Female genital mutilation is a scourge rooted in custom in areas of Africa and the Middle East. A brutal practice with very serious physical and psychological consequences. It has a ritual and community component of role reproduction. It is based on a negative, mythic and submissive perception of female sexuality. For decades, international organizations, NGOs and the media are struggling to achieve eradication. It is a very old reality and not exclusively Muslim. Although some claim to endow it with a purely religious justification.
An archaic tribal rite difficult to eradicate:
Female genital mutilation is a practice that partially or totally removes the sexual organs. Most are partial and consist of a clitoridectomy (removal of the clitoris) not always complete. The most radical form of this aggression, called infibulation, also involves excision (extirpation of the labia majora) and ablation (removal of the labia minora). Its ultimate goal is to leave a minimum opening of the vagina for the passage of fluids through sewing or scar tissue. The ritual and age vary depending on the geographical area, ethnic group and social status. According to WHO and NGOs, mutilation is dissociating itself from the idea of "rite of passage" to adulthood. Rather, the average age is reduced and practiced with young girls, from 5 to 7 years old, in an attempt to reduce the rebellion of young girls and avoid legal problems. Given the hygienic-sanitary conditions in which it is carried out, it carries a high risk of serious physical and psychological complications. Although it takes on a familiar and communal festive atmosphere, it usually occurs in a very traumatic way.
In certain traditions it is called feminine "circumcision". It is an inadequate comparison with the masculine practice in the Semitic world, since in women the elimination of pleasure is pursued. A brutal form of physical and psychological punishment inspired by a mental structure based on an absolute distrust of the feminine nature. Differentiated sexual roles are maintained in which it is about "un-masculinizing the woman", preventing an alleged tendency to promiscuity and subjecting her to an alienating condition. Underlying a rough manipulation of human sexuality to impose a relationship of social and family power, hostile to the dignity of women. The number of women who have suffered from this mutilation is estimated at more than 130 million, especially in Africa and the Middle East. There is evidence of its execution in some 29 African countries. In the majority it is legally prohibited, although the law does not apply. It has an incidence close to 100% in countries such as Egypt, Somalia or Djibouti. Normally in its less extreme form. In areas such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Sierra Leone or Mali, it is estimated at around 90% incidence. In other areas of the world it has spread as a result of the establishment of immigrant communities, originating in these countries. Sometimes they are carried out in clandestine procedures, but usually traveling to the places of origin.
This phenomenon has raised the concern of the authorities that repress it, although the opacity of these groups prevents knowing the true dimension of the problem. There are few reliable statistics and it is difficult to develop clinical studies. Especially because of the poor transparency of health systems and the shameful taboo character for families. The sources point to the appearance of varied physiological and psychological effects in mutilated women. Among the former, the risk of death, chronic infections or difficulties in sexual relations and childbirth. Among the latter, post-traumatic shock, anxiety and humiliation, whose effects can be very long-lasting? These consequences should be related to the character of the integrating social rite of girls to adult life within the community. The desire for acceptance and non-rejection favors the generational reproduction of this behavior.
What is the danger of FGM?
Female genital mutilation (FGM) has a lot of disadvantages, ranging from short-term health issues to chronic health problems and very serious risks. Lack of hygiene and unhealthy awareness have usually characterized circumcision.
Female circumcision can cause following short term issues:
Severe bleeding which can lead to death. Infection: There may be infection or abscess in the wound, which can further lead to sepsis and hence death. Pain and bruising: Circumcision is usually done in a ritualistic manner in which the girl is bind to the ground causing bruises and on the second day, sometimes she feels severe pain on the wound while urinating.
Female circumcision can cause following chronic health problems:
Urinary infections, a painful neuroma where the dorsal nerve cut the clitoris, it has a very negative result on married life. Huge scars and cirrhosis. The angular vesicles in that region are usually like the shape of a male testicle. Difficulty of menstruation, stretch of abdomen and difficulty of sexual contact, only after vaginal expansion and prolongation of the period of birth, urinary fistula or analgesic.
Psychological damage of circumcision:
They are more difficult to diagnose because they are not easily disclosed by women. They differ from one category to another according to their family composition and the extent to which they are aware of what is happening to them.
Sexual harm of genital mutilation:
These damages vary according to the severity of the cut. The clitoris causes the woman not to reach the top of the orgasm, which is reflected physically and psychologically. This may result in chronic pelvic congestion, vaginal discharge, nervous and psychological tension, which also affects the husband and the lack of compatibility. Sexy, but the clitoris is not the only place to reach orgasm in women.
The position of religion on genital mutilation?
