UNITED NATIONS - The good news is that female circumcision -- also known as female genital mutilation -- has decreased in a number of nations. The bad news is that the figures are still shocking after years of campaigns.
The practice of cutting into female organs is prevalent in a number of countries in Africa, the Middle East and south Asia as well as among migrant families in Europe and the United States. Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) is usually carried out between infancy and 15 years of age to keep women "pure," marriageable and unable to enjoy sex. Consequences include severe bleeding, childbirth complications, and of course pain.
The latest figures, released by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), show that over 6,000 communities have chosen to abandon the practice in Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Guinea and Somalia.
But... there is always a but...
In Ethiopia, the prevalence rate has fallen from 80 percent to 74 percent, in Kenya from 32 percent to 27 percent, and in Egypt from 97 percent to 91 percent, according to Nfissatou Diop, coordinator of the program. The prevalence rate is based on a representative sample, not a door-to-door census.
In other words, this means that 91 percent of Egyptian females aged 15-49 years old may have been circumcised, most of them when they were young and could not protect themselves. The surveys are conducted by the U.S.-based Macro International every 5-6 years.
So, does that mean that most of the spirited young woman demonstrators and bloggers we have seen on TV have lost control over their bodies? Or do they belong to the lucky 10 percent?
The practice is outlawed in Egypt although hardly anyone has been prosecuted. The now-former first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, called female circumcision "a flagrant example of continued physical and psychological violence against children which must stop." Last May 1, she appeared at Aswan City alongside local officials to declare the province free of it. Hopefully the ouster of the Mubarak family will not result in a backlash on this issue.
Three million girls face FGM/C every year in Africa and worldwide, and up to 140 million women and girls have already undergone the practice, the UN agencies report.
Among the nations practicing female circumcision are 28 countries in Africa and the Middle East, including Iraq's Kurdistan area. The procedure has also been reported among certain populations in India, Indonesia and Malaysia. Many countries have enacted laws against FGM: 19 in Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia); 11 in Europe (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Britain). And the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand also have legislation against FGM.
But enforcing them is as difficult as the Pope's ban on birth control.
Waris Dirie speaks
One of the most famous advocates against FGM was Waris Dirie of Somalia, a model, actress and human rights activist. She has spoken and written about how her mother held her down when she was cut, without anesthesia, by a gypsy woman. Her vaginal opening was stitched closed with thorns. "Can you imagine anything worse than hearing the screams of pain of your own child?" she asks. She trekked across Somalia barefoot to escape an arranged marriage.
The International Organization for Migration advocates work among immigrants. "Traditional practices don't die when a migrant's boat or plane journey ends. With its partners, IOM is committed to eliminating FGM within a generation. However, this will only happen if practicing migrant communities are fully included in efforts to end FGM," said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.
Many religious leaders, both Muslims and Christians, say the practice is not related to religion but has been a part of tradition for hundreds if not thousands of years. But a World Health Organization-funded study a year ago found that there are contradictory messages from religious scholars and sheiks. The nagging question is how mothers and fathers can continue the painful practice, generation after generation.
Incontinence and maternal mortality are among the health hazards of female circumcision. Yet the new U.S. Congress, in an apparent fixation on practices below the waist, is eager to cut any funds to Planned Parenthood and its reproductive health programs. No doubt UNFPA will be next as it was in the Bush administration.
The argument is denouncing any mention of abortion, although that is a rare discussion in developing nations. Abstinence is frequently advocated rather than birth control. Yet UNFPA estimates that 215 million women in the developing world want to delay or avoid pregnancy but have no access to contraception. For circumcised women, the choice of whether to have another child is an especially poignant question.
Follow Evelyn Leopold on Twitter: www.twitter.com/evjournalist
Lisa Derrick: 'Foreskin Man' Comic Book Attacks Circumcision
Bessie A. Winn-Afeku: Female Genital Mutilation: Who Has the Right to Name It a Crime?
