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Mini Orbituary - Lord Kennet

Miss Moonlight's picture
Thu, 05/14/2009 - 18:39
Submitted by Miss Moonlight

I should like to ask all true feminists and male supporters of true feminism to spare a thought for Lord Kennet who sadly passed away in the UK this week.  Lord Kennet while in the UK Government took the lead on the bill to outlaw female genital mutilation (female circumcision) in the 1980s.  We all owe him a great debt.

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Dear Dodson and Ross I was

Fri, 05/29/2009 - 12:15
Anonymous User (not verified)

Dear Dodson and Ross

I was pleased to see your mini o(r)bituary for my father, Wayland Young, also known as Lord Kennet. His bill banning female circumcision, or female genital mutilation (FMG), was a Private Member's Bill. That is to say he won a lottery in Parliament here in the UK which allows non-government Members of Parliament (House of Commons and House of Lords) to bring forward proposed legislation to Parliament. Often, such bills fail. Wayland's bill was passed into law. The sad truth now is that the issue of FMG is as pressing as ever.

The strife and lawlessness in some African countries where FMG is not uncommon has lead to large numbers of refugees heading for new homes in the west. They bring their culture with them and that still, too often, includes FMG. In my home area of west London, I am routinely devastated by the simple awareness of what is happening to some of the young women and girls who live in our newer African immigrant communities. This obscene practise is carried out by female elders of the communities.

I don't know if this is an issue in the US, but if it is, in memory of my father, and for the sake of all the young women and girls who have been, are being or soon will be subjected to this inhumane process, please do all you can to increase public awareness of the issue. This is certainly a feminist issue, but as you point out, it is one which no-one should support, or, more insidiously, ignore or defend on the grounds of it being `culturally appropriate`.

Thanks and best wishes

Thoby Kennet

Female mutilation is Sharia'

tom.penry's picture
Thu, 05/14/2009 - 23:02
tom.penry

In the world of islamist fanatics this is a 'procedure dictated by God". This is why I encourage the USA, UK, and ANZAC countries to not permit Mulims to live under Islamic law instead of common or Constitutional law.