Female genital mutilation denies sexual pleasure to millions of women

[Al-khiyal]

Female genital mutilation denies sexual pleasure to millions of women

November 13, 2008 -- It was encouraging to see the uncompromising light of science being shone on the practice of female genital mutilation this week at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's annual meeting in San Francisco.

Crucially, the illumination came from two specialists in reproductive medicine within Saudi Arabia, a country where FGM is frequently practised.

The results presented in their talk, entitled "Female circumcision is detrimental to women's sexual satisfaction", may seem so blindingly obvious as to be worthless. But as they explained, the study is part of an effort to build a collection of rigorous evidence about the long-term effects of FGM so that attitudes can be changed from within the countries where it is practised.

"I think the local people can make a change. If we can convince people that there is a complication, we can do something to change this tradition," said Dr Sharifa Sibiani from the King Abdulaziz University Hospital in Jeddah.

She said the study would be more powerful than any research carried out in the west, because local people would regard that as an attempt by foreigners to denigrate their traditions. "The change must come from inside, not from outside, because otherwise they will reject it."

The World Health Organisation defines FGM as, "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."

It affects 100m to 140m women worldwide and is particularly prevalent in parts of Africa. In Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Mali, for example, more than 80% of women have undergone FGM.

Typically, the procedure is carried out by a Daya (an elderly female birth attendant) when a baby girl is a few days old, but it can be done at any time during childhood, adolescence, before marriage or during a first pregnancy.

The scope of the operation – which is often carried out in non-sterile conditions using household implements – can vary considerably from removing the clitoris to cutting away all of the woman's external genitalia before stitching the wound back together leaving only a tiny hole for menstruation and urination.

Sibiani's colleague Prof Abdulrahim Rouzi said he knew of a case in which a newly married woman bled to death as a consequence of this more substantial form of FGM. "[My colleague in Sudan] saw an 18-year-old woman dying in front of him because her husband could not penetrate [during sex] – so he had brought a knife and cut her," he said.

Although FGM is most prevalent in Muslim communities, it pre-dates Islam (and also Judaism) and is not mentioned in the Qur'an.

For their study, Sibiani and Rouzi interviewed 260 women who were attending the obstetrics and gynaecology clinic at King Abdulaziz University Hospital between February 2007 and March 2008. Half had been subjected to FGM and half had not.

The team asked them to complete a questionnaire on their attitudes towards sex and their experience during intercourse. "To our knowledge, there is no study in the literature to assess female sexual dysfunction after female genital mutilation," said Sibiani.

They found that women with FGM were no more likely to suffer pain during intercourse or experience lowered sexual desire. However, FGM made them less likely to experience arousal, lubrication, orgasm and satisfaction during sex.

Rouzi said it was vital to have concrete evidence to help change attitudes. "We want to document the complications so we can go and argue that there is no real basis for this cultural practice," he said. "I'm interested in presenting a scientific-based discussion."

The study will be published soon in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

[Bent_Bladi]

haram to the infinitieth power --- whatever guy supports this cruelty should get his nuts chopped off and drowned in a pool of acid... whatever girl supports this cruelty should boil in oil

[amalgamate]

haram to the infinitieth power --- whatever guy supports this cruelty should get his nuts chopped off and drowned in a pool of acid... whatever girl supports this cruelty should boil in oil

whooa slow down there silver!

kinda brutal there arn'tcha?


them families that are practicing this are mainly uneducated, low-income, remote village people with probably nothing better to do than get on each other's cases about mundane, shouldn't-be-brought-up issues like FGM or child marriages.

[Bent_Bladi]

you'd be surprised... there are some very well educated people who still do this

and i was holding my tongue when i said that.. they deserve more

[Al-khiyal]

Iraq's Kurdish areas prepare to ban female circumcision

November 22, 2008 -- Parliament in Iraq's northern autonomous region of Kurdistan is preparing to outlaw female circumcision, according to a woman MP and doctor who has long battled to halt the widespread practice.

"A bill making circumcision illegal will be presented in parliament over the next few days," Dr Hala Suheil told AFP, saying it would impose jail terms and fines on offenders.

UNICEF, the UN children's fund, regards "female genital mutilation" as "one of the most persistent, pervasive and silently endured human rights violations."

Kurdistan health minister Zarian Abdel Rahman said that in the region "60 percent of girls aged four to fourteen undergo circumcision, despite warnings by ministers against this grievous practice committed in the name of religion and hygiene."

He was speaking on Friday at a three-day conference on violence towards women, held in Arbil, capital of the province of the same name, 350 kilometres (219 miles) north of Baghdad.

Circumcision involves the partial or complete removal of the female external genitals. It can cause death through haemorrhaging and later complications during childbirth.

It also carries risks of infection, urinary tract problems and mental trauma.

The German non-government group Wadi carried out research in 201 villages in the three autonomous provinces and in the predominantly Kurdish Kirkuk area in September.

