Female Gential Mutilation,A Barbaric Practice
Poetic_Princess:
Female Genital Mutilation, A Barbaric Practice
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a destructive, invasive procedure that is usually performed on girls before puberty ranging
From ages of 4 through to 16 years of age.
It is a cultural operation in which girls around the ages of 12 to 15
To purify them for marriage so that they would not stray and commit adultery.
FGM originated in Africa. It was, and remains, a cultural, not a religious practice.
Among individuals and groups opposed to the mutilation, it is seen as a method of reducing the sexual response of women in order to make them less likely to become sexually active before marriage or to seek an extra-marital affair after marriage.
To some who promote the operation, it is seen as a cultural requirement that has health benefits and makes women more physically beautiful. These views are not shared by the rest of the world.
The operation is forced on approximately 6,000 girls per day, worldwide -- about one every 15 seconds. Since FGM is practiced when the girls are young, they are unable to give their informed consent.
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 has had the operation. FGM is outlawed in some countries where it had been widely practiced, such as Kenya and Senegal. It is criminalized in some western countries, where it is normally practiced only by a small number of recent immigrants.
THE PROCESS OF HELL
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is practiced in many 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. 1 A second operation is done later in life to reverse some of the damage. In some cultures, the woman is cut open by her husband on their wedding night with a double edged dagger. She may be sewn up again if her husband leaves on a long trip.
Because of poverty and lack of medical facilities, the procedure is frequently done under less than hygienic conditions, and often without anesthetic by other than medically trained personnel. Anesthesia is rarely used. Razor blades, knives or scissors are usually the instruments used. The In the rural Mossi areas of Burkina Faso, group female circumcisions are scheduled every three years in many villages. Girls aged from 5 to 8 are assembled by their mothers into groups of up to 20. The circumcision "uses a knife-like instrument, the barga, reserved specifically for this purpose; after each operation she simply wipes the knife on a piece of cloth, sometimes rinsing it in water first." In some areas of Africa, FGM is delayed until two months before a woman gives birth. This practice is based on the belief that the baby will die if she/he comes into contact with their mother's clitoris during birth. We are unaware of any medical evidence to support this belief.
Why it is Done? The most ridiculous and unlikely reasons known:
The justification for the operation appears to be largely grounded in a desire to terminate or reduce feelings of sexual arousal in women so that they will be much less likely to engage in pre-marital intercourse or adultery. The clitoris holds a massive number of nerve endings, and generates feelings of sexual arousal when stimulated.
Uncircumcised women in countries where FGM is normally performed have difficulty finding a marriage partner. Men typically prefer a circumcised wife because they are considered more likely to be faithful. Other claims in support of FGM are:
The clitoris is dangerous and must be removed for health reasons. Some believe that it is a poisonous organ, which can cause a man to sicken or die if contacted by a man's penis. Others believe that men can become impotent by contacting a clitoris, or that a baby will be hydrocephalic (born with excess cranial fluid) if its head contacts the clitoris during birth. Some believe that the milk of the mother will become poisonous if her clitoris touches the baby during childbirth.
Bad genital odors can only be eliminated by removing the clitoris and labia minora.
FGM prevents vaginal cancer.
An unmodified clitoris can lead to masturbation or lesbianism.
FGM prevents nervousness from developing in girls and women.
FGM prevents the face from turning yellow.
FGM makes a woman's face more beautiful.
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.
An intact clitoris generates sexual arousal in women which can cause neuroses if repressed.
These claims appear to have little support outside of countries where FGM is common.
The fear of AIDS has been used by both sides of this issue. Shiek Badri stated in 1997-JUN: "Those who are not circumcised get AIDS easily" But opponents to the practice sometimes claim that AIDS is spread by the unhygienic practices during the procedure itself.
The procedure has been banned in several African nations, including Burkina Faso, Djibouti, the Central African Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, and Togo yet it goes on and still is very much present today as it was in the past.
Very few brave girls get away from being mutilated they have to run for their lives for instance
Philister Akenda, 16 from Kenya
"My parents said I was a big girl so I must be circumcised and get married.
"They wanted me to be married to a 65-year-old man who was already a grandfather.
I had finished my primary education and got a place at Masai Secondary School.
I wanted to be educated first and I thought I was still young."
Elizabeth Koperper, 12 from Kenya
"I was scared of being circumcised when I learnt that my father was preparing for the ceremony.
"The old men in our village were talking about it.
"So I escaped with the others through the forest.
"I am happy to be here."
It is sad and hard to swallow the hardships and tribulations many women all over the world have to go through, when will this be stopped completely, when a young girl dies from the operation but that too may have happened but yet no one cares about it and all the ills and pain gets from this act such as hemorrhage, shock, painful scars, keloid formation, labial adherences, clitoral cysts, chronic urinary infection, and chronic pelvic infections. Later in life, it can cause kidney stones, sterility, sexual dysfunction, depression, and various gynecological and obstetric problems.
All these things happen due to an act which is cultural and not as told by others as being religious, an act which claims to protect it’s young women from committing adultery for all those who support, I don’t know how they that support such a thing can live with themselves, one who does such a thing lives and dwells within a very sicken and ignorant mind.
hailiniemperor:
Thank you empress for this article. Reading this made me cringe. I have heard of this before though but I did not know it originated in Africa. I had read about it in a book called Princess by a Middle Eastern woman. These practices are absolutely diabolically horrific. It appalls me that there are men out there that would approve of this method. They obviously do not trust any woman. And thus cannot truly love any woman. My heart and blessings go out to those poor girls that have to endure such atrocities just to please an ignorant state of mind. Yes, Barbarian practices go on all over the world in every country, every state. I yearn for a day when these dirty acts can be made clean and righteousness rule. May Selassie I burn them! Grace.
Jere:
Some years ago I met a few girls from Africa ( I don't remember exactly fom where they were) who had to escape from their home villages because of this. One of the girls was nine when her parents tried to force her to get her body mutilated. They told me that many girls in the villages nearby had died bacuse of the bleeding, and many of those who survived had dangerous infections. The bad hygiene and the terrible treatment probably didn't increase the chanses of a succesfull operation.
I can't understand why the parents are willing to do this to their children, they must know how dangerous and painfull it is. But I guess it is a old tradition, how stupid it may be, and it will be hard to put a end to it.
Because of that the least the western-world could do is send some medical help ( maybe they have done it, I don't know ).
RastafarI
ps. i'm from Finland so my english is not very good, sorry.
Poetic_Princess:
Greets Jere
Many persons in Africa considers this to be a cultural tradition not a religious one, cause it is up to a particular tribe to whether if they want they women to be mutilated or not.
In regards of the westerns sending help even if they did at times it maybe to late or even if they cared at all to send help because many westerns wouldn't take it as such as a serious issues or may not want to get invovle in such things.
Jere:
Yes I, I don't think the rest of the world cares a lot about Africa unless they can get some sort of profit from it.
If something like this would be happening in Europe the rest of the world would surely send help.
Here we see once again what Africa, and the black population really means to the white people. I know this might sound a little odd coming from a white boy, but things like this really make me angry.
RastafarI
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