FGC v Nipple piercings – Which is right and which is wrong?

On Friday, May 14th, Science Friday had the following as one of the topics:

Is it Right to Nick?

This month, the American Academy of Pediatrics proposed that consideration be given to allowing U.S. doctors to perform a 'ritual nick' on the genitals of female infants, in the hopes that allowing such a practice might dissuade parents from subjecting the girls to traditional genital cutting procedures. The proposal is extremely controversial, and the recommendation proposed by the group would be prohibited under current law.

"The American Academy of Pediatrics opposes all types of female genital cutting that pose risks of physical or psychological harm, counsels its members not to perform such procedures, recommends that its members actively seek to dissuade families from carrying out harmful forms of FGC, and urges its members to provide patients and their parents with compassionate education about the harms of FGC while remaining sensitive to the cultural and religious reasons that motivate parents to seek this procedure for their daughters," the group said in a statement. We'll talk about the proposal, and the challenges faced when medicine mix with morality

During the show, there as a caller that said (I’m paraphrasing) “All forms of FGC are wrong, including “nicking”, and should be banned, regardless of cultural or religious reasons”.

Now, I’m not defending FGC at all. But what I started to think about is all the pictures I see these days (care of Google Reader), where women have all manner of body parts pierced and tattooed.

Is it hypocritical for us as a society to say that the practice of FGC, where practiced (possibly) against the wishes of the woman (or girl), is wrong, but it’s perfectly acceptable if that same woman (or girl) wishes to pierce, tattoo or in some way modify, their genitalia, or their own accord? And if we tell those societies and cultures that FGC is wrong and should be stopped, do they have the same moral authority to say to us that we shouldn’t allow our women to tattoo and pierce their genitalia?