The first prosecution of practitioners
of female genital cutting just took place in the United Kingdom. Read the story
here. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-26681364 While we should
indeed rejoice this as an indicator of progress towards protecting the rights
of children in this country, a lot more needs to be done to ensure that abuse
of children in the name of culture stops everywhere around the world. The cries
of young girls who live with the risk of this and other practices that harm
them is getting louder and louder and we need to pay attention. Some of these
girls face life altering complications. While it should be noted that some may
end up living a normal life, our concern is for those who are likely to be
condemned to a life of chronic diseases and much more.
For those who do not know, female
genital cutting is sometimes known as female circumcision or female genital
mutilation in the health care forum. It is a practice that is embraced in some
communities across the globe, mainly some African, Middle Eastern and Asian
countries. It is performed on girls and young women as a rite of passage.
It involves the pricking, piercing,
stretching, burning, or excision of the clitoris and/ or the removal of part or
all of the tissues around a woman’s reproductive organ. In some cases
infibulation is performed; the stitching together of the vulva in order to
narrow the vaginal opening. Although
as a rite of passage it is commonly performed on girls between the ages of 4
and 16, it is becoming popularly in younger unsuspecting children. As
immigrants immigrate to industrialized countries, they often bring with them
such practicesBecause of possible health and moral concerns, female genital cutting has been rendered by the United Nation and the World health Organization as a violation of human rights of children and women who are exposed to it without informed consent. Health concerns which are both short term and long-term include hemorrhage, severe pain, urinary tract infection, injury to adjacent tissue, damage to other organs, fractures or dislocation due to restraint during the procedure, sexual dysfunction, complications in pregnancy and childbirth, psychological damage – fear, inhibition, the suppression of feeling, anxiety, flashbacks, phobia, depression and in some cases death. Most women with the severe type have problems with penetration following marriage; penetration can sometimes take six months or longer, due to the pinhole introitus left after the procedure. Moral concerns include gender concerns related to the assumptions that the female gender should be controlled. Genital cutting is a way to control women’s sexual pleasure, for the benefit of man’s pleasure. In essence, women are denied the desire to live a full sexual life.
As a result of the United Nation’s and World Health
organization’s position, most countries have outlawed the practice. In spite of
this, some parents hope to evade legal consequences by performing it to
unsuspecting toddlers and babies. Even
industrialized countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, England,
and France, where such policies have been instituted, the practice has persisted
amongst some immigrants. Although numerous cases go unreported, the frequency
of female genital cutting related cases in the media indicates a serious
problem. The prevalence
of female genital cutting in these countries in not fully known because of the
secret nature of the practice.
In the United States, for instance, it is
estimated that that 228,000 have been cut or live with the risk of genital
cutting, a rise in the statistic by 35% (AWHC, 2012).
The pressure to succumb to the practice is very high and some parents who want
to stay true to their tradition ask American doctors to cut their daughters. Female
genital cutting falls in the category of abuse where it is forced on
unsuspecting children. Communities that encourage it are also responsible. For
instance, requiring that a girl be cut before they are eligible for marriage is
unfair.
Although women should resist this practice at all costs because
they are likely to end up with chronic health conditions, men have a huge
responsibility towards discouraging this practice. When women’s sexual desire
is controlled, men dissatisfaction is enhanced as well. When these women get
sick, men are not only left with the responsibility of taking care of their
health needs, their sexual needs are inhibited as well. This is a family issue,
a community issue, a global issue. Let’s come together and address it. Men first
responsibility if to reject circumcised women. By this message, I urge all men
who see this as an injustice to help protect the rights of children and young women
by sign a petition that I have created. “Say no to cut women” If we remove the
demand the commodity will not sell. Read more about this practice in my book titled
Female Circumcision: The Interplay of
Religion, Culture and Gender in Kenya (2007). Look out for my forthcoming
book on the subject in the western countries. Also, watch out for my petition
on discouraging this practice. Visit our
WISO website at www.wiso2011.org and our facebook to like us at https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/WISO/144978142239603.
Thanks for reading! Peace,
WISO President
