Health describes her personal experience at the hands of the circumcisers, in an online excerpt from her book,The Naked (Hidden) Face of Eve:

I was six years old that night when I lay in my bed, warm and peaceful in that pleasurable state which lies half way between wakefulness and sleep, with the rosy dreams of childhood flitting by, like gentle fairies in quick succession. I felt something move under the blankets, something like a huge hand, cold and rough, fumbling over my body, as though looking for something. Almost simultaneously another hand, as cold and as rough and as big as the first one, was clapped over my mouth, to prevent me from screaming. They carried me to the bathroom. I do not know how many of them there were, nor do I remember their faces, or whether they were men or women. The world to me seemed enveloped in a dark fog winch prevented me from seeing. Or perhaps they put [s]ome kind of a cover over my eyes. All I remember is that I was frightened and that there were many of them, and that something [li]ke an iron grasp caught hold of my hand and my arms and my thighs, so that I became unable to resist or even to move. I also remember the icy touch of the bathroom tiles under my naked body, and unknown voices and humming sounds interrupted now and again by a rasping metallic sound which reminded me of the butcher when he used to sharpen his knife before [sl]aughtering a sheep for the Eid' [Eid is a four day festival which follows the month of fasting (Ramadan) among Muslims. lt is an occasion of great festivities. Another is that celebrated about one and a half months later, Eid El Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, in which a sheep or lamb is sacrificed. This is a repetition of Abraham's sacrifice of a lamb in place of his son.].

My blood was frozen in my veins. It looked to me as though some thieves had broken into my room and kidnapped me f[r]om my bed. They were getting ready to cut my throat which was always what happened with disobedient girls [l]ike myself in the stories that my old rural grandmother was so fond of telling me. I strained my ears trying to catch the rasp of the metallic sound. The moment it ceased, it was as though my heart stopped beating with it. I was unable to see, and somehow my breathing seemed also to have stopped. Yet I imagined the thing that was making the rasping sound coming closer and closer to me. Somehow it was not approac[hi]ng my neck as I had expected but another part of my body.

Somewhere below my belly, as though seeking something buried between my thighs. At that very moment I realized that my thighs had been pulled wide apart, and that each of my lower limbs was being held as far away f[r]om the other as possible, gripped by-steel fingers that never relinquished their pressure. I felt that the rasping knife or blade was heading straight down towards my throat. Then suddenly the sharp metallic edge seemed to drop between my thighs and there cut off a piece of flesh from my body. I screamed with pain despite the tight hand held over my mouth, for the pain was not just a pain, it was like a searing flame that went through my whole body. After a few moments, I saw a red pool of blood around my hips. I did not know what they had cut off from my body, and I did not try to find out. I just wept, and called out to my mother for help. But the worst shock of all was when I looked around and found her standing by my side. Yes, it was her, I could not be mistaken, in flesh and blood, right in the midst of these strangers, talking to them and smiling at them, as though they had not participated in slaughtering her daughter just a few moments ago.

They carried [m]e to my bed. I saw them catch hold of my sister, who was two years younger, in exactly the same way they had caught hold of me a few minutes earlier. I cried out with a[l]l my might. No! No! I could see my sister's face held between the big rough hands. It had a deathly pallor and her wide black eyes met mine for a split second, a glance of dark terror which I can never forget. A moment later and she was gone, behind the door of the bathroom where I had just been. The look we exchanged seemed to say: 'Now we know what it is. Now we know where lies our tragedy. We were born of a special sex, the female sex. We are destined in advance to taste of misery, and to have a part of our body torn away by cold, unfeeling cruel hands. . . (El Saadawi, par. 2) This excerpt from a book of essays of Dr. El Saadawi’s writings tells of a personal tragedy and is a clear example of the widespread atrocity called FGM. It is the sad and tragic story of millions of girls and women worldwide. FGM is like rape and murder. It rapes females of their body parts—forever. It murders the spirits of its victims.

