Female Circumcision
For our article the entire thing got posted and we only wanted everyone to read pages 440-459.
Female Circumcision
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This article was very difficult to read. Not because it was uninteresting or a “hard read” but because I had to force myself to keep reading instead of shutting my computer in disgust. The article talks about when, how, and why female circumcision occurs. The part that talked about the items used to do the circumcision was particularly disturbing. It could be anything from a shard of glass to razor blades or old rusty knifes.(and most of the time not sterilized) . The girls legs are then bound together to let it heal. In some cultures the smaller the opening left, the more appealing they are to their future husbands. The fact that these women suffer even more when they get married was even harder to stomach. (The fact that they have to be re-cut open on their wedding night, makes me want to vomit. ) It makes me feel very lucky that I was born in good old boring Iowa. I’m finding it even more difficult to post on this article, so I’m just going to end it here.
I also felt this article was hard to read without wanting to close my computer the whole time. Reading about the different ways female circumcision is performed was different because some of the ways were worse than others. When it talked about what was used to circumcise the woman, I was in shock. Rarely were their instruments sterilized. This is hard to imagine in a society that is focused on health at many times. Even the idea of using a kitchen knife is different from anything I had ever heard. I can honestly say that I am glad that up until this point I had never even heard of female circumcision in this way. The idea of women to be sewn back together and then have their legs tied together for anywhere from 15-40 days really seemed excessive to me. It also interested me that the author included arguments for and against female circumcision in the same categories which allowed the reader to see arguments from similar eyes in both for and against. The article talks about how this is done in Africa and other areas close to that. One question I would have is if this has happened closer to here? I find it hard to imagine but we never know.
There is so much about this issue that is difficult to accept. It is so barbaric that it is hard for me to even imagine that it is real and is actually happening to women right now. I agree with the view in this article that this tradition is not right or acceptable because though some women do accept female circumcision as their apart of their culture, some women are forced into it and it proves to be a fatal procedure for some. This may be a biased view, but I find the fact that a reason for female circumcision is that woman's sexuality needs to be controlled quite ridiculous and even humorous because I truly believe that men have an equal or bigger problem with promiscuity. I found the section of this article that talked about the myths that gave reason for this procedure to also be simply outrageous, such as the clitoris representing a male sexual organ. The fact that most of the women who participate in female circumcision do not even question why they are doing it makes me incredibly sad, because it is clear that they do not value knowledge and even less their lives. I can not imagine going through life not questioning everything around me. I think it is absolutely imperative that everyone questions their faith in order to gain a deeper understanding of it. Once again, I am thankful for the freedom I have, especially the sexual and religious freedom.
Except for the part about the clitoris representing a penis, everything you said is why I am against both female AND male circumcision. (Yes, the practices of female circumcision are a lot worse, but both are fundamentally a violation.)
I wonder if the natural tendency to adhere to tradition is an unfortunate side effect of the necessary trust that humans apply to each other. The trust that is necessarily because we don't have time to personally investigate everything we learn in school, or to make each person we meet prove that they are not out to get us. Maybe it even ties into the Milgram experiment, not so much a submission to authority, but a forced belief that there is a good reason for inflicting harm, because if the authority can't be trusted, then the entire system of trust falls apart, and too much of our lives is built on that trust for our psyches to let us consider it.
I was very surprised to learn that female circumcision was done in the US, to stave off insanity "caused" by too much masturbation. Surprised, because I did know that this is how male circumcision became popular in US, and it is odd that wherever I learned that, didn't mention that it applied to both genders. I think I subconsciously assumed that people of the time would have pretended that female masturbation didn't exist.
The article does prove an interesting study on the absurdity of tradition. If these cultures have persisted in such a gross practice for thousands of years and yet are apparently blind to its harm, then certainly we persist in harmful traditions too.
While reading this, it reminded me of the short story "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, in which a rural American town randomly kills a townsperson every year because "there's always been a lottery."
(account deleted)This article made me think of The Lottery too!
I read most of this article just because I found it fascinating and didn't know we had a set number of pages to read. I had heard about female circumcision but had no idea that this religious tradition, if you can even call it that, had been going on for 2500 years and is present in 4 basic forms. Through out this whole article I was like "oh ouch" and squirming around in my chair. I think it is a disgusting religious practice that for the most part is unheard of in the Western culture and most people are unwilling to except. I was surprised to find out that women actually administer this practice and I'm guessing this relates to patriarchy in that men probably control this tradition. Its sad that in these countries women are less educated, not being able to read and have to take the "man's word for it," that this is the way it is in religious scriptures and writings. I thought some of the myths associated with the circumcision were ridiculous; the clitoris is dangerous to the baby and the clitoris can grow the size of a penis. How silly is that? I guess I could say I'm appalled by the torture and excruciating pain that these women must go through. I feel female circumcision violates human rights and has severe health effects. Some women are forced into this especially children who are 3 to 8 years old who can not make health decisions on their own. Not only are there physical scares left but scares that go deeper, emotional and psychological effects. I think if anyone got cut open like that it would cause some serious emotional trauma. I can not understand this as a "rite of passage" into the adult world probably because this idea is foreign to me. Although, I can see how they compare this to cosmetic surgery in the U.S. I do not know anyone personally who has had cosmetic surgery but you hear stories of how awful the recuperation process is and it has to be the same or worse for female circumcision. What do others think of the idea that female circumcision is similar to cosmetic surgery?
