As you are reading this article, there are between eight and ten million women and girls in the Middle East and in Africa who are at risk of undergoing one form or another of genital mutilation. In the United States it is estimated that about ten thousand girls are at risk of this practice.

Awa Thiam, the Senegalese writer and activist, notes that FGM in a variety of its forms is practiced in Middle Eastern countries (the two Yemens, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Southern Algeria). In Africa it is practiced in the majority of the continent including Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Upper Volta, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mozambique, and Sudan.

Even though FGM is practiced in mostly Islamic countries, it is not an exclusively Islamic practice. FGM is a cross-cultural and cross-religious ritual. In Africa and the Middle East it is performed by Muslims, Coptic Christians, members of various indigenous groups, Protestants, and Catholics, to name a few.

FGM has often been referred to as female circumcision and compared to male circumcision. However, such comparison is often misleading. Both practices include the removal of well- functioning parts of the genitalia and are quite unnecessary. Both rituals also serve to perpetuate customs which seek to regulate and keep control over the body and sexuality of the individual. However, FGM is far more drastic and damaging than male circumcision. A more appropriate analogy would be between clitoridectomy and penisdectomy where the entire penis is removed.

The term FGM covers three main varieties of genital mutilation:

1) "Sunna" circumcision: Consists of the removal of the prepuce and/or the tip of the clitoris. Sunna in Arabic means "tradition". 2) Clitoridectomy (also referred to as excision): Consists of the removal of the entire clitoris (both prepuce and glans), and the removal of the adjacent labia. 3) Infibulation:(also referred to as pharaonic circumcision) This most extreme form, consists of the removal of the clitoris, the adjacent labia (majora and minora), and the joining of the scraped sides of the vulva across the vagina, where they are secured with thorns or sewn with catgut or thread. A small opening is kept to allow passage of urine and menstrual blood. An infibulated woman must be cut open to allow intercourse on the wedding night and is closed again afterwards to secure fidelity to the husband.

FGM is mostly done in unsanitary conditions in which a midwife uses unclean sharp instruments such as razor blades, scissors, kitchen knives, and pieces of glass. These instruments are frequently used on several girls in succession and are rarely cleaned, causing the transmission of a variety of viruses such as the HIV virus, and other infections. Antiseptic techniques and anesthesia are generally not used, or for that matter, heard of. This is akin to a doctor who uses the same surgical instrument on a number of women at the same time without cleaning any of them.

Beyond the obvious initial pains of the operations, FGM has long-term physiological, sexual, and psychological effects. The unsanitary environment under which FGM takes place results in infections of the genital and surrounding areas and often results in the transmission of the HIV virus which can cause AIDS. Some of the other health consequences of FGM include primary fatalities as a result of shock, hemorrhage or septicemia. In order to minimize the risk of the transmission of the viruses, some countries like Egypt made it illegal for FGM to be practiced by any other practitioners than trained doctors and nurses in hospitals. While this seems to be a more humane way to deal with FGM and try to reduce its health risks, more tissue is apt to be taken away due to the lack of struggle by the child if anesthesia is used.

Long-term complications include sexual frigidity, genital malformation, delayed menarche, chronic pelvic complications, recurrent urinary retention and infection, and an entire range of obstetric complications whereas the fetus is exposed to a range of infectious diseases as well as facing the risk of having his or her head crushed in the damaged birth canal. In such cases the infibulated mother must undergo another operation whereby she is "opened" further to insure the safe birthing of her child.

Girls undergo FGM when they are around three years old, though some of them are much older than that when they undergo the operation. The age varies depending on the type of the ritual and the customs of the local village or region.

In various cultures there are many "justifications" for these practices. A girl who is not circumcised is considered "unclean" by local villagers and therefore unmarriageable. A girl who does not have her clitoris removed is considered a great danger and ultimately fatal to a man if her clitoris touches his penis.

One of the most common explanations of FGM is local custom. Women are often heard saying that they are unwilling to change these customs since they have always done it this way and are not about to change. Oftentimes the practitioners are kept ignorant of the real implications of FGM, and the extreme health risks that it represents.

Family honor, cleanliness, protection against spells, insurance of virginity and faithfulness to the husband, or simply terrorizing women out of sex are sometimes used as excuses for the practice of FGM.

Some people believe that FGM is a barbaric practice done to girls and women in some remote villages in foreign countries of the world. However, up until a few decades ago, it was still believed that the clitoris is a very dangerous part of the female anatomy. Who can forget S. Freud who stated in one of his books entitled Sexuality and the Psychology of Love that the "elimination of clitoral sexuality is a necessary precondition for the development of femininity."

