****This is a report on Female Circumcision*****
It is very long, and includes references. I am posting this in hopes people will act.
www.cagem.org
Female Genital Cutting (FGC), also known as mutilation or circumcision, is an unanesthetized surgical procedure that is being performed every sixteen seconds on nearly 150 million minor-age girls (CAGeM, 2012). It is a rite-of-passage deeply embedded across many races and creeds over the ages as a way to repress female sexuality and protect virginity (Cook, Dickens & Fathalla, 2002, p. 281). What is most surprising is that the biggest proponents of FGC are the women themselves (Changing attitudes, 2002; Shetty, 2007). A common perception among FGC-practicing tribes and villages is that a pure woman does not think, act or otherwise behave sexually. Some believe that a woman cannot possess a maternal instinct with a clitoris. Others believe women do not have the power to resist sexual temptations, and if they do not know what sexual gratification is, they cannot crave it. Some think that the clitoris holds deathly powers to kill a man should his penis touch one, and that pregnancy will result in stillbirth if the baby’s head touches a clitoris during birth, and will circumcise the woman during labor if it has not been done yet (Momoh, 2005). British ancestors 250 years ago believed only evil, possessed women masturbated, and the only way to protect them was to circumcise them (Momoh, 2005). Even to this day, Colorado, New York, and South Carolina voted against the illegalization of FGC in 2010, and only California and Delaware punish both parents and doctors for the procedure (CAGeM, 2011). As education levels increase for females, the acceptance of female genital cutting decreases in proportion, and this is likely due to the social influence these women receive from interacting with girls from other Westernized traditions, and not because their native society collectively decided to abolish the practice.
The minimum these procedures involve is the trimming of the clitoris, which in medical terms is referred to as Type 1. Type IV covers many different mutilations from simply piercing the clitoris, up to the burning or internal slicing of the vaginal canal. Type I and II only differentiate on how much of the clitoris is removed. Type III is the most severe form of cutting and is often the prerequisite for any Type IV procedures. Type III is most commonly known and referred to as “infibulation”, and this drastic surgery removes all evidence of genitalia except for the vaginal and urethral opening, and when taken to Type IV, this will evolve to sewing or burning shut the vagina. If left at Type III, the girl’s legs are tied together for over a month so the genitals heal shut, with a matchstick inserted into the urethra and vagina to allow urine and menstruation to pass (Momoh, 2005; Eliminating, 2008). When the woman is married, the vagina is then cut open. Often, it is still not enough to permit vaginal intercourse, or the wound heals shut again. These women have to be cut open every time they have intercourse, and heavy scar tissue develops to the point it can break the scalpel trying to penetrate it, and even as cause fistulas from husbands cutting deeply into the vaginal canal (James, 2008). All these procedures mentioned are performed without painkillers at any time for the overwhelming majority of girls. The “lucky” ones will be from families that migrate to a first-world country and seek out a professional doctor in a hospital willing to do it for them despite increasing laws and penalties against it (Grassivaro, 1997; Tamaddon, 2006; Turillazzi, 2007). The fact that some parents feel convicted enough to seek out anesthesia and a hygienic atmosphere is proof that attitudes are changing and shows a positive step in the right direction towards human rights.
There are no known heath benefits with female circumcision of any type. Aside from the immediate trauma, there are very real and serious health concerns with such invasive cutting. First and most threatening, there is the risk of hemorrhage. Bleeding to death is not uncommon, and some teach that only girls that are witches will bleed excessively (VanZeller, 2007). Then there is the hygienic factor. When done outside of a hospital setting, the procedure is performed without anesthesia, and without a sterile setting or equipment. These surgeries may be performed sitting on a rock under a tree in the desert, or in the village cutter’s hut. Knives, scissors, and razors are used, as well as fingernails, sharp rocks, or a hunk of glass. Stitches are often made of thorns, sticks, plucked hair, or whatever else happens to be in immediate reach (Boyle, 2005). Sometimes girls are tied down so tightly that bones break. Urinary and reproductive tract infections, an inability to urinate, incontinence, tetanus, and sepsis are common, and because of re-used instruments, HIV and hepatitis are often contracted as well. The cuttings also complicate pregnancy. Some women develop fistulas from the procedures. Others have so much scar tissue in the vagina that it makes cervical assessment difficult, unreliable, or impossible. This scar tissue also makes the birth canal impeded, and fistulas allow bacteria to encounter the cervix, and ultimately, the baby (Abdulcadir, Margairaz, & Irion, 2011). All these factors contribute to a higher mortality rate for both mother and child. The World Health Organization (2008) estimates that 10-20 babies will die for every 1,000 deliveries. In their 2006 study of over 28,000 women in Sudan, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Burkina Faso, they determined Type I cutting increases the chance the baby can die by 15%. Type II increased the chance of death by 32%, and Type III by a substantial 55%. Some women who move outside their native social associations to places where FGC is not widely practiced may have psychological repercussions when confronted with the idea that they are not “normal.” They may be led to feel they do not conform to what a majority of men want from a female partner, or have otherwise been made to believe there is something wrong with them, their beliefs, and the beliefs of their families and ancestors due to social influences (Abdulcadir et al. 2011). This has even been the case when outreach programs have attempted to educate communities about the dangers of FGC. This is why many prefer the euphemism “cutting” or “female circumcision.” Though many organizations still carry the original descriptor, it is avoided when dealing with community education efforts.
Education has proven to be the cornerstone to abolishment of FGC. Ethiopia is one place that is quickly seeing a reversal in the acceptance of FGC due to education. However, it is not just education on FGC they have emphasized, but the generalized schooling of girls all the way through secondary school. A study published by Rahlenbeck, Mekonnen, & Melkamu (2010) concluded 54.6% of illiterate women were against FGC, while a substantial 95.5% who completed secondary school favored abandoning the practice. They were also able to conclude that religion did contribute to opinions on the practice. Christian women favored giving up the practice by 70.5%, while Islamic women only favored abolition by 54.6%. Their study also discovered personal experiences with FGC and the woman’s ability for self-empowerment were also contributing factors.
The problem with reforming this tradition is that those participating have not asked for reform. Many participants argue that this is all Western influence and beliefs intruding on sacred rites. In Ethiopia, they argue that the cuttings are a rite-of-passage into womanhood, and the girls look forward to it because it brings the women and girls closer in bonding through the ceremony (Momoh, 2005). They claim eliminating the cuttings from the ceremony would negate the reason for having a passage ceremony at all, and they do not want to lose the tradition. This is especially true when the society these women live in has a heavily entrenched belief to follow all traditions or else it brings shame to their family. Therefore, even if the mother decided she did not want her daughter to have the procedure, her family and other community members would be expecting it to be done (Momoh, 2005). Not doing it could cause the girl social criticism, to the point of being considered a bad influence, as it would be thought she was not pure and would likely be promiscuous. It can also mean the girl will be harder to marry off, if a prospective husband is a proponent of cutting. Even further argument from Type I and II cutters concedes that once the girls heal, they have little scarring physically, and because it is performed at a young age, there are no emotional scars (Momoh, 2005). Contrary to the popular beliefs, many women who undergo female genital cutting still have some sexual function, and many report they are still able to enjoy intercourse (Boyle, 2005). Girls interviewed are often heard to say they are thankful they are freed from the burden of sexual desire.
The Political Science book, Half the Sky, authors Kristoff and WuDunn (2009), call attention to Tostan. Tostan is a group in West Africa that is working to eliminate FGC in Senegal by this year. While they will likely not achieve that goal, they are being considered the leading model of success on the subject as they have changed the minds of over 2,600 villages. Where Tostan succeeds and Westernized anti-FGC organizations fail is in the approach they take in educating the locals in villages that practice the cutting. Tostan takes the approach of respect for the beliefs of the people. Rather than run in pointing fingers and calling cutters monsters, they take a nonjudgmental approach. They feel the community should make the decision for themselves.
Specifically, Tostan has classes three times a week, for two to three hours each. They educate about human rights, democracy, problem solving, management, health, leadership, and hygiene to both women and men. They offer micro-credit loans. They pair up with neighboring villages that girls will marry into to educate them also. This helps form a sort of contract to protect the marriage rights of the girls that are not being cut. If both villages agree to stop cutting, then the men will not feel there is any pressure to continue tradition and shun the uncut girls. Tostan also only has three Westerners on the payroll, the founder, Molly Melching, and two people at an office in Washington, D.C. This is an important key in the success of the program. It means a much cheaper overhead, and it means the people being educated by their peers-- people that come from the same belief system as they do. The biggest problem with Western intervention has been the hypocrisy. Westerners have traditionally promoted the attitude of shame towards the cutters. Western culture places a stigma on those that cut, or have been cut. For instance, Tostan does not call the surgery “mutilation”, but instead promotes the term “cutting”. In addition, those that practice FGC feel Westerners degrade their bodies with plastic surgery. To them, there is a big difference in cutting the genitals to make what their society sees as a pure woman, compared with Westerners wasting money on deceptive breast enlargement, facelifts, or liposuction to attract a mate. Furthermore, it was a common Jewish tradition to circumcise men and boys, which has not always been a pain-medicated cut (Boyle, 2005). Westerners are also freer with sex and have high, unwed, teen pregnancy rates, to the bane of cutters who are cutting for the sheer belief it will keep the woman pure from promiscuous sex. Westerners claim they are for human rights. However, it is a basic human right for a person to live by its normal cultural beliefs. No one should interfere with the development of a society. To do so, imposes Westerners possess superior knowledge to a society that never asked for anyone else’s interference. Immediately, it is obvious opinions and beliefs are at a rift between the two societies. This all compromises the trust that must be formed before people can have an open mind toward another culture coming in to share ideals. Overall, it has proven nearly impossible to sway cutters into abolition with this type of reform.
Other failures in FGC belief reform has been in law making. Laws against FGC simply do not work. They are largely not enforced, and that is because the opinions of the population are not changing with the laws. It is far better to provide the people with the knowledge about how to perform the procedure safely and humanely, than to just make punishments. At that point, the people can see the dangers to their girls. The women that perform the cuttings have never heard of germs; they cannot even read. They do not know that germs cause infections that kill or ****** the girls. The cutters do not have access to pain medications, or surgical thread and needles for stitching. Tostan helps provide the knowledge and tools these women need to ensure each girl at least lives through the surgery, and when possible, has it as painlessly as possible. These cultures often are not even aware that this procedure is not even performed everywhere in the world. When shown just what unnecessary risks they have put the girls through coupled with the effort, time, and money to do it safely and humanely, it is often enough to change the minds of the women and men in a village to stop the practice because it so much trouble to maintain health standards. This is especially important where clean, running water is a luxury.
Those that condone the ritual of female genital cutting have proven they do not accept the Western way of condemning such personal convictions. Only with local education efforts utilizing locals, has abolishment of FGC proven to be successful. Western influence does not sway opinions on FGC. Efforts meant to eradicate the practice must focus instead on the safe and humane continuation of the surgery first. Only then, can the society decide for themselves if it is worth the investment to continue the tradition. Regardless, most that practice FGC feel Westerners do not have to partake in the tradition and thus should not interfere in its proposed abolishment. Any interference contaminates a culture, and we should be avoiding that at all costs, especially when it interferes with the core societal beliefs of so many nations.