FGM is an egregious violation of women’s rights and human rights. FGM is the cause of many little girls and women’s sadly shed tears. These tears will never stop flowing. Even if the practice of FGM is stopped, the bodies and souls of millions of small girls and women can never be made whole, again. FGM is a violation of the soul and a murder of the spirit of woman-kind. What should women do? What if Women Circumcised Men? Every circumcised woman in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere, should rise up, take a piece of dirty, broken coke bottle, rusted, dull razorblade, or any other contaminated, dull or sharp instrument, and circumcise the male patriarchs and counterparts in their communities, who believe FGM is a good thing. Each woman should cut a male counterpart in direct proportion to which they have been cut, denied, and mutilated. Just cut a snip off the very end of the penis. Maybe shave just an inch or two off. Remove only one testicle, or gouge the penis out completely at the core, just like a full-fledged clitirodectomy.

Push some acacia thorns through the wound to help it heal, inserting a straw to keep the area open for urine to pass. Now bind the legs together and let the men lie there for 40 days. It is only circumcision after all. Would FGM cease if women took those kinds of bold and radical steps? It certainly would. Why does it sound so far fetched that this be done to men—it is the same thing that has been done to women, by men for generations in Africa, the Middle East, and other parts of the world where one would not suspect. Men do not have the right to interfere with the way women’s bodies were created function sexually. Yet, men make those decisions every day and women are cut-open, cut-up, and their bodies and minds left in shambles, as men walk around with their bodies whole, complete, and orgasm-capable. What is the Real Reason for FGM?
Clearly, the purpose of FGM is to cut out the fire, squelch the sexual desire in women. No clitoris--no orgasm. Cutting out a woman’s clitoris is like cutting out her tongue. A woman without a clitoris is less likely have a lot to say in regards to her life or anything else, and less likely to stray from home and into the arms of another man, if she becomes dissatisfied with her current mate. A religious leader from Ethiopia made an idiotic, bold, unabashed claim in an interview recently regarding reasons to mutilate women, which are based upon weather and libido. Sheik Omer said, in response to the interviewer’s question regarding a woman’s sexuality:
Q: Why it genital cutting important to Islamic culture? A: This tradition, whether it is female or male circumcision, was done starting from prophet Muhammad and we have practiced it for the last 1,000 years. He ... did not prohibit it, but gives the advice to moderate the surgery. So we, as Muslims, believe that the prophet's advice was to moderate it – therefore, there is no problem with it in the religion. This conference, and the medical research associated with it, does not show that the Sunnah circumcision - cutting only the outer part of the clitoris - has caused any medical complications. There is a difference between hot weather areas and cold weather areas. Most of the Islamic scholars live in hot weather areas, so that they support non-pharaonic female circumcision. But they have also an opinion that people living in cold weather - like in Europe - do not need female circumcision. In Ethiopia , we believe in the towns and the cities, Muslims mostly do not circumcise their females. Q: Why does it make a difference whether it's hot or cold? A: Islamic scholars have this view that females living in hot areas should be circumcised. This is related to women's sexuality - they feel that in cold weather women's sexuality is more moderated than in the hot weather areas. (IRIN, par. 3-12)

Men use many irrational reasons for mutilating women. It is as much a woman’s natural and God-given right to be sexually aroused, as it is a man’s right. The circumcision ritual is borne of clitirophobia—the fear of the clitoris and anything affiliated with the clitoris. Male proponents of FGM have no intentions of circumcising themselves to control their libidos, however, they feel it is their right to control women’s bodies by practicing FGM. It is tragic, that men have taken control of women’s bodies and sad that in the name of culture, patriarchy, religion, and tradition, women have allowed their bodies and self-hood to become dispossessed of its rightful capabilities. In addition to the tragedy of hurting young girls and women’s bodies, the implications to the psyches and health of millions of women is at stake. Trauma, torture, menstrual painful periods—due to the inability of the blood to flow through too small of an opening, inability to urinate, infection, malodorous secretions from the genitals, ceasarian sections as the normal means of delivering a baby, the FGM tradition is perpetuated by women as well as men—these are the consequences of FGM.

A woman’s sexual health is worth two cups of rice and a cup of oil, in some places, according to a documentary I saw on television recently. Yet, the real reason men mutilate women sexually is due to clitirophobia. Clitirophobia: The Real Reason Men Circumcise Women Clitoriphobia is the fear of the clitoris and anything affiliated with the clitoris. This means men’s fear of women having pleasure in sex, mainly orgasm; clitoris-envy. Some men are simply afraid women will enjoy their bodies sexually and feel as good as they do, in sexual encounters. For some men, the idea is just too much to contend with, so, they rid women of the pesky sin-factor, whore-factor, slut-factor, the heat in their loins, the clitoris. Nancy Scheper-Hughes’ article entitled, " Virgin Territory : The Male Discovery of the Clitoris" brings insight into the fear of the clitoris and provides basic information in determining why males want to excise or mutilate the clitoris especially, and the female genitalia in general. (Scheper-Hughes) Scheper-Hughes claims, after the clitoris was discovered by Renaldus Columbus, other Western genital explorers of the day, “. . . sought to bury it culminating (finally) in Freud’s denial of the clitoral orgasm.”