As recently as 1979, the "Love Surgery" was performed on women in the United States. Dr. James E. Burt, the so-called Love Surgeon, introduced "clitoral relocation" (i.e. sunna circumcision) to the medical establishment. He believed and acted upon the idea that excision does not prevent sexual pleasure but enhances it. Dr. Burt practiced in Ohio for almost ten years before he was exposed after which he gave up his license.

FGM is also entering the United States with some immigrants who are holding on to their customs and identity. As of the beginning of this year, the United States courts still did not hold precedence over these cases.

Because of the large number of cases of FGM and some of the deaths it has caused, FGM is now outlawed in some European countries (Britain, France, Sweden, and Switzerland) and some African countries (Egypt, Kenya, Senegal).

It is also important to note that even though FGM is currently illegal in many countries in Africa and the Middle East, this has not reduced the number of the girls that are mutilated every year. The governments of these countries have no way of monitoring the spread and practice of FGM. The United Nations, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization has considered FGM to be a violation of Human Rights and have made recommendations to eradicate this practice. However, trying to fight FGM on legal terms is ineffective since those who practice it oftentimes do not report it. FGM is also widely practiced in villages and remote places where the government does not have an easy access.

A better and more effective approach would be a cooperation on the national level as well as the international level. The UN and the WHO have already taken the first step in abolishing these practices. Countries also need to have rigid laws that deal with FGM cases. This is also insufficient by itself. Anthropologists, educators, social scientists, and activists have to go into these villages and areas and educate the practitioners of the dangers of FGM. Female Genital Mutilation can only be abolished by a grassroots approach which would take into consideration all aspects of a particular culture and try to work within that system of beliefs to eradicate this no less than torturous practice.

On the United States level, there are many efforts that are being made in order to abolish the practice locally and internationally. The National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC), a networking organization have brought together social scientists and medical practitioners from all over the world who are fighting FGM as well as male circumcision. The Washington Metro Alliance Against Female Genital Mutilation in Washington DC has also been targeting FGM risk groups, and provides peer education for African Women by African women in WA Metro Community and interfaces with western health care providers and policy makers. In addition, Si-Kata has begun efforts to bring together the efforts of researchers and organizers around the United States in the hopes of exposing this practice on a national level as well as changing policies.

On the National Level, Congresswoman Patricia Shroeder introduced H.R. 3247, a bill to outlaw FGM in the United States in the fall of 1994. The bill was then combined with The Minority Health Initiatives Act, H.R.3864. This bill was then combined with H.R. 941 on February 14, 1995 which was to be cited as the "Federal Prohibtion of Female Genital Mutilation of 1995." At the present, this bill has not been approved.

Some overdue effort is being made to abolish FGM, but there is still much work to be done. Education of ourselves, as well as of others is a way that we can begin acting upon the convictions that human rights should not violated, and that violence against women is intolerable. Many people are still unaware that practices such as FGM are still widely practiced, and only an awareness can bring this inhumane practice to a halt.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RESOURCES: Si-Kata P.O.Box 204 Venice, CA 90294 (310) 314-4833

National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC) P.O.Box 2512 San Anselmo, CA 94979-2512 (415)488-9883

Special Projects Fund, Population Action International 19th St, NW Suite 550 Washington, DC 20003

The Washington Metro Alliance Against Female Genital Mutilation Catherine Hogan, MS 17700 New Hampshire Ave. Ashton, MD 20861 (301)774-4456

Atlanta Circumcision Information Center David J. Llewellyn, Director 2 Putnam Drive, N.W. Atlanta, GA 30342 <> Women's International Network News Fran Hosken 187 Grant Street Lexington, MA 02173 (617)862-9431

Congresswoman Patricia Shroeder (202)225-4431

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FILMS: "Warrior Marks" by Alice Walker: This is a documentary film that follows Alice Walker and Pratibha Parmar through a journey in Africa and England and where they seek to educate people about the harmful, sometimes deadly aftereffects of FGM)

"Rites": A documentary film by the American Anthropological Association (AAA) which also outlines the harmful effects of FGM.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOOKS: "Possessing the Secret of Joy" by Alice Walker. This is a novel which explores the traumas that a woman faces after undergoing FGM.

"Prisoners of Ritual" by Hanny Lightfoot-Klein. This is one of the most intensive books that has been written on FGM in Africa and more particularly in the Sudan.

