125 million girls and women, all cut with blades (Warning Graphic)

[sheshe2]

Female Genital Mutilation (or FGM) is a serious concern, even in the 21st century. FGM refers to the process of intentionally altering or injuring the female genital organs for non-medical reasons, and it has no health benefits to women. Actually, quite the opposite. Problems arising from FGM include severe bleeding, problems urinating, cysts, infections, infertility, complications in childbirth, and an increased risk of newborn deaths.

And beyond the physical health dimension, FGM is recognised internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, and reflects a deep-rooted sense of inequality between the sexes.



snip

But don’t just imagine female genital mutilation as something that takes place out in dusty villages in front of thatched-roof huts. Every year, around 20,000 young women in the UK and France are at risk of FGM, generally amongst migrant communities who have come to Europe from countries where the practice is common.

While FGM is of course illegal in the UK and France, local medical experts report that the French Government has been much more pro-active in stamping out the practice. My personal opinion is that “cultural tolerance” isn’t a concept that has any place in a discussion about FGM, because it’s not culture, it’s abuse.

********************Take a deep breath before you scroll down, because you’ll remember this. (Seriously, the following images are disturbing and not to be scrolled through lightly)*****************



http://www.globalcitizen.org/Content/Content.aspx?id=29a12221-0cc1-4137-8a9c-c8b597df6e37

[niyad]

1. k and r and thank you.

[sheshe2]

3. The girls expressions.

Hard for me to describe, niyad. They look hollow, empty and betrayed.

[niyad]

4. it is so horrific. I cannot bear hearing anyone defend it culturally.

[sheshe2]

6. I feel sick. nt

[niyad]

7. maybe this will give you a bit of hope:

http://16days.thepixelproject.net/16-organisations-charities-and-grassroots-groups-working-to-stop-fgm/

http://www.dofeve.org/stopping-fgm.html

[sheshe2]

12. In a way yes niyad.

The video at the 2nd link made me cry.

[niyad]

2. from WHO (and please note just how far removed from male circumcision this is)

Procedures

Female genital mutilation is classified into four major types.

Clitoridectomy: partial or total removal of the clitoris (a small, sensitive and erectile part of the female genitals) and, in very rare cases, only the prepuce (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris).
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, or outer, labia, with or without removal of the clitoris.
Other: all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area.

. . .

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/

. . . .

The procedures differ according to the ethnic group. They include removal of the clitoral hood and clitoris, and in the most severe form (known as infibulation) removal of the inner and outer labia and closure of the vulva; in this last procedure, a small hole is left for the passage of urine and menstrual blood, and the vagina is opened for intercourse and childbirth. Health effects depend on the procedure, but can include recurrent infections, chronic pain, cysts, an inability to get pregnant, complications during childbirth and fatal bleeding.[9] There are no known health benefits.[10]

The practice is rooted in gender inequality, attempts to control women's sexuality, and ideas about purity, modesty and aesthetics. It is usually initiated and carried out by women, who see it as a source of honour, and who fear that failing to have their daughters and granddaughters cut will expose the girls to social exclusion.[11] Over 130 million women and girls have experienced FGM in the 29 countries in which it is concentrated.[3] Over eight million have been infibulated, a practice found largely in Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan.[12]
. . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_mutilation

[niyad]

5. FGM comes to america

Female Circumcision Comes to America

Performed by new immigrants, veiled in deference to a cultural tradition of the developing world, female circumcision is becoming an American problem

by Linda Burstyn

IT is a late-summer night, nearly midnight in Washington, D.C., when the taxicab comes for Mimi Ramsey. She steps into it with a worried look in her eyes and her mouth firmly set. She is on her way to yet another stranger's house, where she will again--for the umpteenth time in the past year--talk about the most personal and most secret of African customs, offering herself as a sort of human roadblock in the traffic of tradition. At the house Ramsey is kissed on both of her cheeks by her hostess, an Ethiopian immigrant like herself, and ushered into a dimly lit living room decorated with rugs and cloths from their homeland. There she spends the next several hours huddled together with the young mother, Genat, talking in conspiratorial whispers.

"Mother says she will do it anyway, herself--when I'm out of the house--if I don't agree to get it done soon," Genat confides to the woman she hopes will help her. "She says she will take a razor blade and do it." Ramsey nods. She has heard this story many times before, and responds by reciting a long list of reasons why the older woman must be stopped, trying to give Genat the courage to buck tradition and disobey her mother. "You cannot let her do this to your child. Please. It is wrong. You know how painful it is. How damaging. Your daughter may hate you for life for what you allow to happen to her."

