Female Circumcision

(First published in Small World Ezine on 29 September 2003)

You must have already heard the good news... If not, the 
Nigerian appeal court has overturned Amina Lawal's death 
sentence last Friday. 

In March 2002, Amina Lawal was sentenced to stoning to death 
for having had a child while divorced. People all over the 
world, including our subscribers had sent messages to the 
Nigerian government protesting the sentence. Thank you all
for helping the world save another life as well as defend 
human rights :)

Read more about Amina and other human rights issues at
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=407908&l=6839

 

More and more cases like this occur everyday in the world. 
The ones in power "claims" they are following religious 
teachings. We have been searching and could not find 
anything to support such claims. I think it's some leaders' 
discrimination (and craziness). If adultery is wrong, how 
come the guys who co-committed this sin had never been 
punished?

Same as the practise of female circumcision (FGM -- Female
Genital Mutilation)... 

I used to think that it's done by clipping the tip of the 
clitoris... but when I did the search, I have found this
shocking fact... 


FGM is being done in three forms:

- Sunna circumcision in which the tip of the clitoris 
and/or its covering (prepuce) are removed. 

- Clitoridectomy where the entire clitoris, the prepuce 
and adjacent labia are removed. 

- Infibulation (a.k.a. Pharaonic circumcision) which is a 
clitoridectomy followed by sewing up of the vulva. A small 
opening is left to allow urine and menstrual blood to pass. 
In some cultures, the woman is cut open by her husband on 
their wedding night. She may be sewn up again if her husband 
leaves on a long trip. 


This is being done in several countries in Africa. In some
countries, the practise is a tradition -- a way of life.
Something women may not like it but they'll do it to their 
own daughters anyway -- just because their grandmothers had
it, their mothers had it, and they had it.

Here's what I've found...

- 90% or more of the girls in Djibouti, Ethiopia and 
Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan (North) have been 
mutilated. 

- over 50% of the girls in Benin, Burkina Faso, Central 
African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gambia, 
Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and 
Togo have been operated on. 

- There are over 30 million mutilated women currently living 
in Nigeria, and about 24 million in Ethiopia and Eritrea. 

- Various groups estimate that from 114 to 130 million women 
worldwide have had the operation. 


Where the practise is outlawed, the girls are in even greater
danger because it would be done in a basement with household
equipment such as scissors, razor blades, or kitchen knives.
And when there are complications, parents are reluctant to
seek medical help for fear they would be convicted. This 
only leads to severe infection, keloids, and even bleeding
to death in some cases... not talking about the physical 
and emotional pain in those who survived.

The scary fact is, when these people migrate to other 
countries, they bring the tradition with them. In countries 
where locals and authorities are not aware of this 
tradition, there is no law to prevent it. When a case is
brought to attention, they don't know if they should 
consider the practise "child abuse" or "cultural
toleration".

England and several other E.U. countries were the fastest to 
take action. Yes, they have laws against FGM. Yet, these 
people still fly their daughters back to their home town to 
circumcise. Canada and U.S.A. used to grant asylum to women 
who did not want to return to their country and be forced to 
circumcised later. Clearly, prohibition by regulations is 
not going to work... U.N., WHO and several International 
non-profit organisations have been trying to educate women 
in/from these cultures about the risks and consequences of 
FGM. The problem is how many of them these organisations 
could reach, and how many of those who have been educated 
will agree that this tradition is something they should not 
support.

I agree that education will help open the eyes. At least 
those who do it because they believe...

- if a baby's head contacts the clitoris during birth,
it will die

- it is a poisonous organ, that can cause a man to sicken or 
become impotent or die if touched. 

- Bad genital odors can only be eliminated by removing the 
clitoris and labia minora. (This one is easy to prove
false, I guess)

- it's the only way to protect girls from men... reserve her
virginity, and so and so...

- it prevents cancer, makes girls more beautiful, etc...

- If FGM is not done, older men may not be able to match 
their wives' sex drive and may have to resort to illegal 
stimulating drugs (duh...).

There was a case in the U.S. that one immigrant did it to 
his 3-year-old daughter because she was too active and loved
to play outside too much! He believed it would tame her.
They do it to babies, toddlers, teenagers and pregnant 
women... If you were born with a critoris, they will 
remove it.


Fundamentalists also try to justify the tradition by linking 
it to the religion. Fact shows female circumcision was 
practiced in the region thousands of years before Islam.
Today, it's being done to girls in all religious beliefs --
Muslims, Christians, Animists, and Jews. To my knowledge, 

No-one can refer to anywhere in the teachings of any religion 

that female circumcision is mandatory.

Other argument made to this perversive act is that 
circumcision is done to prevent girls from going out and 
doing bad things... (because they won't enjoy it). Okay, are 
these girls being punished for something they 'MAY' do? How 
about cutting everyone's hands off so that people won't 

steal. Better remove their tongues too so no-one lies! 

How about preventing men from raping as well?

I think everything has its pros and cons... including being a 
virgin. But if you really need your daughters to remain ones 
until they are married, teach them well. Tell you 
something... Most of my girl friends in Thailand were still 
virgins when they're married (at about 30 years old). One of 
them had been seeing the guy for 10 years and the only such 
experience they had was a peck on the cheek on their 
engagement day (in front of the parents). It's love and 
decent teachings from our parents that prevent us from
fooling around.... you see.

More:


FGM supporters also said Western women go through plastic
surgery to enlarge their breasts so what's the deal of 
them circumcise their daughters? I was like, "duh..." 
Pamela Anderson had it done because she wanted to... after 
talking pros and cons with her doctor. And when she was not 
happy with them anymore she went to her doctor to have them 
removed (or made smaller). Nobody straps a baby girl to the 
floor for breast implant with a knife, or were there any?


More information on this matter...

One woman's story at BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1171359.stm

If you want to cry, read the story of activists in America -
"c Comes to America" 
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/fgm/fgm.htm

Female Circumcision: Rite of Passage Or Violation of Rights?
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2313097.html

A Muslim scholar's summary and point of view on FGM...
http://www.minaret.org/fgm.htm