Female circumcision is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. This practice is found in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as well as in some communities of Muslim countries. This article will tell you about the procedure and tradition of female circumcision: what it is and why it is done.
Terminology
Until the 1980s, this practice was commonly known in African countries as female circumcision, which implies equivalence with male circumcision.
In 1929, following the missionary work of Church of Scotland representative Marion Stevenson, the Kenya Missionary Council called the practice of female circumcision "the sexual mutilation of women".
During the 1970s circumcision was increasingly referred to as mutilation. In 1975, American anthropologist Rose Oldfield Hayes used the term "female genital mutilation" in the title of an article in an American scientific journal.
Four years later, Frans Hosken, an Austrian-American feminist writer, called thispractice "mutilation" in his influential report, more accurately, "sexual mutilation of women". The Inter-African Committee on Traditions Affecting the He alth of Women and Children has started referring to this document and also refers to circumcision as FGM. The World He alth Organization (WHO) followed suit in 1991.
Also, the terms "female genital mutilation" and "female genital mutilation" are used by those who outreach to practitioners.
Name in African and Oriental languages
UNICEF statistics for 2016 indicate that 200 million women have been circumcised worldwide. At the moment, female circumcision is practiced in the countries of Africa and the Muslim East. These are 27 African countries, Indonesia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Yemen and some others.
In countries where this tradition is widespread, many variations of the practice are reflected in dozens of terms. In the Bambara language, which is mainly spoken in Mali, she is known as bokololi (literally "washing hands"), and in the Igbo language of eastern Nigeria as isa aru or iwu aru (literally "to wash"). The general Arabic term for circumcision has a root used for male and female circumcision (tahoor and tahara). The tradition is also known in Arabic as haf or khifa.
Some groups of peoples may call circumcision "Pharaonic" for the type of infibulation and circumcision according to the Sunnah (Holybook of Muslims) for all other species. Sunnah means "way or road" in Arabic and refers to the traditions of Islam, although neither procedure is required in Islam. The term infibulation comes from the word fibula, translated from Latin as "clasp". The ancient Romans were known to attach clasps to the foreskin or labia of slaves to prevent sexual intercourse. The surgical infibulation of women became known as pharaonic circumcision in Sudan, but in Egypt it is called Sudanese. In Somalia, it is known simply as qodob - "sewing".
Types of circumcision
Usually traditionally done with a razor blade. This procedure can be carried out a few days after the birth of a girl. Usually, female circumcision can be done until the girl reaches puberty. In many African countries, most girls have this procedure before the age of five.
Circumcision techniques vary by country or ethnic group.
First type: circumcision of the clitoris (clitoridectomy) or clitoral hood:
- subspecies a - circumcision concerns only the hood of the clitoris;
- subspecies b - the clitoris itself is also removed.
Second view - the clitoris and labia are removed:
- subspecies a - only labia minora are removed;
- subspecies b - labia minora and clitoris are removed;
- subspecies in - all labia and clitoris are completely removed;
- subspecies g- completely removed labia.
Third view - infibulation("Pharaonic circumcision") - an operation in which either the labia minora or the large ones are cut off, then these tissues are closed. After the operation, the clitoris, the opening of the urethra and the entrance to the vagina are blocked. After this operation, a small hole is left for the passage of urine and menstrual fluid.
Operation methods
How is female circumcision done? The procedures are usually performed by medicine women in girls' homes with or without anesthesia. This is usually an elderly woman, but in certain countries where there is a male doctor or he alth worker, he can also perform the ceremony.
When female circumcision is performed by all sorts of traditional medicine women, non-sterile devices are likely to be used, including knives, razors, scissors, glass, sharpened stones, and fingernails. According to a nurse from Uganda, the medicine woman will use one knife for 30 girls at a time.
In Egypt, Kenya, Indonesia and Sudan, this procedure is often carried out in he althcare facilities by doctors. In Egypt, 77% of procedures and in Indonesia over 50% were performed by medical professionals as of 2016. According to surveys in Egypt, it was reported that local anesthesia was used in their daughters in 60% of cases, general anesthesia in 13%.
