>Well, I'm ambivalent about the implied moral authority
>of the UN here. It's like female genital mutilation
>(or female circumcision): according to our principles,
>it's gross sexism, and I'm sure it violates the UN
>declaration. However, it is a practice that most
>women in these cultures actively participate in (they
>do the ritual cutting, and they consider it an
>important rite of passage into female adulthood).
>Is it morally right for people in Western societies
>to impose their values and principles on these
>cultures?
I don't know about morally right, but it seems like the right thing to do. Genital cutting is horrifying, and way beyond my culturally relativistic limits.
Doug