"The Hosken Report" by Fran Hosken. This is a continually updated book from Women's International Network News which contains many strategies for change. You can also obtain the Childbirth Book, a manual for educators about the harmful effects of FGM. WIN News publishes an update every three months on the latest developments on FGM and other women related issues.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (C) 1995 Marianne Sarkis sarkis@luna.cas.usf.edu Rev. 950929

-- (sadsack@sad.sack), October 21, 2001

Answers

Feminists have been aware of all of this for over 30 years, I remember MS magazine having an article about it in the early 70's. This is one of the "human rights" issues that many groups have been trying to bring to the attention of the public for decades. But too many people were more concerned with making a million with a start-up dot-com and living a comfortable, safe life, that they didn't bother to listen to those liberal, tree hugging, human rights, ecological extremists whining about every little percieved injustace they saw in the world. Who ever thought starving kids on the other side of the world would cause any discomfort in our lives? That maybe if we tried to rebuild the country we were responsable for becoming destroyed, maybe some extremist terrorists (that we recruited and trained) would not have been able to gather little boys for a decade to brainwash and train to destroy us.

-- Cherri (jessam6@home.com), October 21, 2001.

And maybe we would have listened to you if you hadn't been so busy spouting bullshit about being a pilot, Cherri.

You'd better make sure you're clean before you start pointing out the spots of others.

And on another point, what exactly do you propose we do about changing tribal customs in Third World countries? If we go in and change things, lefties will bitch about "imperialism." When we leave it alone, we get lefties whining about "injustice."

Grow up, Cherri. Everything bad that happens in the world is not America's fault. And it is not America's responsibility to fix everything that's wrong in the world.

-- Already Done Happened (oh.yeah@it.did.com), October 21, 2001.

Dude, you are a peice of work. First you spam the forum with a bunch of juvenile insults, then you attempt to insult Cherri while missing what she is saying entirely.

-- cypher floyd (crystal@aolff.org), October 21, 2001.

The question was asked "Subject: Genital Mutilation--Where are the Feminists When You Need Them?", I answered it. I did not blame it on America, just pointed out why someone would have to ask the question in the first place.

I have never, once, claimed to be a pilot. I have claimed that I know how to fly, because I do.

-- Cherri (jessam6@home.com), October 21, 2001.

Pigs know HOW to fly too but they just can’t get off the ground.

-- Double (talk@no.walk), October 21, 2001.

When the words ‘I know how to fly’ are spoken there is an assumption that a pilot is speaking. Cherri, you are continuing to make a fool of yourself here. You don’t know how to fly and you know it. You were a low-level component repair tech and spent time around flight sims. I doubt very much that you were even involved as an ‘operator’, as that position requires advanced flight training that you could not have. Besides, you would be working at your profession if you had these skills instead of spending all of your time on the PC.

Stop with your bullshit already!!!

-- Curious (old@fly.boy), October 21, 2001.

"Dude, you are a peice of work."

And so are you. Fuck you.

"First you spam the forum with a bunch of juvenile insults,"

First, my posting history here is longer than yours, and utterly devoid of spam. Secondly, I give what I get. If someone insults me, I respond in kind. And if someone talks shit, I will give them shit in return if I am inclined to do so. If my posting style doesn't meet with your approval, that's too fucking bad for you.

"then you attempt to insult Cherri"

No, you fucked up here, stud. I DID insult Cherri.

"while missing what she is saying entirely."

Cherri can just be try harder to be more clear. If you're misunderstood, it is not automatically the fault of the hearer. Sometimes it is YOUR fault for not being more articulate, and Cherri's posting history here is rife with non-sequiturs, misspellings, malapropisms, mispunctuation and just plain malformed arguments and bad logic. Cherri's not the best writer or debater on this post. So if I misunderstand her, the fault's a lot more likely to be with her. So fuck you, Floyd.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

"The question was asked "Subject: Genital Mutilation--Where are the Feminists When You Need Them?", I answered it. I did not blame it on America, just pointed out why someone would have to ask the question in the first place."

You are a liar. In your follow-up post, you crap and moan about "too many people were more concerned with making a million with a start-up dot-com and living a comfortable, safe life, that they didn't bother to listen to those liberal, tree hugging, human rights, ecological extremists whining about every little percieved injustace they saw in the world."

So fuck you too, Cherri.

"I have never, once, claimed to be a pilot."

Liar. You have claimed to have participated in Vietnam-era military bombing raids, and only under the inquisitive questioning of posters here have you revealed that you only participated in simulated missions.

I understand that Ellen DeGeneres has a strap-on dildo, but that doesn't mean that she's actually a man -- just a SIMULATED one.

And I have Flight Simulator 2000 on one of my computers at home, but that doesn't mean that I'm actually a British Air Concorde pilot -- just that I've SIMULATED one.

"I have claimed that I know how to fly, because I do."

And you have also made a number of claims about your military experience that I'm imagine may have been inflated.

In any event, stop whining, Cherri.

-- Already Done Happened (oh.yeah@it.did.com), October 27, 2001.