumcision, is widespread in many African countries.The procedure is most commonly carried out on young women who are about to be married; because theprocedure involves removing the clitoris, it greatly reduces the amount of sexual pleasure a woman mightexperience during intercourse and thus is thought to help ensure the woman's faithfulness to her husband. As maybe imagined, the procedure can be exceedingly painful. Although it may be carried out using modern surgicaltechniques in a clean environment, it is also often done by a relative with knives, razor blades, or even sharp rocks.Many women suffer infection, bleeding, and other complications. Some women die as a result of the procedure. Itis estimated that between 100 million and 140 million young women have received FGM to date; Africa aboutmillion girls are at potential risk for FGM each year. In January of 2008, the United Nations issued a statement insupport of abandoning the procedure.Fauziya Kassindja, a young woman from Togo, Africa, was one of the few women in her society who expected toescape the ritual, called kakiya in her country. Fauziya's father was a businessman who, contra to cultural norms inTogo, thought that his daughters should choose for themselves the kind of life they would lead. He sent them toschool, and he protected them from kakiya. In 1994, however, when Fauziya was just seventeen, her father diedand his sister moved in with them. She soon had it arranged that Fauziya would be married to a forty-five-year-oldman and that she would have to undergo FGM. Because Fauziya, her sister, and her mother objected, her sisterquietly arranged for Fauziya to be smuggled out of Togo to neighboring Ghana. Using a false passport, she thenflew to Germany and on to the United States. Upon her arrival at Newark Airpot, Fauziya applied for asylum onthe basis of her father's death and her desire to avoid being married against her will. At the time, she did notmention FGM because her English was limited and she was too embarrassed. She was told that a judge's decisionwould be required to grant her asylum and that in the meantime she would have to either return to Togo orGermany or go to prison. Fauziya chose prison. She was stripped, chained, and taken to a detention center. Later,she was transferred to a regular prison, where she was held for over seventeen months.Eventually, Layli Miller Bashir, Fauziya's lawyer, presented her case before an immigrations judge, who deniedFauziya the request for asylum. At that point, the case was brought to the attention of the international newsmedia, and the New York Times featured the story on its front page. Thirteen days later, Fauziya was released andgranted asylum and now resides in the United States. Fauziya was the first woman to receive asylum for FGM inthe United States, thus making it possible for other women to obtain asylum for the same reason. As a result of theinternational uproar over FGM, several African countries have since ruled FGM to be illegal, including Togo,Fauziya's home country. There is evidence, however, that FGM continues to be quietly practiced in thesecountries - and even (rarely, of course) in the United States.

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Social cultural factors influence the belief of people in society, their values, attitude, and…