WHY?!

So, after reading all of the horrible things about FGM, many of you are asking why people allow themselves, their sisters and their daughters to go through all of this suffering, right?

First of all, the procedure is usually carried out while the girl is still quite young and has no idea what is going to happen. Most of the girls, like Waris, are just excited to become a woman.

The main reason that girls are circumcised is to 'preserve their virginity'. In the countries where FGM is practiced, there is a strong belief that if young girls are not circumcised, they will not be able to control their sexual urges and will become very promiscuous. Often, it is essential for girls to be circumsised in order to recieve a good brideprice from her new husband for her family.

Many people believe that FGM is a good tradition, with an alarming 70% of the Central African Republic believing so. It is also widely thought that this is a religious requirement, however according to this blog, Islam, which is the most common religion in the countries where FGM is practiced, has forbidden the practice of FGM.

Maybe girls just want to be the same as every one else. It is suggested that girls that are not circumsised may be looked down on by their peers and bullied. In any case, the statistics are horrifying. Out of the five countries for which womens opinion on FGM is available, only the Central African Republic favoured discontinuation.

As late as the 1950s, FGM was performed in England and the United States, as a common 'cure' for things such as Lesbianism, Masturbation and other "female deviances'.

Although it is said that circumcision enhances mens sexual pleasure, in a study of 3oo sudanese men, each who had one wife who was infibulated and one who was not, 266 of them said they felt a lot more pleasure with the wife who had not been operated on.

So is anything being done to stop this?

It is only recently that information about FGM has started to come to light in western countries. The United Nations has declared February 6th as 'International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation', to try and gain awareness. People have begun campaigning against its practise, but these campaigns have brought out negative reactions, as they believe that westerners are trying to boss them around and change their culture. As one Somali woman says,
"If Somali women change, it will be a change done by us, among us. When they order us to stop, tell us what we must do, it is offensive to the black person or the Muslim person who believes in circumcision. To advise is good, but not to order.".

These negative reactions have made it hard for people such as Waris Dirie (who is now the UN's ambassador for the elimination of FGM) to move forward in their campaigns. However, there seem to be three main ways that are starting to have an affect.

• Community education - Health workers were trained about the negative effects of FGM and are now passing this information out in their cimmunities. The campaign also went to religious groups and social clubs to try and make them encourage their members to stop the practice.
• Alternative Rituals - A trial coming-of-age ritual was carried out in Kenya and involved a large party with gifts, but no circumcision. They are hoping that people will start to choose this path instead.
• Drama - In Burkina Faso, a local theatre group made a play about the negatice effects of FGM, aimed at man. a grant from RAINBO allowed him to tape the performance and show it throughout the region.

Although the number of girls undergoing FGM has hardly dropped, people believe that the younger generations are less likely to have thier daughters circumcised because of this education. I can only hope that this is true. To do something that horrible to such a helpless child is, in my eyes, just as bad as killing them. These girls have to suffer not just the physical consequences, but also the psychological consequences of FGM every day until they die, if the procedure does not kill them first, that is.

Waris Diries Story

Most of you have probably never even heard of FGM. I hadn't either until i read a book about Waris Dirie. Her story, just like so many other little girls, was really sad so i want to share it with you.

She was born into a nomadic Somalian family sometime in the 1960's, the exact year she is not sure of. One day, one of her older sisters, Haman, told her she was leaving as a girl and would return as woman. She never returned though. Waris later found out that Haman had lost too much blood during the procedure, and died.

When Waris was around five years old, she heard that another of her sisters, Aman, was to undergo a procedure that would turn her into a woman. Not wanting her sister to have anything that she didn't, Waris begged and begged until her mother finally allowed her to take part as well. Her innocent mind could have no idea of all of the pain, confusion and isolation that was to come.
She was held down on a rock by her mother, while a local gypsy woman roughly cut off her clitoris and inner parts of her vagina with a rusty razor blade that already had dried blood on it. She was then sewn up leaving only a "match-stick sized" hole through which blood and urine were to pass through.
She was then left by herself out in the bush for around a week so she could heal, only being visited by her mother once a day when she delivered her food. Waris was lucky not to develop and infection during the 'healing time' as many girls that do not die of shock or haemorraghing during the actual procedure, can develop fatal infections afterwards.
When her genitals had finally been healed, she was welcomed back into the family with a big all night party. At five years old she was now a 'woman'.

Although Waris survived this operation when approximately one third of the girls who undergo this procedure don't, it was not without further problems. When the Gypsy woman had sewn her up, she hadn't left a big enough hole for her urine and menstrual fluids to pass through. This was not noticable at first, as it just took her a longer time to pee. However, when she began getting her periods, she would be paralysed with stomach pains, and couldn't move for about a week. This was because the blood could not get out and was building up inside of her. This could have been easily fixed by reopening her, but nobody would allow it. This may sound rare, but actually it is very common to develop long term health problems from this procedure. Quite often, women develop urinary tract infections and can suffer abscesses or loss of nerve endings. Stones can form in the urethra or bladder because of obstruction or infection.

On their wedding night, the man cuts his new bride open with a knife and forces himself into her. The circumcised women can feel no sexual pleasure, instead, throughout their whole life sex is a painful experience for them. After this the woman can be resewn to keep her 'tight'. Many woman are not 'deinfibulated' (opening the vagina up) before birth, and this can cause life threatening complications for both the mother and the baby.

What is Female Genital Mutilation?

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), also known as Female genital cutting and female circumcision, is, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) “...all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”. There are four different types of FGM. WHO classifies these as:

• Clitoridectomy - partial or total removal of the clitoris (a small, sensitive and erectile part of the female genitals) and, rarely, the prepuce (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris) as well.


• Excision - partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora (the labia are "the lips" that surround the vagina).


• Infibulation - narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner, and sometimes outer, labia, with or without removal of the clitoris.


• Other - All other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, for example: pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization.

In simple terms, parts of the vagina such as the clitoris and the libia minora, are cut off, and in some cases, their vagina is sewn up, leaving only a tiny hole for urine and menstrual fluid. This most commonly occurs in African countries, to girls between seven and ten years old. At any time, there are an estimated 100 - 140 million girls having to live with the consequences of FGM.