Letters to the Editor
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tell the boys
I remembered a recent NPR story about this practice in Egypt. (70% of girls are mutilated, which is a huge success, considering that 10 years ago it was 90%+).
The reason is simple: without cutting off a daughter's clitoris, she is considered less marriageable.
So, probably the quickest way to end the practice is to educate young boys: if they say "I won't marry a girl without one" you can bet the practice will end.
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amendment
"without one" healthy, intact clitoris, natch.
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I've never understood the point of this practice
Unless I've been misinformed, the reason they do this is to make sex unpleasurable to women. The idea being, if she doesn't enjoy sex, your wife won't have to use her feminine charms to seduce strange men and wreck havoc on society.
My question is, who wants to have sex with a woman who isn't able to enjoy it?
Male circumcision is barbaric, but this really takes the cake. Sorry. I know it's a judgement call on another culture, but so be it. I'm making it.
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tell the boys, eh?
How about having a care for the baby boys put through Male Genital Mutilation, aka circumcision. And spare me the red herrings of AIDS prevention and hygiene. That's what condoms, monogamy, STD testing and soap & water are for. If the people who perform FGM made similarly weak excuses, they would be met with anger and contempt.
Stop caring about women's rights and start caring about human rights.
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yep Uberbah
If we can't immediately take of what you consider a problem (I do too, my son is not circumsised) then we can't take care of or worry about anything! Just because this particular thing is much worse for women (girls), so what! Do nothing about anything till you can fix everything about everything.
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uberbah
I hope you're just trying to be provacative. But just incase you aren't, you should know that female genital mutilation is not in any way comperable to circumcision. You really should take a look at the video. Or read what exactly the procedure includes on the WHO website here: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/
Just take a look at this list of side effects from Unicef:
FGM/C does irreparable harm. It can result in death through severe bleeding leading to haemorrhagic shock, neurogenic shock as a result of pain and trauma, and severe, overwhelming infection and septicaemia. It is routinely traumatic. Many girls enter a state of shock induced by the severe pain, psychological trauma and exhaustion from screaming.
Other harmful effects include: failure to heal; abscess formation; cysts; excessive growth of scar tissue; urinary tract infection; painful sexual intercourse; increased susceptibility to HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases; reproductive tract infection; pelvic inflammatory diseases; infertility; painful menstruation; chronic urinary tract obstruction/ bladder stones; urinary incontinence; obstructed labour; increased risk of bleeding and infection during childbirth.
a comperable procedure for men might be say removing their penis with a blunt saw.
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Male circumcision is not the same thing at all.
Speaking as a circumcised male, I can assure you that my penis was not cut off at the root, I have no penis-related health problems, and I quite enjoy sex.
This is not at all the same thing as female genital mutilation, which practice the London police are trying to stamp out.
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Free Republic of Britain
Great... this ought to work the 'freepers' upinto a froth of bigotry regarding the 'cultural decimation of Europe.'
Nevertheless, one can hardly get off the tube without stumbling over bits of clitorati.
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Female and male circumcision are totally different things
The practice of male circumcision is no more barbaric than getting one's ears pierced. If male circumcision involved slicing off half of the penis with a dull blade, then it would be barbaric like female circumcision.
I am completely happy with my circumcised penis. My sexual response is just fine. I don't feel mutilated in the slightest. I'm sure that most other circumcised men would say the same. There are a number of uncircumcised adult men who get circumcised just because they prefer the look of it. I don't think you could say the same for women regarding the proceedure wherein the heads of their clitorises and much of their labia are sliced off.
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What's Love Got To Do With It?
"My question is, who wants to have sex with a woman who isn't able to enjoy it?"
Supposedly, there's an Arab saying that "sex with women is for children, and sex with boys is for pleasure."
Note also that the Muslim paradise is exclusively concerned with male sexual pleasure -- unlike the rapturous descriptions of the young women and little boys awaiting men, there is no detailed mention in the Koran of what women receive (if anything). Further, the dozens of sex slaves each Muslim male receives in paradise will each remain eternally virginal. As first-time sexual intercourse is generally uncomfortable for a woman, it seems rational to assume that Muslim men eagerly anticipate causing pain to their heavenly servants throughout eternity.
In short, pleasure for anyone but Muslim men appears irrelevant in this ideology.
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"They've got a way to go, it seems. One midwife told reporters she treats up to 500 mutilation victims a year."
OK, do British Midwives treat babies? Or are they talking about the Mothers who, presumably, were mostly mutilated pre-immigration? Is that an indication of "far to go"?
It would seem that the midwives would be in a good position to aid with prevention what with knowing what families would be carrying on the tradition.
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And in the USA...?
The story got reported in the UK, but is it not quite likely that there is just as much female genital mutilation going on in the US of A.
However, the authorities in London (and the BBC) have done a great PR job in raising global awareness of this problem, for example by offering rewards to snitches, and in reporting the death of a 12-year-old in Egypt recently as a complication of genital mutilation.
Now what is the White House and the Department of Homeland Security doing about this issue? George W. Bush's predecessor in the White House made a strong personal committment to the promotion of female sexual enjoyment, so now it is your turn, Mr. Bush.
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God-Awful
Female genital mutilation is god-awful, and inexecusable, and rightfully a crime.
Male circumcision of infants is not nearly as bad, but it's on the same scale and it's still bad. Male circumcision by a consenting adult male is not a bad thing at all, but a personal choice.
Trying to outlaw one practice while allowing the other makes for bad law.
Salon still needs a Dudesheet.