Abdulcadir, J., Margairaz, C., Boulvain, M., & Irion, O. (2011). Care of women with female genital mutilation/cutting. Swiss Medical Weekly. doi:10.4414/smw.2011.13137
Boyle, E. H. (2005). Female genital cutting: Cultural conflict in the global community (pp. 34-35). Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved February 19, 2012, from Google Books (080188263X).
CAGeM. (2012). Campaign Against Genital Mutilation. Retrieved February 20, 2012, from http://cagem.org
Changing attitudes to female circumcision, BBC News, 8 April 2002.
Cook, R. J., Dickens, B. M., & Fathalla, M. (2002, December). Female genital cutting (mutilation/circumcision): Ethical and legal dimensions. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 79(3), 281-287.
Eliminating female genital mutilation. World Health Organization, 2008, pp. 4, 22–28.
Grassivaro, P., & Viviani, F. F. (1997). Epidemiological surveys on FGM in Italy. Women's International Network News, 23(3), 34.
James, Stanlie M. Female genital mutilation, in Smith, B. G. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 260–262.
Kristof, N. D., & WuDunn, C. (2009). Half the sky: Turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Momoh, C. (2005). Female genital mutilation (pp. 6-7). Abingdon, UK: Radcliffe Publishing.
Rahlenbeck, S. S., Mekonnen, W. W., & Melkamu, Y. Y. (2010). Female genital cutting starts to decline among women in Oromia, Ethiopia. Reproductive Biomedicine Online (Reproductive Healthcare Limited), 20(7), 867-872. doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2010.01.009
Shetty, Priya (2007). Nahid Toubia. The Lancet, 369(9564): 819. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60394-8
Tamaddon, L., Jonsdotter, S., Liljestrand, J., & Essén, B. (2006, September 21). Swedish health care providers’ experience and knowledge of female genital cutting. Health Care for Women International, 27(8), 709-722. doi:10.1080/07399330600817741
Turillazzi, E., Fineschi, V. (2007). Female genital mutilation: The ethical impact of the new Italian law. Journal of Medical Ethics, 33(2), 98-101. doi:10.1136/jme.2006.016154
VanZeller, M. (Narrator). VanZeller, M. (Actor). (2007). Female genital cutting [Motion picture]. Vanguard.

