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Female
Genital Cutting (FGC): An Introduction
by Marianne Sarkis
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 cutting. In the United States
it is estimated that about ten thousand girls are at risk of this practice.
FGC 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 FGC is practiced in mostly Islamic countries, it is not
an Islamic practice. FGC 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.
Definition:
FGC is a term used to refer to any practice which includes the removal
or the alteration of the female genitalia. There are three main types
of FGC that are practiced through the world: Type I or Sunna circumcision,
Type II or excision, and Type III or infibulation. These three operations
range in intensity, from the "mildness" of Type I, to the extreme Type
III. Type II is a recent addition to FGC. I will explain in the next
sections what each of these practices involve, and outline some of the
short-term and long-term effects that they have.
Type I -- Sunna Circumcision
The first and mildest type of FGC is called "sunna circumcision" or
Type I. The term "Sunna" refers to tradition as taught by the prophet
Muhammad. This involves the "removal of the prepuce with or without
the excision of part or all of the clitoris (See the World
Health Organization definition).
Type I is practiced in a broad area all across Africa parallel to the
equator. Fran Hosken enumerates the following countries: Egypt, Ethiopia,
Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania in East Africa to the West African coast,
from Sierra Leone to Mauritania, and in all countries in-between including
Nigeria, the most populous one. There are also reports of Type I taking
place in areas of the Middle East such as in Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia
and United Arab Emirates.
Type II - Clitoridectomy
The second type of FGC, Type II, involves the partial or entire removal
of the clitoris, as well as the scraping off of the labia majora and
labia minora. This takes place in countries where infibulation has been
outlawed such as Sudan. Clitoridectomy was invented by Sudanese midwives
as a compromise when British legislation forbade the most extreme operations
in 1946.
Type III - Infibulation or Pharaonic Circumcision
The third and most drastic type of FGC is Type III. 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. Hosken also reports that infibulation is "practiced
on all females, almost without exception, in all of Somalia and wherever
ethnic Somalis live (Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti). It is also performed
throughout the Nile Valley, including Southern Egypt, and all along
the Red Sea's Coast.
FGC 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.
Effects of Female Genital Cutting:
Beyond the obvious initial pains of the operations, FGC has long-term
physiological, sexual, and psychological effects. The unsanitary environment
under which FGC 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 FGC 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 FGC 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 FGC 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 FGC 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.
Justifications:
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 FGC 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 FGC,
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 FGC.
Some people believe that FGC 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.
Because of the large number of cases of FGC and some of the deaths it
has caused, FGC is now outlawed in some European countries (Britain,
France, Sweden, and Switzerland) and some African countries (Egypt,
Kenya, Senegal).
Eradication:
It is also important to note that even though FGC 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 FGC. The United Nations, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization
have considered FGC to be a violation of Human Rights and have made
recommendations to eradicate this practice. However, trying to fight
FGC on legal terms is ineffective since those who practice it oftentimes
do not report it. FGC 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 FGC 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 FGC. Female Genital Cutting 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 practice.
In many cultures, FGC serves as an initiation rite, and any efforts
to eradicate it must take this into consideration. Some of the most
successful eradication efforts have taken place in areas where FGC was
replaced with "initiation without cutting" programs whereas a girl still
goes through some initiation rites but this time, without any blood.
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 FGC as
well as male circumcision. NOCIRC has also founded the FGC Awareness
and Education Project in August 1996. One of the goals of the project
is to create an FGC Module which will provide information and training
material to health care professionals. NOCIRC has also organized the
International Symposium on
Sexual Mutilations.
The Research, Actiona & Information
Network for Bodily Integrity of Women (RAINBO) has been conducting
research and grass-roots programs internationally as well as in the
United States on women's reproductive sexual health as well as on female
genital mutilation. On the National Level, Congresswoman Patricia Shroeder
introduced H.R. 3247, a bill to outlaw FGC 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
Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation of 1995."
The bill was passed in September 1996. Some overdue effort is being
made to abolish FGC, but there is still much work to be done. Educating
ourselves, as well as 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 FGC are still widely practiced, and only an awareness can bring
this inhumane practice to a halt.
Further Reference Organizations:
FGM Awareness and Education Project
P.O.Box 6597 Albany, CA 94706
RAINBO 915 Broadway, Suite 1109
New York, NY 10010-7108 (212) 477-3318
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
Equality Now P.O. Box 20646,
Columbus Circle Station, New York NY 10023 USA.
Films:
"Fire Eyes": A documentary film directed by Soraya Mire, a Somalian
woman who's undergone FGM as a young girl.
"Rites": A documentary film by the American Anthropological Association
(AAA) which also outlines the harmful effects of FGM.
"Female Circumcision: "Beliefs and Misbeliefs": Filmed in Africa,
this film shows FGM being performed in a city street and rural areas,
interviews villagers about the reasons/myths surrounding FGM, and depicts
educational efforts to eradicate FGM
Books:
"Female Genital Mutilation: A Call to Global Action" by Nahid
Toubia
"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.
"Cutting the Rose: Female Genital Mutilation: The Practice and Its
Prevention" by Efua Dorkenoo
View
More
(C) 2001 Marianne Sarkis fgm@fgmnetwork.org
Rev. 020112
Further information on eradication efforts and on FGC can be obtained
by contacting the author.
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