FEMALE CIRCUMCISION
Female circumcision is practiced in 28 African countries and in some countries in Asia. The female genital cutting goes back to Abrahamic times. The procedure predates Islam, but a small number of Muslims insist this be done as a religious requirement. Here in America it was done until 1960 to treat lesbianism, hysteria, and clitoral enlargement.
There are over 130 million women in the world that have had the procedure. It involves removing all or part of the external female genitals for cultural non-therapeutic reasons.
Three million girls every year are subject to this female mutilation procedure. Some have all or part of the clitoris removed, others also have the major lips of the vagina removed, and others have all the external genitalia also removed, resulting in the vagina only being a small hole for urination and menses. The mildest form is piercing or burning of the genitals.
The procedure is done on girls 6-12 years of age. Villagers gather girls and celebrate the rite of passage with food, song, and gifts. The girls are told much earlier that they will be cut and some eagerly anticipate it.
Midwives go from village to village and do the cutting with no anesthesia, antibiotics nor sterile techniques. They use knives, razors, scissors, or hot objects. After the cutting, local oil, honey, or tree sap is used to control the bleeding.
Feeling sorry for them, many nurses and doctors do the cutting on some of the girls in their offices with anesthesia to protect them from complications. This however, justifies and perpetuates the practice.
Loving parents believe they are protecting their daughters from harm, and the cutting will preserve their daughter’s chastity, ensure marriageability, and enhance sexual pleasure for their men. They have a fear their daughters may never marry, and would be shunned and ostracized if the procedure was not done. They would be seen as unclean and even labeled as prostitutes. There is the belief that if the clitoris touches a baby being born, the baby will die. Some believe that the clitoris if not cut, would grow until it touched the ground. So, removing the clitoris ensures beauty and preserves their daughter’s reputation and fertility. Yet the scar actually often prevents the girl from getting pregnant.
IS A CLITORIS NECESSARY?
It is considered the analogue of the penis. The body is primarily erectile tissue in the glans. It is usually one inch long, and often concealed by the major labia. The gynecologist rarely examines it because they fear the patient may interpret it in a sexual manner, and it is rarely a source of pathology.
It is one of woman’s erotic zones and can be stimulated indirectly or directly. When stimulated it increase in diameter and may elongate. On excitement, the glans retracts under the hood of the prepuce. Once highly stimulated, different stimulation is desired, as deep vaginal pressure and pressure on the mons pubis. The clitoris retracts at this point and if it is further stimulated, it becomes painful and annoying.
The clitoris may become so sensitive that direct stimulation hurts and may block sexual response. It is more important than vaginal stimulation to produce an orgasmic response.
How to stop this mutilation?
Governments have passed laws, but they are not enforced. It is seen as an infringement on the religious rights of the parents.
Source: Reviews in OB & Gyn Vol 1, 2008
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