Furthering her claims of clitoriphobia, that exists from continent-to-continent, she tells of an east African man describing the clitoris as thing of no consequence and disgusting even to think about, “. . . We do not want such an ugly thing hanging down in our women . . . [showing] with his little finger . . . as if tosignify the clitoris [its insignificance] and his disgust of it.” (Scheper-Hughes, 26) The president of the Medical Society in mid-nineteenth century London proclaimed regarding clitoridectomy, “. . . I always prefer scissors. . .,” as he spoke of treating female nervous disorders. (Scheper-Hughes, 26) The Scheper-Hughes article explores the historical discovery of the clitoris; provides an understanding of clitoriphobia,, a condition affecting many men in mainly patriarchal societies, and the fear of the clitoris and anything associated with it. Old wives tales in Africa say that if the clitoris touches the head of a child as it is being born, the child will be inhabited by demons or become mentally retarded, I heard a friend from Africa say.

This belief is as ludicrous as the current belief in South Africa , that sex with a virgin, female, baby will cure AIDS. As ridiculous as both these sayings sound, they are believed and lived by millions of people each day in Africa and other parts of the world. This is the result of a non-questioning cultural mind that accepts whatever it has been told, without thinking further about it. FGM: Shrouded Socio-cultural Construct Comes to America The idea of FGM was forged in the crucible of male-dominated societies, where women have no rights to their own body parts. It then necessarily follows, that women would go quietly to the slaughter, without voicing an opinion about their bodies being maimed and mutilated. Even after experiencing this excruciating pain for themselves, they fail to protect their daughters from the same pain.

Further still, women foster the idea in their female relatives that FGM is a good thing. Women scourge other women, calling them whore and slut, if they are uncircumcised, meaning it is virtually impossible for a woman to live in a community uncircumcised; she will be the victim of ostracizing--shunned, and banished. A local organizer against FGM makes a valid claim when she observes that FGM is a shrouded cultural and social construct: When you wrap this issue [FGM] in the cloth of culture, you just can't see what's inside. This is a clear case of child abuse. It's a form of reverse racism not to protect these girls from barbarous practices that rob them for a lifetime of their God-given right to an intact body,” says Catherine Hogan, the founder of the Washington Metropolitan Alliance Against Ritualistic FGM. (Burstyn, par.

The fact FGM has also found a home on American soil presents new dilemmas and challenges for law, health and social agencies. Women need to learn FGM is unacceptable and to do whatever is necessary to re-educate foreign women to the realities of FGM, by whatever means necessary. Many women face life and death struggles within their households in America , struggling with family members regarding whether or not to circumcise their female children. This excerpt from the field, where an African, FGM- educator nurse goes door-to-door, to persuade women about what is the right thing to do in cases of FGM. Old immigrant women insist the old customs be kept alive, even in America .

Young women struggle with the need to have their mothers close to help with their children, and the knowledge that girl children left alone with their grandmothers are subject to victim-hood, by the hand of a sharp razor in their grandmother’s hand: Berhe` 14 She is on her way to yet another stranger's house, where she will again--for the umpteenth time in the past year--talk about the most personal and most secret of African customs, offering herself as a sort of human roadblock in the traffic of tradition. At the house Ramsey is kissed on both of her cheeks by her hostess, an Ethiopian immigrant like herself, and ushered into a dimly lit living room decorated with rugs and cloths from their homeland. There she spends the next several hours huddled together with the young mother, Genat, talking in conspiratorial whispers. (Burstyn, par. 1)

