On Tue, 8 Feb 2005, joanna bujes wrote:
> C'mon Miles, this is tiresome. Conditioning is neither moral nor immoral. It
> just is.
>
> Women are not born "enthusiastic" about footbinding, or breast enlargement,
> or clitoral mutilation, or high-heels, or anything. All this is learned
> behavior.
This is my point!
>
> Now, there's learned behavior like basketweaving and learned behavior like
> clitoral mutilation. If you do not think it's possible to differentiate
> between the two, well then, no discussion is possible.
>
> Joanna
In a practical sense, the two cannot be differentiated: they are learned through the same social processes (e.g., family socialization). Can I morally distinguish between them? Sure. Does this moral judgment shape my own life? Sure. Should I use this moral judgment to change on an African society against the will of the women in that society? Absolutely not.
Miles