Ending the Tradition

 

Imagine living in a world where you were punished for being a female. Imagine being born into a culture where your family mutilated a crucial part of your body before you even understood its function. Imagine having to conform to social ideologies about your sexuality before you even developed it. This nightmare is a reality for several young girls raised in African and Middle Eastern countries that practice female circumcision. It is the surgical removal of a female’s clitoris. It is also referred to as female genital cutting, or more contemporarily female genital mutilation (FGM). Girls are usually between the ages of 5-10 when they get their clitorises removed however some girls are reported to be as young as 4 or as old as 12 in some cases. The ritual of female circumcision is based on tradition, religious values, and myths and has been a reality for African and Middle Eastern women for many generations. This procedure is extremely harmful and sometimes fatal to the victims. Above all, female circumcision severely contributes to the oppression of women. Female genital mutilation should be illegal. The only way the practice will cease is if the next generation of these cultures refuses to circumcise their daughters.

             Sunna is the removal of the clitoral hood. Female circumcision is a clitoridectomy, a procedure where the clitoris is surgically removed. At times female circumcision is performed in conjunction with infibulation where the labia majora and labia minora are cut off along with the clitoris and sewed up with the vaginal hole. When this occurs a small opening is left to allow for menstruation and urination, leaving no possibilities for sexual activity or intercourse (Boyle 25-26). Female genital mutilation is harmful to the victims psychologically, emotionally and physically. In her biography I Was Tortured for Being A Girl Mary Solio claims:

“They placed me on my hands and knees over an animal skin and prepared me for the procedure…one woman sat on my back, and the other women held down my legs so I couldn’t close them or kick…then I saw the shiny razor blade in the circumcisers hands…and my blood splattered all over me…I was covered with sweat, and I even peed on myself. It took five sliced to remove my clitoris and labia. The pain was unbearable-I had no anesthesia” (Solio 114-115).

The savage manner in which the procedure is performed and the severe physical pain can leave the victim traumatized and psychologically and emotionally damaged. Even if anesthesia was applied the genital area is so sensitive that applying it would be painful as well. The act of female genital mutilation is cultural and ritualistic and the surgery is almost always performed in unsanitary circumstances. The tools used are often unclean and leave the victim susceptible to disease and infections. Boyle claims, “The risk of these problems is reduced but not eliminated when FGC [female genital cutting] is performed in modern medical facilities…Having a trained professional conduct the procedures reduces but does not eliminate health risks” (Boyle 33).  She goes on to describe how infections are prevalent due to the bleeding and the wound being exposed as well as urine retention due to the pain of the wound (Boyle 33). Aside from the extreme pain involved, shock, ulcerations, urinal retention and tissue damage are immediate effects of the procedure. Hemorrhage and infections are fatal consequences of the procedure. The long term complications of the surgery include development and formation of cysts, keloids and abscesses, urethral damage, and complications with urination and menstruation. Dyspharenia and inability to engage in sexual activity are results that go without mention. Aside from the physical health risks, the removal of the clitoris leaves the female with severe psychological effects that may never subside. Boyle also says, “In addition to these complications, infibulation- the most serious form of FGC-carries other long term health consequences. These include reproductive tract infections, painful menstruation, chronic urinary tract obstructions, and incontinence” (Boyle 34). The procedure can be fatal because it can complicate giving birth and contribute to the contraction of AIDS and other deadly diseases and infections. Would you compromise the future sexuality of your daughter and demand she experience such a frightening episode and be susceptible to the major health risks involved? Considering the extensive health risks, medical complications and apparent anguish involved in the procedure it is hard to conceive of any willingness of the parents to put their daughter through it. However, most families take part in the procedure based on its customary values in effort to maintain a cultural heritage that has been active for generations

            Female genital mutilation is strictly traditional and contributes to the continuation of women’s oppression in third world countries. The reasons the practitioners of the violent and dangerous ritual continue the tradition and oppose the eradication of the practice vary. They are widely based on social and religious values that help men maintain dominance over women in these cultures. The main reason female genital mutilation is practiced is to ensure the virginity of a young girl before she marries and to ensure her fidelity to her husband after she marries.  In essence, the purpose is to control or eliminate a girl’s sexuality. Some of the FGM practicing societies view women who haven’t been circumcised as dirty aren’t allowed to handle water and food and other consumable items (Amnesty).  Sometimes the opposition of eradicating female genital mutilation is based on monetary gain. Boyle suggests, “The individuals who earn money from the practice have incentive to perpetuate it” (Boyle 29). Many illogical myths have a social influence on the performance of female genital mutilation. Some specific beliefs claim the clitoris is dangerous to the husband and may even kill him if he or his penis comes in contact with it. The clitoris is also viewed as dangerous to the mother’s baby and will kill it if it comes in contact with it as well. These myths need not be disproved as it is obvious that the rest of the world is having healthy child births and safe sexual relationships that allow a woman to maintain her clitoris.