Genat shakes her head. She doesn't want her baby girl, just born in this country, to be circumcised, as is customary in her native land, but her mother is adamant. "She believes in it so strongly," Genat says. "She said if I don't do these things, the girl will grow up horny. She'll be like American girls. And how will I be able to go back to work if my mother is not here to care for my child?"

. . .
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/unbound/flashbks/fgm/fgm.htm

[bluestateguy]

32. That should be grounds for immediate deportation

That is one kind of "cultural diversity" we do not need here.

[seveneyes]

39. Grounds for life in prison

Then deport the ashes after death.

[cwydro]

8. Yay to Islam

and all the other religions that allow/practice this.

Yay to the women on DU who think this is OK.

Seriously?

[chervilant]

13. Who on DU thinks this is okay?!?

I cannot even understand why you made that comment. I find your post bigoted and offensive.

[chervilant]

14. P. S.

Please do not respond to me, as I won't see it.

[sheshe2]

17. Excuse me?

[JI7]

22. there are women on DU who think this is ok ?

[sheshe2]

24. Unless you explain yourself...

your response is ugly. I can read it no other way.

[Brickbat]

9. K&R. Some cultural practices are crap and deserve to be eradicated.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

10. Anybody that does that to a girl or woman is a monster.

[Ilsa]

11. There really are monsters in this world.

And most of the vile acts are done in the name of religion and "purity".

[tblue]

15. Was in Kenya once and saw a group of girls right after

They were all dressed & painted up for this festive occasion, to show they had crossed that threshold, and they were real women now. But I looked at their faces, and I'll never forget what I saw. They seemed to move in slow motion, looking like the loneliest people in the world, stunned and questioning, disbelieving, like they were just realizing they'd been horribly betrayed and like there was, and would be, no where to ever go with that feeling. Maybe I was reading my own emotions into this, but that's how I remember it--the tribe was celebrating while these young women floated in a cloud of separate, silent agony.

[sheshe2]

16. Ooooh. The pain.

tblue,you described them so much better than I did to niyad. I could not find the words. You did.

the tribe was celebrating while these young women floated in a cloud of separate, silent agony.

tears

[niyad]

35. an accurate, heartrending description.

[sheshe2]

18. Kick for exposure.

[sheshe2]

19. Tears and tears and tears for the pain and physical abuse of these young girls.

[sheshe2]

20. 125 million girls and women, all cut with blades

[sheshe2]

21. 125 million

[KansDem]

40. ...all cut with blades

[SunSeeker]

23. K & R for exposure. nt

[sheshe2]

25. ...

[BlueCaliDem]

26. WHYYYYYY?! This is HORRENDOUS. Why in the hell would anyone do this to women?? To girls???

I'm literally nauseous right now.

[sheshe2]

28. I am too BlueCaliDem.

I cry.

[BlueCaliDem]

29. I can't believe this is still being practiced! What is wrong with those women??

How can they harm innocent girls like that? Just so that they can't experience pleasure?? I weep for these poor girls. My god, this is horrendous violence against innocents.

[niyad]

36. because that is what their religions, their cultures, teach them is necessary and right.

[A HERETIC I AM]

30. You want to know why?

Because it is done in a patriarchal society and the men do not want the women to enjoy sex in the slightest.

Why?

Because they fear the women will "stray" so to speak, if they enjoyed sex, and since the men are basically assholes, they invented this idea of slicing off the clitoris.

[niyad]

33. you have it correct--it is all about control of the women and their sexuality. by the way,

the infibulation is more than just removing the clitoris. please read the WHO definitions upthread. what is done is so horrendous, and the pain and problems never stop.

[RoccoRyg]

27. I'm covering the topic in my new eBook...

The Genocide Gene, currently under construction.

While I personally condemn the practice, I try to present the counterargument as well. It is mostly carried out by other women, and women who are not cut are afraid of social isolation and accusations of witchcraft (Africans are very superstitious). Many Africans are not comfortable with foreigners telling them their social norms are immoral, comparing it to the attitudes of the European colonists of the past. Whatever you believe, it is a serious issue and I hope my small contribution adds to the debate.

[niyad]

37. yes, the women do it, but the religion and culture that teaches them to do this is patriarchy and

woman-hating, pure and simple.

[Jamastiene]

31. That is atrocious.

K&R because putting those girls through that is pure torture. I don't see the point in it. I honestly don't think anyone can make me see the point in it.

[niyad]

34. the point is control of women's sexuality. there is no medical reason on earth for what is done.

[niyad]

38. . . .

[Tuesday Afternoon]

41. DU Rec...

More middle class, white, American men need to learn about this. Feminism is a world wide cause.

One can not truly be a Humanist unless they are a Feminist.