[Maru]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

It's a something that's topical as a human rights issue/women's rights issue. Not so much in the news but it's certainly something people know about, I'm surprised it's not something Americans know about

Ironically, I think it's because our media is so left-leaning. It's too close to America's soft spots (Islamophobia, ethnocentrism, nativism, etc). We don't tend to discuss such cultural topics beyond the broader consensus.

That's part of what attracted me to SD topics, actually, is that conversations here are not so filtered. Americans can be so sheltered here because most media for as long as I've been alive anyway has been delivered through such a thick filter.

Besides, it has the word "genital" in it and I couldn't see Anderson Cooper & co using those words so carelessly With the topic of gender identity though, etc, we see more usage of those kinds of terms, but it's understandable in a medical context. I don't think genital mutilation is something people want to hear when they turn on the television during prime-time. Right-wing media is more likely to bring it up given the human-rights related abuses, but then they will almost immediately be squashed by the opposition as racism/ethnocentrism... since obviously to delve into such topics, we'd have to then climb into discussions of WHO practices it... and that's deeper than most media wants to go now-a-days. We already know too the more vulgar folk who will usurp that conversation. The Ann Coulters of political discourse, etc... and that's enough to bleach it from the national/mainstream rhetoric here... US media in general is still very uptight and censorship heavy imo...