Widespread female circumcision

i had my dick circumcised

When I first heard of FGM (female genital mutilation), I cried. How could such a horrible practice be about? How could people in those regions believe something such as this is just and right in order to perserve religion and society?

Wake up people FGM is about cutting off the clitoris so the girl has no sexual feelings. That is the majority of female circumcisions are about.

Cutting off the CLITORIS!!!!! It is the same as cutting off the penis and castrating a boy.

WAKE UP!!!!!

I wish the women would see their potential to be able to change tradition. The article stated that men don't have such a great role in the practice so i don't understand why a mother can't realize how illogical the tradition is and keep it from spreading to her daughter.

wow such barbaric things still in this world and i guess that it will never change. Why cant the world take responcibility and stop all the crap. Just clamp down.We are just regressing, so sad but the world is asleep.

Uhm Okay: I really don't want rail but I just want to interject something here. In the old testaments We See God giving the instructions to the People. These Instructions were valid at the time. I don't remember reading anything about Women being Circumcised but for Men the practice was for Health purposes. Simply put that infection could be a problem. Of course God did not explain this. Now We understand that, and I don't remember it anyway. Since Jesus died on the Cross, We have entered into a New Covenant and these practices are no longer necessary. I have never heard of Christians in America practicing this on Young Girls. Let's try not to generalize here. It is not at all common. Since Jews do not believe in Christ as the Messiah, they still perform the male circumcision. I believe that for Girls this is Barbaric and in no way would I ever consider this for My Girls. I notice that there is a lot of generalizing and fooling around with gray areas. Some of these statements show glaringly of Your lack of Education in Biblical matters. It is also not necessary for You to attack individuals for theirs either. The constant barrage of attacks on Religion here is really quite evident and unacceptable. No one is attacking You for Your specific beliefs, and Your attempts of appearing "Intelligent" and forward thinking show glaringly just the opposite. In fact, practically every entry or response You make, has some form of attack on Men or Religion attached to it. This appears to be some form of obsession on Your part, and seeing this I can no longer accept Your Opinions stated here as being unbiased. I'm sure if I railed against Hetrophobia and constantly attacked Female Mysogeny etc. etc. I would receive untold attacks from (and you know who You are) everyone who disagrees. Will You boycott My Birthday? Will You attack My Spelling or perhaps My Grammer? I do not trust Organized Religion for it's all or nothing attitude any more than Yours. I do not agree nor propose any acceptance of radical Islam or even its rituals. But I do not attack them for it. They have a Right to their practices in their own Country. Be thankful it is not required here. Even the Articles You submit are geared tword preaching and disseminating Your Personal Agenda rather than presenting the News as it is. The Bullying and name calling is repulsive and Personally I won't even read Your articles or respond because of this. I get all the News on the Internet that I need thank You. I do not condone Male Bashing any more than Female Bashing. I'm thinking that it is a Maturity Issue here. But maybe not. Either way I could "give a shit" at Your Response really.

I've read all kinds of stories about FGM on this site and I understand the cultural relativity and all that, but the truth is... it's all about controlling. That is wrong, I don't care if you're islamic or the freaking Pope. Think about it for a second before you spew forth what you learned in today's cultural anthro class... you call anyone who objects to FGM judgemental, yet you just judged them for having an opinion.

Think about it.

This strikes me as yet another example of a traditional or tribal practice incorporated into and justified by a mainstream religion.

These girls are never asked whether they would like to continue on being Muslim at all, or whether or not they would like to be circumcised. They are forced into it. Then they do not even receive the benefit of anesthetics during the procedure, or any kinds of disinfectants. Many girls end up with infections that leave them infertile. This practice is completely unethical and constitutes torture.

i would love to take respect cultural relativism on this one, but these women are being robbed of any expression of their sexuality, which is an extension of individuality.

i feel bad for them, and i hope those that refuse can escape this fate.

Sorry folks, but I strongly protest circumcision in all forms. This is done mostly by either fearful or lazy parents who don't want to get their hands dirty cleaning their children's genitals properly.

Cutting off a girls clitoris and stitching up the girls vaginal opening are not hygienic practices, they are barbaric. I don't buy the cultural sensitivity thing when it comes to this.

What has not been mentioned so far is the trauma of giving birth for a woman who has been circumcised. When the labia have been removed and the two sides then sewn together leaving a tiny hole it is painful enough to have sex but when during childbirth it can only be imagined what has to take place.

Let's go back to the beginning here. The reason for this practice is so that the girl can be married. This means that a man will not marry the girl if she is not circumcised. Will a potential wife refuse to marry a man if he is not circumcised - no, because in these cultures she is not consulted in the matter. Therefore this is another male biaised ritual which only appears in those cultures and societies where men are dominant and women have no rights at all.

It is not our place to judge other cultures but we can express outrage at what we see as a barbaric and to some a morally abhorrent prractice. Neither do we in the west have any right whatsoever to say what should and should not happen in other societies. But we can attempt to respectfully educate those who are doing something under the impression that it is wholesome when it is the opposite. That is how the transmission of AIDS has been reduced in some African countries by government education programmes to get over the male desire for unprotected sex.

Progress will be very slow but this despicable tradition will one day be history.

The whole reason the west is having a problem with Islam at all - is that their men are deathly afraid that the women will decide they can go do whatever they wish - like they see in the west.
Then they'd have to figure out something else to do for a living - cause their females would just take off for higher ground.
They'd have to grow up, get smart, - make money and learn how to please a woman.
That is the real problem.

she's SEVEN, she has an ear-to-ear smile, looking for the party her mother had promised only to have her little clit hacked off and her whole world scarred for life.

