28 replies to this topic

[Blueroselife]

Female Genital Mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice that started in Africa approximately 2000 years ago. It is primarily a cultural practice, not a religious practice. But some religions do include FGM as part of their practices. This practice is so well ingrained into these cultures, it defines members of these cultures. In order to eliminate the practice one must eliminate the cultural belief that a girl will not become a women without this procedure.


What is Female Genital Mutilation?

Female Genital Mutilation is the term used for removal of all or just part of the external parts of the female genitalia. There are three varieties to this procedure.
Sunna Circumcision - consists of the removal of the prepuce(retractable fold of skin, or hood) and /or the tip of the clitoris. Sunna in Arabic means "tradition".
Clitoridectomy - consists of the removal of the entire clitoris (prepuce and glands) and the removal of the adjacent labia.
Infibulation(pharonic circumcision)-- consists of performing a clitoridectomy (removal of all or part of the labia minora, the labia majora). This is then stitched up allowing a small hole to remain open to allow for urine and menstrual blood to flow through.

In Africa 85% of FGM cases consist of Clitoridectomy and 15% of cases consist of Infibulation. In some cases only the hood is removed.



What is the age, the procedure used and the side effects?


The age the procedure is carried out varies from just after birth to some time during the first pregnancy, but most cases occur between the ages of four and eight. Most times this procedure is done with out the care of medically trained people, due to poverty and lack of medical facilities. The use of anesthesia is rare. The girl is held down by older women to prevent the girl from moving around. The instruments used by the mid-wife will vary and could include any of the following items; broken glass, a tin lid, razor blades, knives, scissors or any other sharp object. These items usually are not sterilized before or after usage. Once the genital area for removal is gone, the child is stitched up and her legs are bound for up to 40 days.


This procedure can cause various side effects on the girls which can include death. Some of the results of this procedure are serious infections, HIV, abscesses and small benign tumors, hemorrhages, shock, clitoral cysts. The long term effects may also include kidney stones, sterility, sexual dysfunction, depression, various urinary tract infections, various gynecological and obstetric problems.


In order to have sexual intercourse the women have to be opened up in some fashion and in some cases cutting is necessary. After child birth some women are re-infibulated to make them (tight) for their husbands.

[Blueroselife]

Type I -- Sunna Circumcision
The first and mildest type of FGC is called "sunna circumcision" or Type I. The term "Sunna" refers to tradition as taught by the prophet Muhammad. This involves the "removal of the prepuce with or without the excision of part or all of the clitoris (See the World Health Organization definition). Type I is practiced in a broad area all across Africa parallel to the equator. Fran Hosken enumerates the following countries: Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania in East Africa to the West African coast, from Sierra Leone to Mauritania, and in all countries in-between including Nigeria, the most populous one. There are also reports of Type I taking place in areas of the Middle East such as in Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.




Figure 1. Type I Circumcision

Type II - Clitoridectomy

The second type of FGC, Type II, involves the partial or entire removal of the clitoris, as well as the scraping off of the labia majora and labia minora . This takes place in countries where infibulation has been outlawed such as Sudan. Clitoridectomy was invented by Sudanese midwives as a compromise when British legislation forbade the most extreme operations in 1946.



Figure 2. Type II Circumcision
  

Map 1. Click on map to enlarge


Type III - Infibulation or Pharaonic Circumcision

The third and most drastic type of FGC is Type III. This most extreme form, consists of the removal of the clitoris, the adjacent labia (majora and minora), and the joining of the scraped sides of the vulva across the vagina, where they are secured with thorns or sewn with catgut or thread. A small opening is kept to allow passage of urine and menstrual blood. An infibulated woman must be cut open to allow intercourse on the wedding night and is closed again afterwards to secure fidelity to the husband. Hosken also reports that infibulation is "practiced on all females, almost without exception, in all of Somalia and wherever ethnic Somalis live (Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti). It is also performed throughout the Nile Valley, including Southern Egypt, and all along the Red Seas Coast.