The myths that surround the practice are preposterous and exemplify how much the belief in female genital mutilation is completely sexist. It can be argued that male circumcision is also a tradition based on religious and social influences as well. However, there are actual texts in the Bible explaining the religious purpose of male circumcision, none of which are found in reference to any type of genital correction necessary for the holiness of a female. Also, male circumcision is proven to aid in genital hygiene while FGM does the exact opposite and worse. There are negative social attitudes toward uncircumcised men; however they aren’t in correlation to the attitudes about a woman not having a clitoris. There is a large difference between a woman preferring a man without foreskin and a woman preferring a man without a penis. If people went around chopping off a boy’s penis, when he became old enough to receive an erection, because of the sexual pleasure it would provide him in the future their would be a world wide uproar. Therefore, the removal of the female sex organ is not based on logic, it is based on tradition.

The tradition originally contained social aspects and beliefs. Uncircumcised women were viewed as undesirable to men and unclean because their clitoris would drive them to succumb to sexual urges that would result in infidelity. Recent studies show that the Sudanese youth admit that the practice is now strictly traditional. In the Ahfad Journal from the Ahfad University for Women the results of one study claim, “it seems relevant to recognize the negative role of the Culture Inhibition Syndrome (CIS) that resists the positive change in attitudes, even among male and female university students who come from families of high socio-economic status”(Ahfad 29). Recent studies of the Ahfad Journal also show that the majority of men prefer an uncircumcised wife:

“A sizable number of respondents (48% workers, 38% nurses, 26% clerical staff & 28% advocators) had feelings of fear from the wedding night, or rather the first sexual intercourse with women with tight vaginal orifice. The feelings of the minority who fear infliction of pain on the spouse and failure to sexually satisfy her, might add to the agony of the scared respondents. Moreover, the great majority of respondents who experienced difficulty in effecting coitus would probably develop anxiety and such feeling would most probably be exacerbated if coitus were not affected in a reasonable length of time. Under such situations, it is common that they resort to the use of lubricants to facilitate coitus. However, if this fails, trials to affect coitus continue for a length of time that might extend to a month or more. Some normally resort to a doctor or midwife to widen the narrow vaginal orifice by-surgical intervention. On the other hand, others may dwell onto the suspicion of impotence, a situation that has been reported to lead to divorce (Rushwan, 1983, 1994). Going through such negative experience, an overwhelming majority of the respondents admitted preference of uncircumcised spouse, had they been given the choice before marriage” (Ahfad 18)

Times are changing, and what was used before as a reason to practice FGM can now be used as a reason to eradicate the tradition. Modern statistics refute ancient myths and beliefs about FGM. As times change some traditions need to remain in the past. While the rest of the world has granted women social justice and other Third World countries are presently fighting against the oppression of their female citizens, these FGM practicing countries are insistent on upholding an old tradition that has no place in a millennium where the sexuality and sexual rights of women is acknowledged and flourishing.

In a male dominated world women have been oppressed since the beginning of civilization in many different ways, but to strip someone of the ability to be a healthy sexual being that their nature intended is a violation that far exceeds oppression. It is permanently confiscating her right to be a woman and her right to be a human. The procedure is an inconceivable violation of human rights and a form of women’s sexual and social oppression. Because girls are so young when they get their clitorises removed they don’t completely understand its function and purpose and are stripped of their sexuality before they even reach puberty. The clitoris is a large part of a female’s womanhood as it represents her sexuality and sexual desires. Without the clitoris sex becomes a routine chore for the woman and not a pleasurable experience because her capability to enjoy the act has been removed. She becomes an object of domestic value and procreative tool.  The surgery ensures that the purpose of the female genitals is strictly procreative. One recent victim claims:

"The procedure was carried out on me alone. There were no rituals involved but I received gifts and a lot of attention during that time to initiate me into womanhood. The procedure definitely reduced my urge for sex, and this was the whole idea anyway. The only health consequence of the circumcision is that now, part of my body gets tender and bleeds when friction in that area occurs, which is quite discomforting but it heals quickly on application of a medical cream. Given the choice now, I will not allow it to happen, knowing how demeaning the experience was for me as a woman and how the whole thought of it being done to lessen my sex drive makes me feel like a sex object"(Iris 62).