GREAT JOB ALLAH! you freakin RULE! no, really.

how DARE anyone try to defend the rights of an innocent 7 year old? the nerve.

Female circumcision does not make sex painful for women (see my post six posts above) except in the case of infibulation in which a woman is cut open by her husband, and the majority of males are circumcised when they are seven years old or adults. There are five types or degrees of female circumcision, ranging from a nick in the hood to removing the labia and stitching up the flesh. As I explained above, the clitoris cannot be cut off, only the glans of the clitoris can be cut off, leaving over 90% of the clitoris intact. I am profoundly against genital mutilation - both male and female - but I also find that there is great ignorance of the facts, hence my explanations.

This has been an ongoing issue all over the world. The major differences between male and female circumcision is the age and how it's preformed. In so many cases young girls are cut with blunt objects that are not sterile in the midst of their youth, causing so much trauma. In contrast males are circumcised mostly when they're first born unable to remember with proper medical equipment and medicine.
Many female circumcisions happens in countries where women are not seen as equal and are controlled by male society. They have this done to make sex painful so that they remain faithful to their husbands. (Which many times are arranged marriages that they have no say in) It's not just the clitoris that is cut off but also the labia can be stitched up to make the opening of the vagina the size of a pencil. Not all countries practice the same ritual or for the same reasons but either way it's immoral and a violation of their bodies.

I've been a long time opponent of male circumcision (of which I am a victim :( ), but female circumcision seems so much more brutal. It seems like it'd be the equivalent of cutting the head off of the penis! Of course, I'm not basing this view on any medical research, just my own sexual experience. I couldn't imagine getting down with a chick minus the clitoris. I wouldn't know what to do!

"Lightfoot-Klein (1989) studied circumcised and infibulated females in Sudan, stating, "Contrary to expectations, nearly 90% of all women interviewed said that they experienced orgasm (climax) or had at various periods of their marriage experienced it. Frequency ranged from always to rarely." Lightfoot-Klein stated that the quality of orgasm varied from intense and prolonged, to weak or difficult to achieve.

A study in 2007 found that in some infibulated women, some erectile tissue fundamental to producing pleasure had not been completely excised.[72] Defibulation of subjects revealed that a part of or the whole of the clitoris was underneath the scar of infibulation. The study found that sexual pleasure and orgasm are still possible after infibulation, and that they rely heavily on cultural influences — when mutilation is lived as a positive experience, orgasm is more likely. When FGC is experienced as traumatic, its frequency drops. The study suggested that FGC women who did not suffer from long-term health consequences and are in a good and fulfilling relationship may enjoy sex, and women who suffered from sexual dysfunction as a result of FGC have a right to sex therapy."

Nowhere in the Koran or the Hadith is female circumcision even mentioned, let alone prescribed. In many Muslim countries, the people are kept in ignorance of this and other truths through illiteracy. Female circumcision and excision is also practiced by Christians and by Animists in African and other countries.

The more I hear about this, the more I want to punch somebody in the face.

@Nettle

You offer an intelligent reply. Your argument depends on a radical cultural relativism - i.e. all cultures are equally good. And a culture where female circumcision, genital mutilation, is rampant; is a perfect test case.

First, I wonder if there is any cultural practice you would object to? Child brides? Honor killings? Slavery?

While I realize the potential for the proverbial slippery slope, I am willing to assert that female circumcision, like slavery or honor killings, is always wrong, period. I believe there are a few moral absolutes, absolutes which transcend culture.

REALITY CHECK

This is excision of the clitoris we are talking about here, not circumcision

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excision

Female genital cutting
http://current.com/items/89661738/widespread_female_circumcision.htm

Female genital mutilation
http://www.who.int/topics/female_genital_mutilation/en/

The Female Genital Cutting Education and Networking Project
http://www.fgmnetwork.org/index.php
http://www.fgmnetwork.org/intro/fgmintro.php

150 MILLION GIRLS AND WOMEN MUTILATED IN AFRICA-MIDDLE EAST
http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/inter/fgm.htm

IT IS BARBARIC & ANYONE DEFENDING IT AN OBSCURANTIST !

Ethnocentricity: 1. Sociology. the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture. 2. a tendency to view alien groups or cultures from the perspective of one's own.

Congratulations you two! You've just judged an entire culture based on your own views. Nice.

Female circumcision is a part of their culture in the same way male circumcision is a part of ours. The only reason people view it in such a negative, tragic light is because we don't make females cut off their busy parts here. You can argue with me about how female circumcisions are useless and part of a "brainwashing" religion, but that doesn't matter. What matters is what THEY think. If that girl doesn't get the operation, she's unmarriageable and brings shame on her family. And just for the record, males have the same standard.

It is unethical for us to step into someone else's lives and say, "Hey you guys are stupid. The things you do and the reasons why you do them are stupid, so we're going to make you stop. Why? Because we're better than you are." It's wrong.

The only way it would ever be appropriate for female circumcision to be stopped is if the women of said culture don't want it anymore; not us. If there's a movement of women who seek the end of the practice or at least cleaner instruments and the use of anesthetics, then power to them, but it is not our place to judge them.

"This is the practice of the Kurdish people for as long as anyone can remember," said the mother, "We don't know why we do it, but we will never stop because Islam and our elders require it."

Another example of religious brainwashing.