Abstract
Multiculturalism is an ever-growing reality in societies with increasing numbers of immigrants, where cities emerge as places of passage, encounter or cultural miscegenation, but also of social contrast or antagonism. Interculturalism appears as a tool for encouraging links with the idea of otherness, promoting integration and upholding the right to difference, while avoiding – or even denouncing – structures of domination over minorities. But this cultural diversity can only be protected, promoted and accepted as long as it does not question human rights or provoke exclusion or inequality. It is in this difficult realm, which is open to constant debate (and that frequently promotes polarizations), that we present brief notes that contribute to considering female genital mutilation in its inextricable condition as violence against women, based on the current Portuguese reality.
Female Genital Mutilation; Interculturalism; Gender Violence; Human Rights; Portugal