FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

In Africa, The Middle East & Far East

Summary:

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a destructive, invasive procedure that is usually performed on girls before puberty. Part or all of the clitoris is surgically removed. This leaves them with reduced or no sexual feeling. Orgasms are sometimes impossible to experience later in life. Many health problems result from the surgery.

FGM originated in Africa. It was, and remains, a cultural, not a religious practice.

Among individuals and groups opposed to the mutilation, it is seen as a method of reducing the sexual response of women in order to make them less likely to become sexually active before marriage or to seek an extra-marital affair after marriage.

To some who promote the operation, it is seen as a cultural requirement that has health benefits and makes women more physically beautiful. These views are not shared by the rest of the world.

The operation is forced on approximately 6,000 girls per day, worldwide -- about one every 15 seconds. Since FGM is practiced when the girls are young, they are unable to give their informed consent.

FGM: A cultural not a religious practice:

This mutilating operation is often associated mainly with the religion of Islam. This is incorrect. FGM is primarily a social practice, not a religious one. Female genital mutilation predated Islam. It originated in Africa and remains today a mainly African cultural practice. Some indicators of this are:

One of the motivations for this essay is the misperception by many people that the practice is a religious one. That belief has led to unjustified religious intolerance against Muslims.

What It Is

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is practiced in many forms:

Because of poverty and lack of medical facilities, the procedure is frequently done under less than hygienic conditions, and often without anesthetic by other than medically trained personnel. Anesthesia is rarely used. Razor blades, knives or scissors are usually the instruments used. The In the rural Mossi areas of Burkina Faso, group female circumcisions are scheduled every three years in many villages. Girls aged from 5 to 8 are assembled by their mothers into groups of up to 20. The circumcision "uses a knife-like instrument, the barga, reserved specifically for this purpose; after each operation she simply wipes the knife on a piece of cloth, sometimes rinsing it in water first." ₂ In some areas of Africa, FGM is delayed until two months before a woman gives birth. This practice is based on the belief that the baby will die if she/he comes into contact with their mother's clitoris during birth. We are unaware of any medical evidence to support this belief.

Side effects of the operation can include: hemorrhage, shock, painful scars, keloid formation, labial adherences, clitoral cysts, chronic urinary infection, and chronic pelvic infections. Later in life, it can cause kidney stones, sterility, sexual dysfunction, depression, and various gynecological and obstetric problems.

In which countries is it practiced?

Unfortunately, few statistical studies have been made; only rough estimates are available of the frequency with which FGM is performed. In some countries, the practice is near universal. One source ₁ estimates that 90% or more of the girls in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan (North) have been mutilated. The same source indicates that over 50% of the girls in Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Togo have been operated on. The FGM Education and Networking Project maintains a regularly updated list of countries, population groups, and the types of operation performed. There are over 30 million mutilated women currently living in Nigeria, and about 24 million in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Various groups estimate that from 114 to 130 million women worldwide have had the operation. FGM is outlawed in some countries where it had been widely practiced, such as Kenya and Senegal. It is criminalized in some western countries, where it is normally practiced only by a small number of recent immigrants.

Why it is Done?

The justification for the operation appears to be largely grounded in a desire to terminate or reduce feelings of sexual arousal in women so that they will be much less likely to engage in pre-marital intercourse or adultery. The clitoris holds a massive number of nerve endings, and generates feelings of sexual arousal when stimulated.

Uncircumcised women in countries where FGM is normally performed have difficulty finding a marriage partner. Men typically prefer a circumcised wife because they are considered more likely to be faithful. Other claims in support of FGM are:

These claims appear to have little support outside of countries where FGM is common.

The fear of AIDS has been used by both sides of this issue. Shiek Badri stated in 1997-JUN: "Those who are not circumcised get AIDS easily" But opponents to the practice sometimes claim that AIDS is spread by the unhygienic practices during the procedure itself.

The procedure has been banned in several African nations, including Burkina Faso, Djibouti, the Central African Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, and Togo. ₂₀

Debate Among Muslims:

As noted above, FGM is a social custom, not a religious practice. However, in those Muslim countries where it is practice, FGM is often justified by two controversial sayings of the Prophet Mohammed that seem to favor sunna circumcision. The authenticity of these sayings are unconfirmed, and some scholars have refuted them. Even if true, they only permit the practice; they do not mandate it.

