The Justification of FGM
The most frequently mentioned reasons for FGM are religion and tradition. However, it is vital to remember that FGM predates both Islam and Christianity and is cross-religions and practiced by the followers of Islam, Christianity, animists and other traditional religions. FGM is not practiced by all Muslims and has been wrongly associated with Islam. In societies where illiteracy and poverty prevail and where women are taught to believe that FGM is universal, the justification for FGM is a reality of life for the women where its practice.
Those who support and promote this practice often claim that FGM will enhance fertility by preventing waywardness of girls while making a woman a faithful wife. Socially, uncircumcised women cannot be accepted as a serious and responsible adult unless she had undergone FGM that is taken to be an initiation rite or coming of age rite. It is performed on girl’s 12-14-years old, or just before the onset of menstruation and just before marriage. Therefore, FGM emphasizes the transition in age status from girlhood to womanhood and to marriageable age.
Marriage and FGM: In most of African and Middle Eastern communities practicing FGM, the main justifications concentrate on morality, virginity, honor and marriage, and sexual control and FGM is expected to fulfill and maintain these virtues. For most African women as well as other Third World women, marriage is not an option but a must for survival. Marriage and reproduction are the only guarantee for a women to gain economic security and social status. Therefore, infertility is one of the worst fates that a woman can face in her life in these communities and marriage ensures a woman with old age pension or security as well as respect in the society. Consequently, a woman without children or an unmarried woman will have a very difficult life and a devastated old age, especially ones without any support from their relatives or community. Therefore, the whole practice of FGM is the base for marriage. Without undergoing FGM, a woman is denied the right of marriage, in most cases also the denial of receiving bride price and she becomes an outcast in the society.
Virginity must be maintained at the time of marriage and the lack of it has damaging social consequences to the individual as well as to the parents. Virginity is the base for marriageability and it also enforces the prohibitions of sexual relationships outside marriage. Virginity is also considered as a base for a family’s honor. A girl is expected to bring honor to her family through the preservation of her virginity. This is where FGM comes as a means of ensuring virginity. It is also believed that virginity of a woman ensures the fatherhood of the husband. Another misconception is that women are presumed to be weak in areas of emotion and, therefore, must be controlled. In other words, women are unable to control their sexuality. That is why it is believed that uncircumcised girls are assumed to run wild, or are considered of loose moral, bringing shame to their parents. FGM is expected to play that role by reducing the girl’s sexual desire and prevent sexual experience before marriage.
Gender identity is also given as a reason for the practice of FGM. It is practiced to clearly distinguish the sex of an individual based on the belief that the foreskin of a boy makes him female and the clitoris of the female makes her a male. So the removal of the clitoris, which is believed to be male parts, makes a woman feminine. In addition, clitoris is considered to be ugly on a girl and must be removed to eliminate any indications of maleness. The clitoris and labia, considered to be the masculine parts, are seen as dangerous and poisonous organs and must be removed for health reasons. It is believed that they will kill a baby during birth and will also cause trouble to the man during intercourse. Similar attitudes and misconceptions include that leaving a girl uncircumcised endangers both her husband and her baby; if the baby’s head touches the uncut clitoris during birth, the baby will be born hydrocephalic (excess cranial fluid). The milk of the mother will become poisonous. If a man’s penis touches a woman’s clitoris, he will become impotent etc.
Cleanliness and beauty
It is further believed that the removal of the clitoris and labia contribute to the cleanliness and beauty of women because an unmutilated woman is considered dirty and polluted. This is one reason why uncircumcised women are ostracized within their own families and communities. The absence or removal of the clitoris keeps the vagina clean and makes vaginal intercourse more desirable than clitoral stimulation. These misconceptions are based on the fact that secretions produced by the glands in the clitoris, labia minor and major are bad smelling and unhygienic and so makes the female body unclean. Under normal conditions, secretions are odorless and if the secretions are bad smelling, excessive and colored, then this is an indication of infection or other serious problems, probably requiring medication. In reality FGM can create uncleanliness by closing the vulva and preventing the natural flow of urine and
menstrual flow and consequently leading to the retention of urine and menstrual blood causing offensive smell.
THESE are some of the main misconceptions on which the practice of FGM is based and they are strengthening because of several reasons. However, people who have neither medical training nor extensive knowledge of female physiology usually do this procedure. As a consequence, those performing FGM on their daughters are unaware of the damages they impose on their daughters because they have not been adequately informed about the severe health problems, both short-term and long term. The debate surrounding FGC/FGM should first and foremost be concerning women’s health and well-being because the inattention given to women’s health is an significant issue that can be seen all over the world. FGC/FGM causes problems such as bleeding, infection, pain and trauma that are caused because FGM is usually performed without anesthesia and under unhygienic conditions. The long-term problems facing recipients of FGM is increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases, problems getting pregnant and complications during pregnancy etc. In all, the practice of FGM transforms the organ of pleasure into an organ for pain and this is a crime not only against women’s physical health, but also for their psychological well-being
To Read More from the article What is behind the tradition of FGM? by Dr. Ashenafi Moges
Go to http://www.african-women.org/documents/behind-FGM-tradition.pdf