Do you find that people who live in the West believe they are more “civilised” and therefore better than others?

I come from the UK. I’m British. But having travelled and experienced so many beautiful cultures from around the world, I realise that not only does white privilege exist, but so does an elitist mindset from the West! I’m so fed up of people in the West of the world criticising other mothers parenting methods, talking down to them and being ignorant to other cultures! I keep reading this time and again. For instance, someone was debating ear piercing and said it was “child cruelty” to get a child’s ears pierced at infancy. Did those people ever stop to think that perhaps for cultural reasons people do this and it’s normal for them. It’s a gift for their children who they love and not because they see their children as an accessory?

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Many things are done culturally that we (the West) agree is cruel or harmful. The facts are that people are going to have opinions. It's this transition from correcting the errors of the generations before us and also feeling we are better than lmao. Most other cultures or women usually have many opinions as well. Not sure where you're from, but if you have any Hispanic/Latinos then you know this to be a hard fact 🥲

I agree that ear piercing is unnecessary during infancy but to each their own-if they aren’t old enough to ask for earrings then I don’t see how its for them. I wouldn’t say its a western mindset-I see a lot of people here piercing their babies ears. I also don’t think its ignorant to other cultures just to disagree with certain practices depending on what they are. I think it all depends on the context and what parenting method you mean. Something being cultural doesn’t necessarily make it okay nor does something being different than your culture make it wrong. Everyones got an opinion and as long as it isn’t racist, misogynistic or something like that its fine 🤷🏽‍♀️ I don’t see the harm in debate as long as it’s respectful. I do agree there is a better than thou attitude among westerners and a lot of racism from white people specifically. A lot of westerners are privileged in many ways.

I started off agreeing, then you went to ear piercing. We can call things “cultural” all we want to but it doesn’t change the fact that this is something you can easily decide NOT to do as a parent for your own reasons. You can pick and choose within any culture what you will continue to do and what you will not.

Yes but you lost me at the ear piecing lol. Something being a cultural norm doesn’t mean it’s objectively good or non-harmful. The way this is approached and communicated matters though. For sure.

If we are going to say all things are okay because they are culturally the norm, that includes extremes such as FGM which I’m sure we all can agree is not okay. So, where do you draw the line between accepting another’s culture and protecting a baby’s safety and happiness? This goes the same for ear piercing, just because they always have doesn’t mean it is still right to put them through that pain nowadays.

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