News-Letter

Genital mutilation is a serious problem in the countries shaded above. (courtesy of http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/ kadi/kadimap.htm) [Click to enlarge]

There is a practice that is predominately in Africa but has

created an uproar among many nations about its severe health risks for women, both physically and psychologically.

It is used often as a symbol of subjugation for women in patriarchal societies.

Once known as Female Circumcision, health officials working for the rights of women are now calling this terrible procedure Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM.

FGM is the partial or full removal of the female genitalia. It is a procedure used primarily for religious or cultural practices. There have been no therapeutic benefits recorded for FGM.

Worldwide, about 130 million women have experienced some form of genital mutilation. FGM was previously termed "female circumcision," but women's activists groups are horrified by the health consequences as a result of this practice, and are working to ban it.

According to the World Health Organization, there are six different types of female genital mutilation currently practiced. They are divided into Types I -- IV, and there are two additional methods.

One of these two methods involves scraping (angurya cutting) or cutting (gishiri cutting) the vaginal area.

The other unclasified method involves applying corrosive substances or herbs in or around the vagina to induce bleeding or to constrict the vaginal walls, making the vagina tighter and narrower.

Type I FGM, or clitoridectomy, is the removal of the clitoral hood. The clitoris may or may not be removed along with it.

In Islamic cultures, this process is known as a "sunna circumcision." The significance of the word "sunna" refers to tradition and the prophet Muhammed.

Type II FGM, or an excision, is the removal of the clitoris along with either partial or full removal of the labia minora.

Type III FGM is called infibulation, or pharaonic circumcision. This is a clitoridectomy, an excision, and the removal of a part or all of the external genitalia, which is then sewn over part of the vagina, narrowing the opening. This allows only a small hole for urine and menstrual blood to pass through.

Type IV FGM is the process of pricking, piercing, incising, stretching, or cauterization (burning) of the clitoris, labia and surrounding tissue. In a man, FGM can be equivalent to cutting of part of or the entirety of a man's penis.

In Africa, where most FGM cases occur, Amnesty International reports 15 percent of the procedures to be an infibulation. However, 85 percent of FGMs in Africa will be either a clitoridectomy or an excision. This statistic reflects about an annual rate of two million young girls that will expect to undergo this procedure.

Many cultures where FGM is practiced believe that a woman is only initiated into her womanhood when she experiences the knife, razor or glass shard to her genitalia.

Gender identity as a woman is important for many tribal societies, who perform elaborate rituals that are central to the girl's coming of age.

The late Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta has been quoted supporting FGM for reasons that abolishing the practice "[would] destroy the tribal system" that has been upheld for so long in the Kikuyu tribes from the rural Kenyan areas.

Amnesty International claims that the people of Sierra Leone feel socially and politically cohesive when their cultures carry on FGM rituals for all their women in the Bundo and Sande societies.

In other cases, FGM is believed to reduce the woman's desire for sex, thus reducing her tendency to become promiscuous. This is a way for men to subjugate and reduce a woman's basic freedoms.

In certain cultures, men are convinced that a woman will definitely stray if she is not mutilated. As a result, many women in patriarchal societies will attempt to deaden a woman's sexual appetite.

Additionally some people hold the preposterous belief that FGM is essential for a woman's hygiene, cleanliness and health.

In some communities, a woman who has not been mutilated is considered unclean and is not allowed to share food or drink with her community.

Other superstitious societies believe that if a woman's clitoris comes in contact with a man's penis, the man will die. Others believe that if that an unmutilated woman's baby will die during childbirth. However, the most common reason for FGM is that it regulates woman's sexual desire and "hysteria."

Contrary to all these beliefs, medical proof has revealed FGM to be debilitating and dangerous to a woman's health.

During the procedure, intense pain, shock and hemorrhage can occur. FGMs are usually carried out without top medical instruments.

Some girls or women can expect to be cut by a glass shard or a dull knife. Using the same piece of cutting apparatus on multiple women increases the risk of HIV/ AIDS. Lack of proper sterilization procedures and unprofessional work carried out by tribal members will create such situations for women.

Besides extreme pain and discomfort, chronic side effects include reoccurring vaginal infections, spontaneous bleeding, abscesses, keloids and small benign tumors can occur after a clitoridectomy.

Infibulations come with many serious side effects. Women suffer from long term chronic urinary tract infections, which can damage the bladder, urethra and kidneys.

Furthermore, menstrual flow is blocked, which infects the reproductive system. Pelvic infections, endometriosis, infertility, scar tissue buildups, keloids and cysts can arise.

Sexual intercourse is also painful. Women have to be "reopened" in many cases.

This involves a gradual and painful reopening of her vaginal area, and many will experience another knife or cutting device to reopen the vagina.

Again, the lack of medical skill in many rural tribes and communities can create health risks during the reopening process. Penetration is extremely painful, and the fluids that flow from the unhealed wounds also increase the risk of spreading HIV during sex.

Childbirth is likewise excruciating. Buildups of scar tissue can tear, and additionally, the mother has to be cut even more so that the baby can pass through the birth canal. If there is no attendant at hand to make these incisions, the perineum can tear, or there can be problems with obstructed labor.

Sadly enough, many women are often closed up again to make their vaginal walls tight for their husband's sexual pleasure.

Repeated cutting and restitiching of the genital area builds up rough scar tissue in the genital area, exacerbating the pain, and making intercourse and childbirth excruciating for a woman.

Many international health organizations are working together to ban these horrific practices. They are attempting to modify and compromise cultures which uphold FGM as an important and valued ritual. They even encourage a symbolic ceremony, such as holding a knife next to the genitals, pricking the clitoris, cutting pubic hair, or light and minimal scarification of the genital/ upper thigh area. However, while much progress has been made in recent years, much help is still needed in educating people about FGM.

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