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African Female Genital MutilationHow Female Clitoridectomy Relates to American Male Circumcision
Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM is the Western term for an ancient African ritual that is important to the African people as male circumcision is important to Americans
By now most of us have heard about African tribes performing some form of female genital mutilation. There are actually four common classifications of this ancient ritual, which is completely appalling to the average Westerner, but pretty commonplace and even important to many African women. It is difficult from a Western perspective to understand how this could be held as an important part of attaining womanhood among women unless we make some comparisons to our own culture and try to understand it from that perspective. FGM Compared to Circumcision of Western MalesThousands of loving parents per week in America take their newborn sons into a hospital room to have them circumcised, while hundreds of African women are taken to a special place each week to receive a variation of what Westerners have coined “female genital mutilation (FGM).” FGM It is thought of by the general African population in a very similar way as male circumcision or surgery on ambiguous genitals is thought of in the USA, as necessary through tradition and cultural norms. Just as there are activists in America fighting against medically unnecessary surgeries such as these, there are African activists fighting FGM. One big difference is in the extremely high rate of infection and complication when it comes to the more extreme forms of FGM, which unfortunately has led to medicalization of the practice in some countries such as the Sudan and Djibouti. The four classifications as listed in FGM by Skaine are as follows: Type I – Part or all of the clitoris (sometimes the prepuce only) is removed. AKA clitoridectomy, sunna, circumcision Type II – The clitoris and part or all of the labia minora are removed. AKA excision Type III – The clitoris, part or all of the labia minora and part of the labia majora are removed and the labia majora are stitched together leaving only a small opening for urine. AKA infibulation, Pharoanic Type IV – Unclassified—can include piercings, burning and scraping. Obviously the most extreme form of FGM, infibulation, is much more extreme than male circumcision in the USA, and according to Efua Dorkenoo in her book Cutting the Rose, cutting any part of the clitoris itself is like cutting off part of a man’s glans penis, which would be more painful than a regular circumcision procedure. So the comparison of circumcision in America and FGM serves only to relate the similarities in belief and ideology of a population when it comes to traditional practices. Although debates are ongoing on whether or not we should make this our business, FGM endangers the lives of women and children every day and therefore from an ethical standpoint, how can we not help?
The copyright of the article African Female Genital Mutilation in Human Rights Violations is owned by Tara Bzdok. Permission to republish African Female Genital Mutilation in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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