It found that 3,502 out of 5,628 women and girls surveyed had been mutilated - an average of more than 62 percent.

The practice, encouraged by some clerics, does not appear to exist in other parts of Iraq.

"The ministry of religious affairs should tell imams to speak out against female circumcision in sermons during Friday prayers so their flocks shun the practice," Abdel Rahman said.

"The education ministry should also introduce programmes in schools to encourage girls not to submit to their parents' wishes in this regard."

While widespread in the African continent, it is not known how female circumcision was introduced into northern Iraq.

"This practice began in the region so long ago, and we have no idea where it comes from. But the ancients justified it by saying it would preserve a girl's chastity," said Dr Suheil, adding that no precise statistics are available.

"Old women circumcise young girls using barber's razors and even shards of glass, often causing terrible haemorrhaging and sometimes death," the MP said.

Sheikh Sayyed Ahmad Abdel Wahab al-Panjawini, imam of Arbil's Hajj Jamal mosque, said "iIt may be an old custom, but it has nothing to do with Islam.

"No religious text mentions this practice. It is a custom that some have introduced to the Muslim way of thinking."

In a recent article in the Kurdish daily newspaper Hawlati, the secretary general of the Islamic Women's Union, Bekhal Abu Bakr, wrote that "female genital mutilation is not a Muslim practice."

"Many of the problems experienced by women are the result of erroneous traditions, and Islam is not to blame," she said.

"Sharia (Islamic law) is a long way from such practices, and circumcision exists because some people interpret the Qur'an in a false manner," she said, alluding to obligatory male circumcision.

[Bent_Bladi]

^ yay --- extremely overdue --- but still progress, alhamdulilah

[Al-khiyal]

Rid the world of female genital mutilation

November 8, 2009 -- In countries all over the world today, women live with the threat, or consequences, of female genital mutilation. In Africa alone an estimated 3 million girls and women are subjected to the practice each year, and some 92 million of the continent's female population are estimated to have been victims of FGM. The justification for the procedure changes from country to country. In some parts of the continent, religious scriptures are disingenuously invoked. In other parts it is cultural traditions that help keep the practice alive. But whatever the reasoning, the simple fact of the matter is that female genital mutilation is a blatant violation of the most fundamental human rights and must be eradicated.

Many States in which FGM is practised are signatories to the African Union's Protocol on the Rights of Women, article 5, which explicitly calls for legislation banning FGM. And while there are positive signs of a shift away from the practice in many countries, the failure of many African Union states to ratify the protocol and the scarcity of effective national legislation is hampering a more co-ordinated effort to rid the continent of this scourge. Which is why the government of Burkina Faso and the human rights organisation No Peace without Justice is organising a high-level meeting in Ougadougou next week (8-10 November) to discuss the important next steps that need to be taken towards a global ban on FGM.

The meeting, which is sponsored by the Italian government, will bring together lawmakers, NGOs, government ministers and community leaders as well women from throughout the region who have dedicated, and sometimes even risked, their lives to ensure that future generations are not subjected to female genital mutilation. The meeting will also be used to issue a call to other African first ladies to commit themselves to the abolition of FGM by joining a continent-wide effort to educate and legislate. Educate their communities – particularly women – about their rights under international law, and push for legislation that enshrines those rights at a national level.

Her Excellency Mrs Mubarak of Egypt and Her Excellency Mrs Museveni of Uganda are among those who have already spoken publicly – and vociferously – about their opposition to FGM. What is important now is to expand and co-ordinate the actions of this alliance of like-minded women. A coalition of Africa's first ladies committed to the eradication of FGM would not only give the issue the visibility it deserves, but also provide the leadership required to outlaw the practice once and for all.

Burkina Faso is proud of the leading role it has played in the region in the elimination of FGM. It is among only a handful of African nations to have enacted effective legislation banning the practice. The subsequent prosecution of FGM practitioners, combined with a nationwide education campaign, has shifted community attitudes, led to a drop in the incidence of FGM and – importantly – provided an example, and encouragement, for similar campaigns that have sprung up in neighbouring countries. The Ougadougou meeting comes at a crucial moment for the growing movement – in Africa and around the world – towards a global ban on FGM. This summer in Mali, thousands of women marched throughout the country demanding that their parliament enact legislation against FGM. Despite the best efforts of the conservative forces promoting FGM, communities in countries all over Africa are starting to question the practice.

The lesson learned in Burkina Faso is that women across the country are empowered to resist FGM when the population as a whole, including women in both rural and urban areas, understand not only the health consequences of FGM but are made aware of women's legal rights, as recognised and protected by the constitution and by national laws. The moral imperative to rid the world of this most heinous violation of human rights most definitely exists, the international protocol is firmly in place – now all that is required is the leadership and the political will to consign this brutal practice to the history books where it belongs.