History of tradition
Female circumcision - what is it and why is it done? This practice is rooted in gender inequality, attempts to control women's sexuality, and the idea of feminine purity, modesty, and beauty. Why is female circumcision done? Usually such rites are initiated and performed by women who believe thatthis will preserve the honor of the daughter and who fear that the lack of circumcision among daughters and granddaughters will lead to the social exclusion of girls. This is an attempt to keep a woman chaste, according to circumcision practitioners.
He alth effects vary by procedure. There are a huge number of complications after this operation. These can include dangerous sexual infections, difficulty urinating and menstruating, chronic pain, cyst development, inability to conceive, complications during childbirth, and fatal bleeding. There are no he alth benefits to this operation.
Female circumcision: before and after
This tradition harms women's physical and emotional he alth throughout their lives. Short-term and late complications depend on the type of circumcision, regardless of whether the procedure was performed by a surgeon and antibiotics and sterile or disposable surgical instruments were used, or the procedure was performed by a healer. In the case of infibulation, the size of the opening left for the passage of urine and menstrual blood is an important factor, regardless of whether surgical thread has been used in place of agave or Arabian thorns, and whether the procedure has been performed more than once (for example, suturing a hole considered too wide or again expand too small).
Reason for the operation
Why is female circumcision performed? To the main reasonsinclude the following:
- an attempt to maintain physical chastity and innocence;
- a woman does not receive "sinful" pleasure during an intimate act;
- increasing a man's pleasure during sex with a woman who has a small vagina;
- clitoris is a sinful part of the female body;
- desire to purify a woman on a spiritual level;
- part of the patriarchal tradition of many Eastern and African countries.
Psychological effect
According to a 2015 systematic review, little high-quality information is available on the psychological effects of female circumcision. Several small studies have concluded that women who undergo such a procedure suffer from anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Feelings of shame and inferiority can develop when women leave a culture that practices this ritual and learn that their condition is not normal. Within their native culture, they can proudly say that they have undergone this ritual, because for them it means beauty, respect for tradition, chastity and hygiene.
Research on sexual aspects has also been negligible. A 2013 analysis of 15 studies that included 12,000 girls from seven countries found that circumcised women were twice as likely to report unfulfilled sexual desire, with 52% reporting painful intercourse. One third reported a decrease in sexual feelings.
Circumcision in Dagestan
What is female circumcision among Muslims? In principle, the Muslim tradition is not much different from the African one.
In Dagestan, Muslims who live in mountainous regions and remote villages still practice female circumcision. In addition, there has recently been a release of false information in various newspapers and oral sources about the benefits of female circumcision. Dagestan thus partially preserves this tradition.
Various spiritual guides call for female circumcision in order to get rid of lust and sinful desires, as well as to prevent fornication and adultery in married life. By law, any surgical intervention on the genitals is prohibited, except for medical reasons.
Struggle against cruel tradition
Since the 1970s, an international effort has been underway to convince the population of countries that practice circumcision to abandon this practice. The practice has been banned or restricted in most countries where it exists, although the laws are poorly enforced. Since 2010, the United Nations has asked he alth care providers to stop performing all forms of the procedure, including re-infibulation after childbirth and the symbolic "pulling up" of the clitoral hood. Doctors and scientists are fighting this cruel tradition in some countries.
The suffering of women
Dahabo Musa, a Somali woman, described women's suffering in a 1988 poem as "the three women's sorrows":the procedure itself, the wedding night, when the woman suffers again, and then the birth, when her genitals are cut again. Confessions of female circumcision victims are often published and published.
Despite the obvious suffering, it is the women who orchestrate all forms of circumcision. Anthropologist Rose Oldfield Hayes wrote in 1975 that educated Sudanese men who did not want their daughters to be circumcised discovered that the girls were sewn up after the grandmothers arranged for relatives to visit. The tradition is associated and associated with ideas of honor, chastity and fidelity in marriage. Also, this crippling ritual was maintained and passed down by women.