Genital mutilation is not limited to Muslims only, but there are some Christian families who circumcise their daughters, because they are in the same society that inherited that idea. Muslims in Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, the Levant and the Maghreb do not practice it. The practice of circumcision appeared in Africa before the emergence of religions. A papyrus of the Greek era (papyrus no. 24, preserved in the British Museum dated 163 BC) reports that a woman wants to circumcise her daughter because she has reached the appropriate age for circumcision in preparation for marriage.
Is it an Islamic practice?
Not quite. Female genital mutilation is a traditional use destined to perpetuate a social model forged by stereotypes and myths about women. Eradicating them is very costly because the communities that practice it conceive it as a pillar of their collective identity. They justify it with criteria about purification, hygiene, health or feminine aesthetics. But in reality it comes from a false perception about their sexuality, understood as morally bad and physically dangerous. In this sense, the phenomenon predates the emergence of Islam and has occurred in other regions and cultures of the world. However, due to its roots in Muslim majority countries, some have tried to legitimize this practice based on Islamic precepts and exercise it as such. However, most civil and religious authorities consider that there is no firm basis in this regard in the Qur'an and the Sunna. It is more, it is a custom rejected by a large part of the Muslims who perceive it as an aggression against the physical and moral integrity of women. Even from a theological perspective, mutilation is an illicit action on the creation of God, whose perfection and goodness should not be amended. In Egypt, the influential University of al-Azhar has maintained ambiguous positions, although it made a firm condemnation in 2006. The Coptic community forbids it, although the data reflect that it is a common practice. However, the action of governments for the prevention and prosecution of this scourge has been very deficient. In part, because the awareness of this problem has been very recent and partial. International organizations and NGOs have been working for the last 40 years to understand female mutilation as torture and violation of human rights. In particular, the rights of girls and the rights related to women's health and sexuality. This paradigm shift has great implications in international law, forcing the countries where this practice exists to work for its eradication. The advances are very timid, as shown by the few examples in which women at risk have obtained the right to asylum or refuge. This theme should be considered within a global strategy to combat discrimination and violence against women. It is not a form of cultural imperialism or a disregard for African traditions or the Islamic religion. It is a struggle to eliminate the conditions of material and psychological submission that make women discriminated against, without rights or with feelings of inferiority. There are very important legal, economic and sociological issues to be developed to eradicate poverty, lack of work, sexual and domestic violence and even slavery. Within this panorama, work has been done to make this issue visible as a crime and not hidden under the concept of "cultural or religious practice" to be tolerated. The concern was already expressed in events such as the WHO Conference in Khartoum (1979) or the UN Convention for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (1981). Both multilateral organizations and NGOs (Amnesty International, 1981) identified the need to exert greater political pressure on governments that agreed to this practice. Likewise, the importance of education was emphasized to raise awareness of the seriousness of the problem and to advance in the eradication of myths and falsehoods. These measures have been developed by other documents such as the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (General Assembly in 1993), the Declaration and Platform for Action of Beijing-IV World Conference on Women (1995) or the Joint WHO-UNICEF Declaration (1996). This commits governments that have ratified the international Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, without limiting the introduction of local limiting provisions that restrict them.
From this experience it has been learned that a legal action or a limited information campaign is not enough, but that a comprehensive strategy involving local and international authorities, NGOs and the civilian population is needed, with an intense impact on the awareness and denunciation tasks of these practices. We must also involve the religious leaders of the various communities, so that they separate this inhuman practice from any spiritual principle.
Thus, the Declaration of the UN General Assembly of 20-XII-2012, highlighted that: "the empowerment of women and girls is essential to break the cycle of discrimination and violence and to promote and protect human rights, among they the right to the highest possible level of mental and physical health, including sexual and reproductive health, and calls upon States parties to fulfill their obligations.”
Many Muslim women today feel called to change their traditional role. A role that has relegated them to the family and reproductive function. In fact, they are claiming a greater role in various professional and political fields. They also denounce the various forms of violence and discrimination inflicted against them. The existence of this Islamic feminism is not a mere importation of a Western social movement. It has its own characteristics and evolution, important for understanding the changes under way in the Arab-Islamic world.
References
Behrendt, A., & Moritz, S. (2005). Posttraumatic stress disorder and memory problems after female genital mutilation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162(5), 1000-1002.
El-Defrawi, M. H., Lotfy, G., Dandash, K. F., Refaat, A. H., & Eyada, M. (2001). Female genital mutilation and its psychosexual impact. Journal of Sex &Marital Therapy, 27(5), 465-473.
Toubia, N. (1993). Female genital mutilation: a call for global action.
