Female Genital Mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation:

Female genital mutilation is a barbaric practice that predates Islam. Usually administered as a "rite of passage," it is said to cleanse the woman and preserve her virginity (Amnesty). Over eighty million women and girls are living with or somehow affected by female genital mutilation (World Medical Association), but as the world moves forward into an age of women's rights and global responsibility, I believe that it is time to take a stand against this ruthless violation of human rights.

Those who still support the practice cite tradition and the need to preserve the virginity of women. In many cultures where female genital mutilation is still practiced , women who do not undergo circumcision are considered "unclean" and dishonor their families. Some of them even believe that if a woman's clitoris touches the head of her child during birth, that the child will die. A few of the more "progressive" tribes use genital mutilation as more of a punishment than a rite of passage (Amnesty).

According to the World Medical Association, female genital mutilation is practiced by ethnic groups in more than thirty countries, but mainly in Africa, and affects more than eighty million women and girls worldwide. The World Medical Association has also issued a statement condemning female genital mutilation as an unnecessary and truly barbaric practice. Female genital mutilation is not supported by any of the world's major religions, and has been found detrimental to both the physical and psychological health of the women and girls involved. Women who have been circumcised are considered victims of this inhumane procedure and suffer from many negative consequences. Short-term consequences include things like death, hemorrhage, shock, severe pain, infection, urine retention, and the potential spread of HIV from an unclean knife. As if those were not bad enough, there are many long-term effects that include the development of anemia, intermittent bleeding, urinary tract infections, kidney damage, infertility, cysts, development of scar tissue, painful sexual intercourse, problems with pregnancy, an increased susceptibility to sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV (Haney, World Heath Organization)

There are many forms of mutilation still in practice today, but the most destructive is known as infibulation, in which the clitoris is completely removed, along with the labia, after which, the vulva is stitched together. All that is left is a small opening for the passage of urine and menstrual blood. The opening will remain this way until after the woman's marriage, when it will be reopened by the husband, in a process that is obviously just as painful as the initial circumcision (Amnesty).

The type of mutilation, age of victim, and actual procedure vary from group to group, but most commonly occurs between the ages of four and eight. Sometimes the procedure will be done by a trained midwife with a sanitized penknife, or a group of half-drunk men with broken glass, a rusty tin lid or even a pair of dull scissors, it depends completely on the group's traditions and the role that women play in their society. Aftercare is also dependent upon the specific group, some groups use thorns to sew up the sides of the labia after infibulation, some use stitches, some use neither (Amnesty).

Steps are being taken all over the world to put an end to female genital mutilation. In 1997, The United States outlawed female genital mutilation with the enactment of the Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1996.