Omg this is so disturbing, those poor girls.

It is really sad. I had to do this as a report in my college writing class. I had to see pictures and videos of this stuff being done, and after it heals over. I can't imagine a little girl having to have this done without any painkillers. Makes me feel like I owe it to those girls somehow to have my childbirth natural. In the book, "Half the Sky", they tell tales of women that die during childbirth because women don't have access to hospitals. Some live days away in the bush, and just as many have been forced into prostitution and have their babies in the brothel, where they beat them for crying out during their labor and don't let them raise the child. There was even a story of a woman that had a midwife jump on her belly when the baby got stuck. Of course, she died a very painful death when her uterus ruptured. She was awake for three days after, and then ballooned up as the baby broke down insider her and released toxins and infection. She was in a coma for a week before she died. One woman dies every minute giving birth somewhere in the world.
We have it so good.

Yes we do have it so good & this is why i am so grateful for all that i have in my life.

At times we can take things for granted but until you live one day in the life of an unfortunate person it really makes you put things into perspective. Life can be so short & can change in the blink of an eye. I feel so blessed & thankful every single day to have a happy & healthy family of my own.

Shame both genders aren't protected. Genital mutilation is one of the worst things we do to our children in our species. It's sick.

There is a movie, an auto biography about this. It's about a model and her struggle as she had this done in her village... It's called Desert Flower. It's interesting and eye opening.

=(