000			01589pab a2200181 454500
008			180718b2002 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aBoyle, Elizabeth Heger
245			_aLocal community to international norms: the case of female genital cutting
260			_c2002
300			_ap.5-33.
362			_aMar
520			_aUsing the case of female genital cutting (FGC), the article addresses the question of when local attitudes and practices conform to international norms. One theoretical perspective links attitudes in developing countries to control over the physical environment, arguing that greater control over nature is associated with the rejection of traditional authority and the acceptance of modern science. A competing perspective emphasizes the importance of western scripts as a source of individual identity. The authors use hierarchical models to analyze demographic and health survey data on attitudes toward, and the practice of, female genital cutting in five Africal countries with anti-FGC policies. They find that institutions that carry `modern' scripts - education, college, mass media and female employment - all reduce the probability that women will favor the continuation of FGC or `circumcision' of their daughters. The effects of factors associated with control over nature were more mixed. The study also finds that Christian women are more likely to express negative attitudes toward FGC. - Reproduced.
650			_aWomen
700			_aGomez, Mayra
700			_aMcMorris, Barbara J
773			_aInternational Sociology
909			_a52127
999			_c52127 _d52127