FGM has probably been performed for at least 1,400 years (some references estimate 2,000 years), and started during what Muslims call "al-gahiliyyah" (the era of ignorance). The Qu'r'an, Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and Christian Scriptures (New Testament) is silent on the subject. The Sunnah (the words and actions of the Prophet Mohammed) contain a number of references to female circumcision:

However, these passages are regarded by many Muslims as having little credibility or authenticity. The Muslim Women's League comments: "According to Sayyid Sabiq, renowned scholar and author of Fiqh-us-Sunnah, all hadiths concerning female circumcision are non-authentic." ₂₃ An extensive analysis of classical Muslim authors is available online. ₂₄

Many Muslims see passages in the Qur'an which, by implication, oppose FGM. they reason:

Mutilated genitalia reduce or eliminate a woman's pleasure during the act.

Nawal El-Saadawi, a Muslim victim of infibulation, stated:

"The importance given to virginity and an intact hymen in these societies is the reason why female circumcision still remains a very widespread practice despite a growing tendency, especially in urban Egypt, to do away with it as something outdated and harmful. Behind circumcision lies the belief that, by removing parts of girls' external genitals organs, sexual desire is minimized. This permits a female who has reached the dangerous age of puberty and adolescence to protect her virginity, and therefore her honor, with greater ease. Chastity was imposed on male attendants in the female harem by castration which turned them into inoffensive eunuchs. Similarly female circumcision is meant to preserve the chastity of young girls by reducing their desire for sexual intercourse." ₄

Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, head of the al-Azhar Islamic Institute has stated that the practice is un-Islamic. The Health Minister of Egypt, Ismail Sallam, announced the ban on FGM in 1996-JUL. This was upheld by a junior administrative court in Cairo.

Sheik Youssef Badri, a Muslim fundamentalist, took the health minister to court. In 1997-JUN, an Egyptian court overturned the country's ban on FGM. Eight Muslim scholars and doctors had testified that the ban exceeded the government's authority and violated the legal rights of the medical profession. Sheik Youssef Badri commented: "[Female] circumcision is Islamic; the court has said that the ban violated religious law. There's nothing which says circumcision is a crime, but the Egyptians came along and said that Islam is a crime." About 1997-JUL-6, the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel interviewed Sheik Badri. He claimed that many Muslim women are pleased with this victory of Islam over its enemies. When it was pointed out to him that parents in Morocco and Algeria do not practice FGM, he replied that the clitoris in Egyptian girls was larger than in those countries and had to be cut back to a normal size. He quoted a French study which showed that circumcised girls are less likely to catch AIDS. * He believes that the United States is spreading misinformation on the health risks of FGM.

* Author's note: This may be true; victims of FGM are probably less likely to be sexually active.

The government appealed the case to Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court. They ruled that the operation is not required by Islam, and that "female circumcision is not a personal right according to the rules of Islamic Sharia (law)." Thus, FGM is subject to Egyptian law. They prohibited the procedure, even if it is done with the agreement of the child and her parents. However, gynecologists will be able to approve the surgery if it is needed for health reasons.

Fatwa are published opinions by Muslim religious scholars. They are non-binding in law. But Muslim believers are expected to follow them. In Egypt, a number of Fatwas have been issued by the influential Egyptian Fatwa Committee on FGM:

Reaction by the rest of the world

The United Nations has supported the right of member states to grant refugee status to women who fear being mutilated if they are returned to their country of origin. Canada has granted such status to women in this situation. A judge of a Canadian Federal Court declared it a "cruel and barbaric practice."

In 1994 CNN broadcast footage of the circumcision of a 10 year old Egyptian girl by an unskilled practitioner. This program drew international attention to the operation. A 500 million dollar lawsuit was brought against CNN for allegedly damaging Egypt's reputation, It was rejected by the courts.

In the West, the procedure is outlawed in Britain, Canada, France, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. A US federal bill, "Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation of 1995" was passed in 1996-SEP. Section 273.3 of the Canadian Criminal Code protects children who are ordinarily resident in Canada, (as citizens or landed migrants) from being removed from the country and subjected to FGM. In the US and Canada, the very small percentage of immigrants who wish to continue the practice often find it impossible to find a doctor who will cooperate. The operation is often done in the home by the family.