Mother says she will do it anyway, herself--when I'm out of the house--if I don't agree to get it done soon," Genat confides to the woman she hopes will help her. "She says she will take a razor blade and do it." Ramsey nods. She has heard this story many times before, and responds by reciting a long list of reasons why the older woman must be stopped, trying to give Genat the courage to buck tradition and disobey her mother. "You cannot let her do this to your child. Please. It is wrong. You know how painful it is. How damaging. Your daughter may hate you for life for what you allow to happen to her. (Burstyn, par. 2) Genat shakes her head. She doesn't want her baby girl, just born in this country, to be circumcised, as is customary in her native land, but her mother is adamant. (Burstyn, par. 3) She believes in it so strongly,"

Genat says. She said if I don't do these things, the girl will grow up horny. She'll be like American girls. And how will I be able to go back to work if my mother is not here to care for my child? (Burstyn, par. 4) It is not until many hours later, after a long, sleepless night and a fruitless morning discussion with the older woman, that Ramsey, discouraged, finally ends this peculiar house call. “Please send your mother home," she advises Genat. Go on welfare if you have to, but don't let your mother stay in the house and do this to your baby. (Burstyn, par. 5) The decision not to perform FGM on a child born in America will break families apart and cause familial conflicts. The nurse advises the new mother, to do whatever is necessary to protect the child from FGM, knowing what the pain and health implications are on a personal level. The re-education efforts have done two things well; let the women know how their bodies work and began a dialogue about an issue that is taboo in societies where FGM is a part of everyday life.

FGM Comes to a Town Near You FGM has not only come to America , but to a town near you, maybe your own town. A close look at your community in Northern Virginia will afford you a look behind the veils of religion and culture, and you will be amazed to learn that FGM is part-and-parcel of the Northern Virginia community. The excerpt above was made available from an organization based in this community, by Catherine Hogan, the founder of the Washington Metropolitan Alliance Against Ritualistic FGM. (Burstyn, par. 7)

If your fellow George Mason University (GMU) students from Eritrea , Ethiopia , and the Middle East could drop their cultural covers, put aside the taboos associated with speaking about FGM, and be honest with you, you would learn that GMU has a large student population with a FGM problem, as well. Re-education: The Answer to Eradicating FGM Only radical interventions such as one-on-one re-education to break cultural barriers will stem the tide of FGM from its continued practice in America . Re-education and intervention programs will cause change to come by informing women of the truth about FGM, teaching them their personal rights as humans and women, and showing them how to take a revolutionary stance of doing whatever is necessary, to prevent FGM from wounding, crippling, and killing other girls and women in body and spirit. Burstyn explains the cultural logic of new immigrants in America in her article, “Female Circumcision Comes to America .” Many illogical beliefs, that have been passed down through traditions for centuries are not even questioned to see if they make sense, they are simply obediently followed: Many of the immigrant mothers who are making these decisions about their daughters know little or nothing about their own anatomy. They are told that if the clitoris is left alone, it will grow and drag on the ground; that if their daughters are left uncircumcised, they will be wild, and will crave men; that no man from their home country will marry them uncircumcised (although many African men say that they prefer uncircumcised women for sex and marriage); that circumcision aids in Berhe` 17 menstruation and childbirth (although the opposite is true in both cases); and that it is a religious--usually Islamic--requirement (although none of the major Islamic texts calls directly for FGM).

And so these women and their husbands come to the United States filled with misinformation, and remain blindly dedicated to continuing this torturous tradition. (Burstyn, par. 9) The re-education of FGM victims should include teaching the ability to question not only FGM, but everything, and not to accept anything based on what does not resonate with the heart, or that which cannot be answered logically—which means also teaching the ability to reason well. This is a monumental task, but someone has to do it, someone is doing it. Each stride toward re-education is a giant-step toward eradication of FGM. Counterargument: African Anthropologist Undergoes FGM, Suggests Alternatives John Tierney, in a New York Times article entitled, "A Compromise on Female Circumcision," explores an African anthropologist's foray into the world of FGM, by undergoing FGM herself. (Tierney) The African woman doctor offers alternatives to western thinking about FGM as well as alternatives to what westerners perceive as a problem. Although her line of reasoning seems far-fetched, she is astute enough to know the cultural mind-set of whom the FGM deals. Ahmadu is adamant when she says that American feminists are sticking their noses into Africa ’s cultural affairs and should not. “Fuambai Ahmadu, a native of Sierra Leone , grew up in America and went back to her homeland as an adult to undergo the rite along with fellow members of the Kono ethnic group . . . suggests a compromise that would protect girls and women from undergoing procedures without their consent, but she is critical of those who advocate "zero tolerance" and who refer to these surgeries as female genital mutilation: . . .that a possible way forward would be to consider limiting certain types of genital cutting to an age of majority, for instance, the age at which a girl can consent to marriage, abortion or to cosmetic surgery.

