Deep Rooted Controversy
by Leigh Ranck
Female genital mutilation is a controversial modern day topic. Debate over this common practice begins with even what to call it: female genital mutilation, female genital cutting, or female genital circumcision. Opponents most often refer to it as female genital mutilation while proponents refer to it as female circumcision; each for their own positive and negative connotations. Modern day society widely accepts male circumcision, the reason proponents use female circumcision. However, advocates of male circumcision dislike the use of the term for the negative associations between the two practices. For politically correct purposes, the third conference of the Inter African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children adopted female genital mutilation as the official term in 1990, prompting the United Nations and the World Health Organization to adopt the same term a year later. The term mutilation emphasizes the brutality of this practice and its infringement on the human rights of women and children.
Female genital mutilation cannot clearly be defined as one simple act. In fact there are a variety of different types. Most of them include removal of the clitoris, which is the female pleasure organ. However, the most severe forms of female genital mutilation result in the total closure of the female genital area. Most often this practice, which can be regarded as a surgical procedure, is conducted in unhygienic environments that can lead to deadly infections. Although the most dangerous and traumatic forms of female genital mutilation are isolated to small ethnic groups, a significant part of Africa uses some form of female genital mutilation. There is no clear-cut reason as to why female genital mutilation has become such a common practice, however it dates prior to both Islam and Christianity.
Today, female genital mutilation is concentrated mostly in Africa, ranging from the western coast in Senegal to the eastern coast in Somalia and including Egypt and Tanzania. In this region, approximately ninety-five percent of women have undergone some form of female genital mutilation. Although most of the use of female genital mutilation is practiced out in the open by most African Muslims, it is practiced under a high level of secrecy in the Middle East, especially in northern Saudi Arabia, southern Jordan, and Iraq. Immigration has allowed this practice to spread to South America, Europe, and the United States. As female genital mutilation has become more prevalent in the Western World, governments have legislated laws making female genital mutilation a criminal offense. In 2006, the United States prosecuted for the first time a man for performing female genital mutilation on his daughter.
Most often the procedure is performed on girls between the ages of four and eight. It is now reported by the World Health Organization that between 100 and 140 million women and girls have had some form of female genital mutilation. It is commonly performed without anesthetic and sterilized proper equipment. HIV/AIDS can easily be spread due to the lack of sterilized medical instruments and the re-use of instruments on multiple women or children. Even after the procedure is conducted danger still lies in increased risk of infection. Also, a study by the World Health Organization in 2006 reported that it is also dangerous for the baby if the mother has had some form of female genital mutilation. Most human rights organizations consider any form of female genital mutilation a violation of the women's or, in most cases, children's rights, because the women and girls involved are too young to give informed consent for the procedure. Because this tradition is most often used in small local rural areas, in Africa or in other countries, it has become extremely difficult to decrease and even stop the use of female genital mutilation through legislation. All across Africa legislation has been enacted in recent years to minimize the prevalence of female genital mutilation. However, statistics still provide evidence that female genital mutilation is a common occurrence in Africa and parts of the Middle East.
With the world consumed with AIDS, HIV, and genocide, female genital mutilation has slipped below the media radar. This has consequently allowed most to remain ignorant to the humiliation and torture that occurs to these women. Although legislation has been enacted in order to protect these women and children, it is extremely difficult to arrest and prosecute a crime that is so hidden in plain sight. The only thing keeping this crime obscured is its location in rural and ethnic cultures in Africa. This problem will ultimately continue to grow, not only in its gruesomeness, but also in use until the world's population opens its eyes to the injustice of subjecting minors to major sexual surgery in improper conditions and without informed consent.
Sources:
"Female Genital Mutilation." World Health Organization. 2007. 27 Mar. 2007 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/