Legislation against FGM can be counter-productive in some cases. It might force the practice deeply underground. Women may not seek medical care because their parents might be charged.

UN Activity

In 1958, the Economic and Social Committee of the United Nations invited the World Health Organization (WHO) "to undertake a study on the persistence of customs involving ritual practices on girls and on the measures in effect or planned to put an end to those practices." ₅ The WHO responded that "the ritual practices in question, resulting from social and cultural conceptions, are not within the WHO's jurisdiction." ₆ They subsequently changed their position. ₇ In 1989, the Regional Committee of the WHO for Africa passed a resolution urging participating governments "to adopt appropriate policies and strategies in order to eradicate female circumcision" and "to forbid medicalization of female circumcision and to discourage health professionals from performing such surgery."

In 1980, UNICEF announced that its anti-FGM program is "based on the belief that the best way to handle the problem is to trigger awareness through education of the public, members of the medical profession and practitioners of traditional health care with the help of local collectives and their leaders." ₈

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is ambiguous about FGM. On one hand, Article 24, paragraph 3 states: "States Parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.". But Article 29 paragraph 1.c calls for: "The development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own."

Sources of additional FGM information:

Books on FGM:

References:

1. The Female Genital Mutilation Research Homepage contained a complete review of FGM. The web site appears to have been abandoned. 
2. B. Taverne, "Ethics and communication strategy: female circumcision and AIDS in Burkina Faso", (1996). On line at: http://melusine.mpl.orstom.fr/sida/btarang1.htm
3. Sami A. ALDEEB ABU-SAHLIEH, "To Mutilate in the Name of Jehovah or Allah: Legitimization of Male and Female Circumcision" Available on line at: http://www.hollyfeld.org/fgm/refer/mutilate.html
4. Nawal El-Saadawi, "The hidden face of Eve, Women in the Arab World," translated and edited by Sherif Hetata, Zed Press, London, 1980, P. 33.
5. United Nations, 26th Session of the Economic and Social Committee, 1029th Plenary Meeting, 1958-JUL-10.
6. WHO, 12th World Health Assembly, 11th Plenary Meeting, 1959-MAY-28.
7. WHO, Resolution of the Regional Committee for Africa, 39th session, AFR/RC39/R9, 1989-SEP-13.
8. UNICEF, Department of Information, "Position of UNICEF on Female Excision", 1980-SEP-23, Page 1.
9. Research, Action and Information Network for Bodily Integrity of Women (RAINBO) specializes in programs to eliminate FGM. They list many books and reports for sale at low prices. They also loan videos. See: http://www.rainbo.org/
10. Scilla McLean, et al, "Female circumcision, excision, and infibulation: the facts and proposal for change", Minority Rights Group, London UK, (1980). 20pp.
11. Efua Dorkenoo, "Cutting the rose: female genital mutilation: the practice and its prevention", Minority Rights Group, London UK, (1994).
12. Esther K. Hicks, "Infibulation: female mutilation in Islamic northeastern Africa", Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ, (1993).
13. "Female genital mutilation", World Health Organization, Geneva, (1997).
14. "Egypt Upholds Ban on Female Circumcision", Associated Press, 1997-DEC-29
15. Volker Rudolf Schmidt has a Web site devoted to FGM. Most of the text is in German, but he lists many organizations in English. See: http://www.home.sis-online.com/dotto/
16. Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahleih, "To Mutilate in the Name of Jehovah or Allah,"   at: http://almashriq.hiof.no/general/600/
17. Wolf Leslau, "Coutumes et croyances des Falachas (Juifs d'Abyssinie)," Institut d'Ethnographie, Paris, (1957), Page 93.
18. "Female genital mutilation," Amnesty International, at: http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm1.htm
19. "FGM: Religion," Amnesty International, at: http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm1.htm#a11
20. "28 on trial in France for female genital mutilation," Reuters, 1999-FEB-2
21. Kim Gaines, "Female Genital Mutilation: An inhuman imperative," at: http://www.minorities-jb.com/african/lifestyles/mutilate1011.htm 
22. Private Email, received 2000-DEC-30.
23. "Position paper on Female Genital Mutilation/Female Circumcision," Muslim Women's League, at: http://www.mwlusa.org/pub_fgm.html 
24. Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, "Religious arguments about male and female circumcision," at: http://www.hraic.org/