FGM

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has become a global ‘law by custom’ practice with the United Nations estimating 130 million women affected currently and an additional 3 million more annually. Other names for FGM include Female circumcision or female cutting, the vocabulary for which sparks debate over just how humane the practice is. It is difficult to pin down precise numbers of practitioners due in part to regional bands and remote locations however it is still practiced in parts of Africa, Asia and in some Arab Countries. According to the Demographic and Health Survey , it is practiced among communities in : Benin, Burkina Faso ( banned in a draft constitution), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire , Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt ( officially banned however reports indicate 97% participant levels), Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya (banned in 1990 but still practiced), Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan(law’s agented infibulations only enacted in 1946, but not enforced), Tanzania, Togo, Uganda. Due to immigration it has become a prevalent topic once again in places such as the United States, France, Australia the UK (banned in 1989) ,Europe (banned in 1982) and other places where it had all but simmered and died out.

The most common type of cuttings, which are typically performed on girls before puberty around age seven, but as young as age three are incision and clitoridectomy (as seen here Infibulation).  The process of having an incision involves the cutting of the clitoris, clitoral prepuce and also making incisions in and around the vaginal wall. Having a clitoridectomy is the partial or total removal of a woman’s clitoris. Less popular procedures include excision, which is the removal of the clitoral hood and may involve parts of the clitoris (depending on the localized community tradition). Infibulation, which is the removal of all parts of the external genitalia (including the clitoris, labia minora and labia majora) then stitching together to narrow the vaginal wall to leave only a small hole, roughly the size of a match stick head for internal fluids to pass through. Any other type of cutting is classified as, unclassified and encompasses the altering, stitching, pricking, scratching and any other manner of mutilation not listed in the aforementioned text.              Infibulation distorts the vaginal wall so drastically that women who have undergone this type of cutting may only give birth via cesarean section, if they later do not undergo another procedure called de-infibulation. De-infibulation is the basic and temporary undoing of the original mutilation and is done by slowly cutting the surgical site on the woman’s wedding night by either her husband or the person who infibulated her the first time. This not only allows for a vaginal birth but also makes intercourse a different experience than for those who have not received it. Alternatively and more common is not receiving de-infibulation where a woman’s vaginal opening remains the size of a match stick and the experience of sex is not unlike rape.  Penetration can easily cause tears, scars, dysparenia, vaginismum, bleeding, shock and infection. The formation of scar tissue at the suture site causes this process to occur over and over again. Re-infibulation is the stitching together of the raw edges after childbirth, simulating the original infibulations act.

FGM is practiced all over the world for many different reasons. Many Islamic cultures have thought in the past or in part for it to be a religious right and duty as a girl passes on in to womanhood, however it is not sanctioned as law in Islam. Another idea behind the cutting is that it is for cleanliness and aesthetic value, ideas that a woman’s clit will grow to be the size of a man’s penile tissue is a popular one-especially in areas of very hot and humid climates. As a woman who grew up in the dirty south, having not received infibulation, I can be the guarantor that this will not make your clit grow abnormally large.   A deterrent against rape and promiscuousness has been offered up as a reason by many as a way of protecting the women. However, with the promise forming and reformation of scar tissue upon voluntary sexual acts is one of the driving forces behind women fighting to claim their own bodies through court cases- challenging long standing traditions and customs in their communities. Families oftentimes fear that not having their child circumcised will handicap her from marriage since men are expected to marry women who have received this treatment, thus this is also a driving factor.  There is another perspective that all children born have both sexual characteristics of one another and that these should be corrected in order to properly assign gender roles in life. The idea being that the clitoris is too closely relative to a penis and should be removed; and in males, the foreskin is remnants of the labia. Providing ‘corrective’ (plastic) surgery for the children in the community is the only way some believe they will live a productive and less sexually confusing life.

Before its outlaw in the 1950’s the United States and Eastern European countries practiced FGM for their belief that is would solve so called mental ailments and fixations such as nymphomania, lesbianism and chronic masturbation: even non sexual disorders such as hysteria and epilepsy have been treated with FGM (sites Thomas O Koso in The Circumcision of Women: A Strategy for Eradication report 1987). Taking a close look at our long record with, A short history of the institutionalization of involuntary sexual mutilation in the United States by George C Dennison, he sites Medical Records from the 1860’s where doctors overwhelmingly suggest all women be candidates for FGM stating "What now will be the chance for recovery for the poor epileptic female with a clitoris?" and offers up this idea as a good solution for out of work doctors to keep them busy.

Media outlets have brought attention to FGM in recent years, through television, music and film. Such was the case in 2008 when the CW’s hit show America’s Next Top Model had a contestant (Fatima Said) who underwent circumcision at age seven, while growing up in Somalia. She began a campaign on air to bring attention to the practice. In 2010 the South African hip-hop group Die Antwoord released their single Evil Boy ( Die Antwoord- Evil Boy) featuring Xhosa rapper (a native speaker of the Bantu languages) Wanga. Spelled out in the verses and depicted in the overwhelmingly phallic nature of the music video, is Wanga’s decry and public voice of disapproval for his own circumcision. The 2004 film Moolade by writer and director Ousmane Sembene tells the dramatic story of a community being torn apart by acts of FGM.

As painful and unsanctioned as this may seem the idea of some of these procedures are not unlike those which are still carried out and supported here in the United States. In a survey stretching from 1999 to 2004 by The National Health and Nutrition Examination, 79% of men report being circumcised. Numbers and reasons vary by region, but ranking high is the traditional and aesthetic properties of having a circumcised son. There is no medical reason anymore to have this procedure performed, however it still in high demand today.  Likened to this school of thought on corrective child surgery are those children born with an incompatible biological gender. As parents we want our children to grow up with all of the opportunities possible, and fear of relational complications and embarrassment drive decisions to have infants surgically assigned a gender when one is not distinctive. Although the methods of going about these (stated: very different procedures) are opposite in their own right, the intention and reason which drives them forward can be suggested to be the same.