This is not the first that I have heard or read about female genital mutilation. We discussed it in great detail in my psychology of gender class. If everyone thought this reading was bad, they should watch the video that we did where we saw an FGM performed. It was awful. No matter how many times I read about it, the sick and helpless feeling never changes. It boggles my mind that it's the women in the tribes that are the ones performing it. Even though it's for the men, these young girls are going through this horrific life altering experience, growing up (if they live through it), and then turning around and performing it on other girls. I am also extremely uncomfortable, for lack of a better word, with the amount of ignorance and lack of education. Most of the women believe they are having this procedure done for religious reasons when in fact, no where in the Koran does it say anything about FGM. I don't really have a question to ask. I know in my gender class we discussed whether or not the US should intervene in the practicing tribes? I don't know how relevant this is, but I really don't have another question.
I think that this is one of the most bizarre things that I've had to read yet, I didn't even know that this was possible. The fact that people practice this as a tradition, which means they've done it for long enough to have it be a tradition is like the weirdest thing for me to think about. After I got over some of the shock of this subject I really found it to be kinda of interesting. I wouldn't ever think that there were actually four levels circumcision that can be done to a female, but then again I guess I've never really learned much about circumcision as it is anyway. But it seems to me that after the first two levels its getting a little out of hand I guess, and from what I can tell from the reading it doesn't seem like its practiced in places that would have good technique that keep the women or children going through this process in good health after the "ceremony?" I guess that it makes sense to me that people would be worried about human rights in this situation because there are a lot of people that don't make it out of these surgeries. But I guess that if some women are willing to let this happen to themselves then I think they should have to power to be allowed to do this. But I'm still not for sure if I think that its ok for people to put their children into these situations quite yet. I think its interesting that people are still looking forward with this subject, I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it personally. But I'm kind of curious as to how someone would think of doing this to a women, or even to a man? What would drive someone to do this to someone else?
Female circumcision or genital mutilation is the practice of destroying a woman’s sexual organs. Although the practice is implemented with varying degrees of severity, each is just as inhumane as the others. In my mind the disturbing factor about female circumcision is the age at which the circumcision is performed. The girls are so young that they cannot possibly understand the significance of the procedure, yet many anticipate the surgery and subsequent celebration.
I found it interesting that female circumcision predates both Christianity and Islam. However, I was frustrated about the lack of information about the origin and roots of the practice. However, many have attempted to explain the continuation of female circumcision. The article asserts “The most commonly given reasons for the persistence of the practice include: sexual control over females, religious requirements, mythical beliefs, and the need to maintain a tradition that has been with these cultures for thousands of years.” Controlling a woman’s sexuality is not an effort to protect her but to make her more desirable and valuable for her future husband. In addition, research has shown that the operations are not always effective in meeting their goals. Also, religious requirements were based on traditions rather than doctrinal beliefs, and the purported myths were frankly absurd in light of any biological knowledge. Nonetheless, “the need to maintain tradition” was the poorest excuse for female circumcision.
The immediate effects of female circumcision are obvious, but a woman may also have long-term health problems related to the procedure. Additionally, psychological side effects can take their toll. Moreover, a majority of women undergo the process multiple times. Why would a woman conceivably agree to undergo such a painful and detrimental procedure more than once? I completely agree that it was difficult to continue reading this article. I feel so sad for these young women, and I am very appalled by the continuation of this practice. One glimmer of hope can be found in the following statement by the author: “The age of girls presently being circumcised has been dropping in a number of countries.” How might we go about convincing the remaining practitioners of removing women’s sexual organs that the procedure is unjustified and morally objectionable?
I have read several articles on the issue of female circumcision, but I always find them very interesting to read though I know a lot about what they are saying. This article did have some information that I did not know or had thought about before. Female circumcision has been practiced for almost 2,500 years and as of right now is being practiced in over 40 countries. The big problem with this issue is finding how to keep it cultural, but without violating an individual’s right. The article provided two views on the issue, one being for the culture to have complete control and the other that for something being practiced that kills often should be stopped. The justifications that are used for this practice are religion, tradition, to control a woman’s sexuality, and myths such as the clitoris is going to grow into that of the male organ the penis. I thought it was interesting when the article talked about comparing this issue to traditions in the western world like alcohol, cigarettes, sports, and cosmetic surgery. I understand that these are dangerous activities we partake in, but is there anyone forcing us to do this? I know that society places pressure on us to be like everyone else, which may result in doing one of these traditions, but nobody is holding us down and saying you have to. The article discusses further that health education has the best results when dealing with this issue because it is less invasive and the people are more open to the knowledge.
this article made me glad not to be a woman in africa! it sounds paiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinful! and inhumane! i have no doubts that there are more than just physical scars when it comes to this. i know that i was afraid of the dentist as a little kid…and that didnt even hurt! i couldnt imagine knowing what was going to happen to me, and allowing/being forced to let someone do that. i cant believe that these cultures find it socially acceptable to do this to young girls. maybe if they were educated about the heath facts of this practice they would discontinue it! my real question is why women do this act to other women?!
I agree… super painfull!! Not that I agree with the pratice but I do think that the women and mothers who preform this practice on their daughters realy believe they are doing it to better their childs life. Without this corcumcision done women can be looked at as unmarriable. And marriage in these cultures is very important, their social status depends on it. Although I would love to see the ritual end I think it's easier said then done.
Yeah, I remember cringing a few times while reading. That fourth kind of genital mutilation, the most extreme one, amounts to literally scraping off all the external genitalia with a sharp rock!!…! Remember when the article said that women who had this done took an average of 10-15 minutes to urinate, sometime up to 2 hours? And then they willingly sew themselves back up after pregnancy, even though the scar tissue gets worse each time.
It sounds unbelievable.
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