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Defaced Femininity

ZOSIMO T. LITERATUS, RMT

Harvard obstetrician-gynecologist Nawal Nour reported to the Reviews in Obstetrics & Gynecology (2008 issue): “The origins of FGC are a mystery.”

The World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) jointly issued in 1997 a statement defining female genital cutting (FGC) or female circumcision as “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons.”[1]

Amnesty International estimated in October 1997 that more than 130 million women worldwide had FGC, with over 2 million procedures being performed each year.

According to a UNICEF report[2] in 2005, 80% or more women in Africa had FGC including such countries as at the top: Guinea (99%), Egypt (97%), Mali (92%), Sudan north (90%), Eritrea (89%), and Ethiopia (80%). Ranked below Ethiopia in FGC prevalence are Burkina Faso (77%), Mauritania (71%), Chad (45%), Cote d’Ivore (45%), Central African Republic (36%), Kenya (32%), and Senegal (28%). Other African countries with prevalence of 5% to 23% include Yemen, Nigeria, Tanzania, Benin, Ghana, and Niger.

CLASSIFICATION

WHO, UNICEF, and UNPFA recently issued a broadened classification of FGC.

Type I (clitoridectomy, sunna) involves removing part or all of the clitoris and/or the prepuce (its skin covering). It is practiced mostly in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Kenya.

Type II (excision) involves removing part or all of the clitoris and labia minora (smaller folds), cutting or not the labia majora (bigger folds). It is performed in parts of West Africa including Benin, Sierra Leone, Gambia, and Guinea.

The more severe Type III (infibulations, pharaonic) involves removing part or all of the external genitalia and narrowing the smaller folds and/or bigger folds by suturing them close, covering the urethra and most of the external genitalia, leaving a small hole for urination and menses. It is done in Somalia, Northern Sudan, and Djibouti. The Northern Nigerians use a corrosive material introduced into the vagina or simply scrape the vaginal opening.

HISTORY

This form of “female genital mutilation,” as Nour called it, is an ancient practice way before the birth of Judaism. A Greek papyrus from 163 BC mentions circumcised girls in Egypt. It is widely accepted that FGC originated from Egypt and the Nile valley at the time of the Pharaohs. Author R. Skaine[3] cited evidence found in mummies with Type I and Type III FGC.

Information provided by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (TACOG)[4] indicated it probably existed in ancient Egypt, Ethiopia, and Greece.

As late as 1985, it has been found that a small number of Muslims have adopted the practice, although it is not commanded by the Qur’an[5]. It is also practiced by Animists. It is practiced by the minority Ethiopian Jewish community (Beta Israel), formerly known as Falasha, most of whom are still alive in Israel. It is never practiced among Christians until a Reverend Oscar Lowry advocated it to prevent masturbation.

Researcher W. Cutner[6] reported that American obstetricians even practiced FGC Type I (clitoridectomy) in the 1960s to treat erotomania, lesbianism, hysteria, and clitoral enlargement.

Girls typically undergo FGC between the ages of 6 and 12 years. But it is also performed on newborns, at menarche, and before marriage. Most girls in countries practicing it are aware that they will be eventually cut, and some eagerly anticipate it.

At the day of the circumcision, TACOG also reported that villagers gather girls and celebrate the rite of passage with food, song, and gifts. There is no such thing as sterile, antibiotic or anesthesia in the procedure. Knives, razors, scissors, or hot objects can be used and reused. Oil, honey, dough, or tree sap are used to ease bleeding, much like the old way the male circumcision is performed in the Philippines; of course, minus the hot objects, oil, honey or dough. Horseradish is often used to stop bleeding among males.

(Check also Wikipedia for a more extensive material on FGC.)



Note: Should you need a copy of this study, place your request as a comment on this article so I can send you a PDF file. Of course, don’t forget to give your name and location together with your email address.





SOURCES
[1] WHO, 1997: Female Genital Mutilation: A Joint WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA Statement. Geneva, Switzerland.
[2] UNICEF, 2005: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Statistical Exploration. New York: 4
[3] Skaine R, 2005: Female Genital Mutilation: Legal, Cultural and Medical Issues. Jefferson, NC, USA: McFarland
[4] TACOG, 2008: Female Genital Cutting: Clinical Management of Circumcised Women. Washington, DC.
[5] Frederick Mathewson wrote the article, “Circumcision,” in 2001 for Jane Dammen McAuliffe’s Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an (1, A-D, Leiden: Brill, 366-7)
[6] Cutner W, 1985: Female genital mutilation. Obstetrics & Gynecology Survey; 40:437-443

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