 The surgery prepares a girl for marriage to a man several years older than herself and may confine her to a household where she is nothing more that a servant, concubine and child bearer. Mary Solio claims, “A year after my circumcision, when I was 16, my father chose a 38 year old man I’d never met, Royco, for me to marry”(Cosmo 115).  This is a lifestyle predetermined by the culture and that isn’t very ideal to most young girls, leaving the girl without educational possibilities, freedom of choice, and hope of achieving dreams for the future. This is hardly a future that should be highly anticipated by a young girl. FGM provokes the victim’s envy of foreign females who have their clitorises and their rights and leaves them with irreversibly mutilated genitalia and shattered dreams.

Many women with in the practicing countries perpetuate the continuation of it. The statistics of a study in the Ahfad Journal claim, “Amost negative attitude is reflected by the intention of 21% of the female respondents to circumcise their future daughter/s” (Ahfad 29). These women and the ones who comply with the practice lack the essential education of their body and sexuality. The religious education dominates scientific fact and even though the women may not want to receive or perform the surgery, they are brainwashed by the teachings of their culture. Education is essential in ceasing the tradition of FGM. It is imperative that both men and women in these cultures don’t become a product of their society and give in to culture inhibition syndrome. If the youth of these cultures education themselves and utilize the modern education about FGM that is available to them it will prevent the continuation of the tradition and create a better society for the next generation of daughters who will hopefully have the same social and sexual rights as other women in the world.

Nearly 30 African countries participate in the practice of female genital mutilation including Sudan , Somalia , Kenya , Ethiopia , West Africa , Mali , The Red Sea Coasts, Sierra Leone , and many more countries, mostly sub-Saharan. Many European countries have already illegalized female genital mutilation. Several African countries are taking an American feminist perspective toward the issue and are seeing it as the de-humanizing abomination that it is and are making steps to eradicate it. Because the victims are young and un-consenting and the aggressive manner in which the procedure is performed many countries are regulating female genital circumcision under governmental crime laws such as child abuse, assault, and violence against women and health laws. Many national, local and hospital bans, national and state policies and anti-FGM (female genital mutilation) campaigns are making progress toward the eradication of the practice. “In 1984 at a conference in Dakar to follow up on the WHO Seminar, the Inter-African Committee (IAC) on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children  was organized by African Women to prevent and eradicate FGM”(Hosken). Guinea-Bissau , Mauritania , Sudan , Burkina Faso , Chad , Egypt , Eritrea , Gambia , Ghana and other African countries have discouraged the practice with educational campaigns, women’s rights campaigns, feminist activism and government education programs to help the citizens understand why FGM is potentially fatal and has dangerous and irreversible consequences on the victims. It is essential that female genital mutilation be outlawed worldwide so that the next generation of women in third world countries can start paving the way for the social progression women in these cultures and societies. The tradition should die with the past in which it was created and allow a modern Africa and Middle East to move toward sexually liberating their female youth.

 

Works Cited

Amnesty International (AI)

World Health Organization Khartoum, Sudan, 1979.

<http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm1.htm#a6>

Boyle, Elizabeth Herger.  Female Genital Cutting: Cultural Conflict in the Global             Community. Baltimore and London : The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

Hosken, Fran P.   “Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)”

WIN NEWS/Fran P. Hosken, editor, 187 Grant St., Lexington , MA 02420-2126 , USA . Tel: (781) 862-9431, E-mail winnews@igc.org

<http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/inter/fgm.htm>

“Psycho-sexual effect of female genital mutilation on Sudanese men.”  Ahfad Journal 21

            June 2004: 18.

 “Knowledge and attitudes of Sudanese youth towards female genital mutilation/female

circumcision (FGM/FC).”  Ahfad Journal 21 June 2004: 29.

“Knowledge, perception and attitudes of a sector of female health providers towards

            FGM-case study: female doctors.”  Ahfad Journal 20 December 2003: 4.

Solio, Mary.  “I Was Tortured for Being a Girl.” Cosmo Girl.  March 2003: 114-115.

“The Truth About Female Genital Mutilation.”  Iris-A Journal About Women 29

            September 2004: 62.

 

© 2013 by Chastity Unique Smith. All rights reserved.