Same problem with posting anything about the proven fact that
males having sex with each other is (still) the fastest growing HIV
demographic. But saying so is bigotry, according to HP. Let alone
trying to suggest the obvious, that down-low males are the major
cause of female infection with HIV. Oh, the extreme bigotry of it all !
It's a lot easier to criticize somebody else's culture than to criticize your own.
More needs to be done to educate & develop consciousness among the people.
Indeed a sorry state of Affair !
Needs to be also abolished by enacting laws too along with education.
Women also go through hell when their LOVING HUSBANDS make them endure having the vaginal opening sewn to make the opening smaller, another barbaric practice to please her
LOVING HUSBAND. This is a sad, sickening practice to please a man. How can the comments from men be so self centered. Think about having your manhood chopped, diced with tools used to make your Wife happy. My guess is 99.0% would head for the hills. This is not a process to enhance the women but to please a man, so I can not find circumcision remotely close. Sorry
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2008/9789241596442_eng.pdf
From the 47 page 2008 report from the WHO prepared in cooperation with 9 UN agencies which details the classification typology of the 4 independent types, and multiple subtypes of FGM.
Type I(a) FGM involves removal of the female prepuce or clittoral hood only. Male circumcision involves removal of the male prepuce or forekin only. Just exactly how is removal of a female prepuce distinguishable from removal of a male prepuce? How can removing a female prepuce only be considered FGM if performed on a female, while removal of a male prepuce only is not considered MGM?
FGM Type IV practices include piercing and pricking. Obviously, piercing and pricking are significantly less severe than forcibly surgically amputating a neo-natal male's entire prepuce/foreskin without his consent-as done in the male circumcision procedure. Yet, when performed on a female, the much less severe practices of piercing and pricking constitute FGM.
The inconvenient truth in the genital cutting debate is that male genital cutting aka circumcision may be less severe, as severe, and even more severe in degree to individual practices which universally constitute outlawed and prohibited FGM practices. Yet, severity shouln't be the issue in the first place.
The issue should be human rights. Males are equally as human as females. And, males should be given equal treatment. Read the report and replace female with male.
The female circumcision practice, some say, started in ancient Egypt and not with Islam. My story did not blame it on Islamic teachings although in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood fought against the law banning FGM. Regardless, it is a brutal and often life-destroying practice. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/06/after-weeks-of.html
Now for the numbers. They are supposed to be a representative sample put out by reputable organizations, not invented by the Huffington Post. I am eager to hear from Egyptian women as to their veracity. Some earlier studies say the number is 70 percent. But even 50 percent is too high. And here and there Suzanne Mubarak did some good for women’s rights. (She would not have targeted Aswan if only a few people practiced FGM.) That does not mean anyone is advocating her return to first lady.
Thanks for all the comments. Keep them coming. EL
Very sad that even in the 21 century people don't have enough knowledge about male sexual anatomy. What's wrong with the medical community in the USA?
...and I am sure there are people in those countries who consider FGM healthy too.
It's funny that the very NYT article you mention contains the quote “How can you think it’s O.K. to cut little boys, when you are horrified by the idea of cutting little girls?”.
Exactly what I think about you Evelyn.
plese dont believe her
that statistic is not 90%
maybe 9%
mayb even less
this is not an arabic or islamic thing
this is defiently lies
the author and ythe huffington post are taking a huge chance.
u might get female protesters come out saying that this is not the norm and a lie
Why would the Huffington post print such rubbish?
BTW I am Egyptian, and female circumcision is viewed as a mutilation by most Egyptians as well. It is normally only practiced by the most backwards and uncivilized Bedouin tribes.
To make the outrageous claim that 91% (effectively all muslim women in Egypt) have experienced it, is completely absurd!
Everything is NOT about YOU! This is about how millions of young girls are permanently mutilated every year.
Dear God in Heaven we need yet another women's movement - NOW!
Alice Miller.