Fenale Genital Mutilation
CASE STUDY
CASE STUDY
Description of FGM by an eyewitness:
“The child, completely naked, is made to sit on a low stool. Several women take hold of her and open her legs wide. After separating her outer and inner lips, the operator, usually a woman experienced in this procedure, sits down facing the child. With her kitchen knife the operator first pierces and slices open the hood of the clitoris. Then she begins to cut it out. While another woman wipes off the blood with a rag, the operator digs with her sharp fingernail a hole the length of the clitoris to detach and pull out the organ. The little girl, held down by the women helpers, screams in extreme pain; but no one pays the slightest attention.
The operator finishes this job by entirely pulling out the clitoris, cutting it to the bone with her knife. Her helpers again wipe off the spurting blood with a rag. The operator then removes the remaining flesh, digging with her finger to remove any remnant of the clitoris among the flowing blood. The neighbor women are then invited to plunge their fingers into the bloody hole to verify that every piece of the clitoris is removed.
This operation is not always well-managed, as the little girl struggles. It often happens that by clumsy use of the knife or a poorly-executed cut the urethra is pierced or the rectum is cut open. If the little girl faints, the women blow pili-pili (spice powder) into her nostrils. But this is not the end. The most important part of the operation begins only now. After a short moment, the woman takes the knife again and cuts off the inner lips (labia minora) of the victim. The helpers again wipe the blood with their rags. Then the operator, with a swift motion of her knife, begins to scrape the skin from the inside of the large lips.
The operator conscientiously scrapes the flesh of the screaming child without the slightest concern for the extreme pain she inflicts. When the wound is large enough, she adds some lengthwise cuts and several more incisions. The neighbor women carefully watch her 'work' and encourage her.
The child now howls even more. Sometimes in a spasm, children bite off their tongues. The women carefully watch to prevent such an accident. When her tongue flops out, they throw spice powder on it, which provokes an instant pulling back. With the abrasion of the skin completed according to the rules, the operator closes the bleeding large lips and fixes them one against the other with long acacia thorns. At this stage of the operation the child is so exhausted that she stops crying but often has convulsions. The women then force down her throat a concoction of plants. The operator's chief concern is to leave an opening no larger than a kernel of corn or just big enough to allow urine, and later the menstrual flow, to pass. The family honor depends on making the opening as small as possible because with the Somalis, the smaller the artificial passage is, the greater the value of the girl and the higher the bride-price.
When the operation is finished, the woman pours water over the genital area of the girl and wipes her with a rag. Then the child, who was held down all this time, is made to stand up. The women then immobilize her thighs by tying them together with ropes of goatskin. This bandage is applied from the knees to the waist of the girl and is left in place for about two weeks. The girl must remain lying on a mat for the entire time while all the excrement evidently remains with her in the bandage.
After that time, the girl is released and the bandage is cleaned. Her vagina is now closed - except for a tiny opening created by insertion of a straw or reed and remains closed until her marriage. Contrary to what one would assume, not many girls die from this torture. There are, of course, various complications, which frequently leave the girl crippled and disabled for the rest of her life” (By Jacques Lantier).
Hi - I've linked to this post in a blog about the Sunday Times exclusive on female genital mutilation in the UK - the link's at the bottom as a resource. Hope this is ok, please tell me if not.
ReplyDeleteSorry - forgot the link!
ReplyDeletehttp://300wordtheses.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/female-genital-mutilation-sunday-times.html
Although your account of infibulation [the worst of four kinds of fgm] is reasonably accurate as an individual case study, you are speading disinformation by attempting to insinuate it is caused by Islam; the Koran has passages which translated infer that the HOOD over the clitoris may be taken away in order to increase the pleasure of marriage but if the surgeon were to take anymore flesh he or she should be stoned to death; this is because it was believed uncovering the clitoris would lead to higher sensation in the marriage bed, but naturally removing anymore would have no positive effects so the surgeon should be punished, and it's a choice.
ReplyDeleteThe reality is fgm practice is widespread across all of Africa and the mythology and reasoning behind it are varied and detailed depending greatly on the part of the continent, much of the reasoning behind have nothing to do with religion, muslim or any other. A commonly held belief is that periods are so incredibly unsanitary and possibly evil that women experiencing it are not to prepare any food, and that infibulation minimises contact with the blood by forcing a slow thin release, among many others.
I'd like to confirm that I'm not speaking from bias; I'm a white, Welsh, atheist woman, but I studied FGM for 4 months and I know bias when I see it. Since you've taken an important issue and attempted to twist the facts about it in your quest to bash Muslims [which the name of your blog is clearly doing] I say you should be ashamed of yourself[ves].
This is truly the most evil of acts to carry out on any living being, let alone a child. FGM in every form must stopped.
ReplyDeleteShe sits there is discomfort, gagged and blindfolded, until her captor enters and removes the blindfold. When Dakkota still refuses to cooperate, he humiliates her by unbuttoning her blouse and pulling it down off her shoulders, exposing her bra.
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