A minor procedure can be allowed for girls under the age of consent, as is the case with infant male circumcision. Defining what such a minor procedure would entail and what might be the appropriate ages of consent is an important step that must include the voices of the "silent majority" of women who are affected. (Tierney) What Ahmadu claims is a minor procedure has been deemed by the WHO as unacceptable, since it is not a medical procedure; “Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons” (World Health Organization (WHO), FGM, par. 1). Further, any sane woman would never consent to FGM. Ahmadu furthers her case for FGM by claiming: . . . [many] lead sexually fulfilling lives and they as well their partners quite like their circumcised bodies. Then, there are some who (like some circumcised men) feel emotionally, psychologically and physically traumatized by their experiences. . .it is usually the younger generation of circumcised girls and women who report experiences of sexual anxieties or dysfunction. This is due to . . . mental infibulations . . . which describes the feelings and experiences of shame, disfigurement and inferiority that these young women are made to endure as a result of the dehumanizing media representations and western social criticisms of their bodies and cultural practices. (Tierney) In response to Ahmadu's claims of women being made to feel inferior a result of western criticisms and media depictions, what about the women in Africa and the Middle East who know nothing of such depictions? Ahmadu has not thought her answers logically through. Being a scholar, she should know that anyone with an inquiring mind, can see the holes in her arguments for FGM. Ahmadu claims the resolution to the FGM issue is one of pro-choice, with only minor FGM revisions to the body, “. . . and a complete rejection of the motto "zero-tolerance of FGM.” She further claims that the term mutilation is a negative term and catergorizes African women negatively, “. . . I am concerned about the official and exclusive reservation of the term "mutilation" to describe circumcised African women. Not only is this institutionalized discrimination but it is personally offensive to the majority of circumcised African women and to the cultures which practice female (and male) initiation”.

Ahmadu’s words speak loudly and clearly regarding her true feeling regarding FGM, including the fact she was voluntarily circumcised, “. . . the vast majority of circumcised African women, like myself, take great cultural pride in our initiation . . .” (Tierney)

With her last statement here, Ahmadu is admitting to her ignorance about the real rationale behind FGM, male domination and clitoriphobia. One who had already escaped the butchery of FGM, educates herself, comes to the land of freedom, and then goes back readily and willingly to the barbarity of FGM (Tierney). Her ideas regarding her own initiation is like a woman saying--many of my women friends have been raped and murdered--as is common in our culture; to show solidarity with these abused sister-souls, I am going to put myself in the path of a serial killer-rapist, so that he can kill me and I can show my solidarity with my sisters. This scenario is tantamount to the line of Ahmadu’s reasoning and is completely foolish rationale on her part. After claiming she hates the zero-tolerance method of hating FGM, on the contrary, she admits, “I give my unequivocal support to such women working collectively for change that would protect them or their choice to opt out of this cultural practice. We can and must listen to women on all sides of this issue and promote policies that ensure equality, dignity, and justice for all women whatever our differences” (Tierney). Ahmadu is clearly confused on the issue of FGM. She has no tolerance for those who have no tolerance for FGM. She knows the realities of FGM but chooses to excuse her knowledge of the in-depth and life-threatening atrocities of FGM, by giving pat answers to weighty issues, and even circumcising herself. On the one hand, she is critical of those calling for no-tolerance of FGM, on one hand she wants to limit how much cutting can be done, then she claims westerners are sticking their noses in Africa ’s problems, then she supports those who are fighting the good fight of no more FGM. She Berhe` 21 straddles the fence on the FGM issue and should choose one side or the other to support. Her commentaries create confusion and may be doing more harm than good, to all concerned.

Conclusion FGM is a complex issue affecting millions of lives the world over. Although the problem seems overwhelming, it is tantamount to any other problem mankind has had historically, which sought to enslave, disallow, annihilate. The human spirit is resilient and although this is a huge problem with multi-faceted issues and implications, there are many solutions. Since the light has been shone upon the FGM problem, many avenues have been opened to deal with the wounds and protect against further wounding. It is a big fight, but inch-by-inch, anything is a cinch. The further atrocities of FGM can too, be overcome.

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