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There are many women, girls, and girl-babies crying throughout the world
because of one common factor. They are being circumcised--mutilated. Yes,
cut to pieces with dull instruments, sharp instruments, dirty and contaminated
instruments, and it hurts so horribly. It is a crying shame! The butchered
females are crying while the ones carrying on the traditions of butchery,
male and female alike are shameless and dry-eyed.
I will discuss in this paper, the many ways of mutilating
women via culture, tradition, and ignorance. I will define FGM in-depth
and convey the teary and terrible story of one woman’s actual circumcision,
when a girl. I will propose a seemingly-ludicrous, but certainly plausible
solution to ending the macho, traditional, ritualistic, anti-female, fascist
mentality that dictates how a woman’s body will function—or not, based
on patriarchal and cultural ignorance—juxtaposing the solution against
the horrific act of FGM.
Further, I will expose the real reason men in patriarchal
societies circumcise women, and describe in bloody, gory details the procedure
that eradicates men’s fears, clitoridectomy. I will delve into the social
and cultural constructs, which make FGM possible to exist and continue
its bloodbath of maiming females worldwide.
I will talk about the entry of the FGM dilemma into this
country and into your neighborhood, and tell of solutions to eradicate
the problem by re-education of immigrant FGM survivors in America . In
conclusion, I will unveil an African, female anthropologist’s alternatives
to FGM, expose her confusion on the FGM issue, and champion the cause
for humanity to resolve the nightmare of FGM, everywhere
FGM Defined “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
How Many Ways are There to Mutilate a Woman?
There are many types of FGM. The names tend to range from region-to-region,
country-to-country, and researcher-to-researcher. The terms are interchangeably
used. FGM is also known as pharaonic circumcision, infibulation, re-infibulation,
clitoridectomy, Sunnah, and categorized into different types by WHO. The
foremost authorities on FGM have categorized and identified FGM as follows
Pharaonic Circumcision
According to Hanny Lightfoot-Klein in Prisoner of Ritual,
An Odyssey into Female Genital Circumcision in Africa , the most heinous
of all the forms of FGM is described as such:
A pharaonic consists of a clitoridectomy (removal of clitoris) and excision
of the labia minora, as well as the inner layers of the labia majora.
The raw edges are then held together with cat gut or thorns. The remaining
skin of the labia majora will heal together and form a bridge of scar
tissue over the vaginal opening. A small sliver of wood or straw is inserted
into the vagina to prevent complete blockage and to leave a passage for
urine and the menstrual flow. This fusion is called infibulation. (Williams
and Cohen-Dodge)
Infibulation
The raw edges [of the labia] are then held together with cat gut or thorns.
The remaining skin of the labia majora will heal together and form a bridge
of scar tissue over the vaginal opening. A small sliver of wood or straw
is inserted into the vagina to prevent complete blockage and to leave
a passage for urine and the menstrual flow. This fusion is called infibulation.
(Williams and Cohen-Dodge)
Re-Infibulation
Reinfibulation is performed on women previously subjected to infibulations
and who have given birth. The main motive for performing reinfibulation
was to satisfy the husband sexually. . .The young women saw themselves
as passive in the decision process, claiming that the midwife and female
relatives were behind the decision. Men were not involved in decisions
to perform reinfibulation but seemed to play a supportive role when decisions
were made not to perform it . . . (Almroth-Berggren, et al.)
Clitoridectomy
Clitoridectomy is defined as, “removal of clitoris, and excision of the
labia minora, as well as the inner layers of the labia majora.” (Williams
and Cohen-Dodge, par. 35)
Sunna “
. . . Sunnah circumcision - cutting only the outer part
of the clitoris. . .” (Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN),
par. 9)
WHO Types
Type I -- Partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or the prepuce
(clitoridectomy). Type II -- Partial or total removal of the clitoris
and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora . .
. Type III -- Narrowing of the vaginal orifice with creation of a covering
seal by cutting and appositioning the labia minora and/or the labia majora,
with or without excision of the clitoris (infibulation). Type IV -- All
other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes,
for example: pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization.
(WHO, Classification of FGM, par. 2)
The above-mentioned terms are basic in the FGM-world. However, other
terms may appear in different reading materials pertaining to FGM, from
different parts of the world. These terms are relative to regional, cultural,
religious, or other terminologies. It’s a Crying Shame! FGM is a crying
shame. Many tears have been shed in places where FGM is the norm. They
are the tears of young girls, torn from their warm beds and sweet dreams.
Dr. Nawaal El Saadawi, Egyptian doctor, former politician and former Egyptian
Minister of Health describes her personal experience at the hands of the
circumcisers, in an online excerpt from her book, The Naked (Hidden) Face
of Eve: 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.
(To be continued)
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