FGC is mostly done in unsanitary conditions in which a midwife uses unclean sharp instruments such as razor blades, scissors, kitchen knives, and pieces of glass. These instruments are frequently used on several girls in succession and are rarely cleaned, causing the transmission of a variety of viruses such as the HIV virus, and other infections. Antiseptic techniques and anesthesia are generally not used, or for that matter, heard of. This is akin to a doctor who uses the same surgical instrument on a number of women at the same time without cleaning any of them. (View Map of Areas of Practice for Type III)


Figure 2. Type III Circumcision
  

Map 1. Click on map to enlarge

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•  map_type3.gif   30.34K   36 downloads

[Blueroselife]

Effects of Female Genital Cutting:

Beyond the obvious initial pains of the operations, FGC has long-term physiological, sexual, and psychological effects. The unsanitary environment under which FGC takes place results in infections of the genital and surrounding areas and often results in the transmission of the HIV virus which can cause AIDS. Some of the other health consequences of FGC include primary fatalities as a result of shock, hemorrhage or septicemia. In order to minimize the risk of the transmission of the viruses, some countries like Egypt made it illegal for FGC to be practiced by any other practitioners than trained doctors and nurses in hospitals. While this seems to be a more humane way to deal with FGC and try to reduce its health risks, more tissue is apt to be taken away due to the lack of struggle by the child if anesthesia is used.

Long-term complications include sexual frigidity, genital malformation, delayed menarche, chronic pelvic complications, recurrent urinary retention and infection, and an entire range of obstetric complications whereas the fetus is exposed to a range of infectious diseases as well as facing the risk of having his or her head crushed in the damaged birth canal. In such cases the infibulated mother must undergo another operation whereby she is "opened" further to insure the safe birthing of her child.

Girls undergo FGC when they are around three years old, though some of them are much older than that when they undergo the operation. The age varies depending on the type of the ritual and the customs of the local village or region.

[Blueroselife]

pictures!!!!!!!                   

Attached Files

•  fgm05_320.gif   26.54K   59 downloads
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[Blueroselife]

Women's International Network is distributing free CBPBs to local Community and Women's Groups, Clinics, Midwifery Schools and Training Programs all over Africa to all who are willing to work for the eradication of FGM. This successful grass roots program, which is regularly reported in WIN NEWS, urgently needs sponsors and support. Contributions to WIN are tax-deductible in the USA.

WIN NEWS/Fran P. Hosken, editor, 187 Grant St., Lexington, MA 02420-2126, USA. Tel: (781) 862-9431, E-mail winnews@igc.org

[x)SaRa(x]

oh my god.

[Blueroselife]

x)SaRa(x, on Sep 13 2005, 02:41 PM, said:

oh my god.

Yes dear sara,itz horrible...bt itz the fact...our votes can help them get out of this hell!!!

[x)SaRa(x]

wow....its unbelievable.

[DonYaA]

I saw a documentary about this a few years ago, will NEVER forget the girls' scream!      
It was so horrible!

And today in Sweden, some families take back their girls back to their country to do this, otherwise it's a great shame for them. And if the mother (sad, but it's women doing this to the girls) dosn't want her daughter go through this, it happends that some other family member kidnap and take the child back.

[*dodo*]

so so so so wrong

[x)SaRa(x]

this thread makes me cringe.

[Blueroselife]

x)SaRa(x, on Sep 17 2005, 11:25 PM, said:

this thread makes me cringe.

Sara jan i underestand you,,it's very painfull..bt they are real..
We suffer just by looking at the pictures, imagine how much might those girls suffer who SHOULD BE the victim of traditions...

DonYaA, on Sep 14 2005, 05:41 PM, said:

And today in Sweden, some families take back their girls back to their country to do this, otherwise it's a great shame for them. And if the mother (sad, but it's women doing this to the girls) dosn't want her daughter go through this, it happends that some other family member kidnap and take the child back.

Yes Donya jan,
Its really shame on them.
I also heared that last year some families from holland they took their daughter to Africa to follow their traditions.
I cant underestand howcome that nowdays these things happens.Ok the people zho live in those villages should follow the rules otherwise they would die,,,bt a person who almost grew up in an improved-country, hozw can they do it....

It's good to keep some traditions...the give u an idendity...
Bt some traditions they kill youuu!!!!!

*dodo*, on Sep 16 2005, 04:52 PM, said:

so so so so wrong

there is so many things wrong in this world bt they happen any one second.
and the only thing that can change them is only and only our help and VOTES...

[eshghezamini]

this shows that some traditions are just simply stupid and people are stupid for doing them

[ghormeh_sabzi]

I can honestly say that I have never read anything about female circumcision being mandatory/sunna in Islam. Never.

[nikikhanoom]

... omg.... thts just not rite!!!!

[DiVooNehShO]

i am sooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad i dont have to do that

[khanoomi]

i know me2 azizam

[Michellica]

uhm....it's an African Muslim's tradition....i've seen a lot of documentarys about this...it's very disgusting and stupid...and the girls have many health risks.....