Female genital mutilation
Almost no one who has heard of the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is without some form of opinion of the custom, which affects 100 million women in 26 African countries, and elsewhere in the developing world. It has been declared a gross violation of the human rights of woman and female children. However at he same time some argue that the procedures are part of time-honored cultural rituals which mark the individuals as a full member of there society, and that no outsider has the right to impose his or her own values on a another culture. FGM has often been referred to as female circumcision and compared to male circumcision. FGM is far more drastic and damaging than male circumcision is, and the only way to compare the two would be for the male penis to be removed. Both practices include the removal of part of the genitalia that some may feel is quite unnecessary and also serve to perpetuate customs, however only one of them seeks to regulate and keep control over the body and sexuality of the individual. The greatest measure of a family's honor is the sexual purity of its woman. In many Middle Eastern and African societies, an unmarried woman has virtually no rights, no status in
society, and is severely limited in any economic recourse to income outside of what is provided by her family. Without circumcision, a girl can not marry and is thereby unable to fulfill her intended role, to produce legitimate sons to carry on her husband's patrilineage. Woman are assumed to be (by nature) sexually voracious, promiscuous, and unbridled creatures, morally too weak to be entrusted with the sacred honor of the family "It is not the same for men. It is thought that a man has to do what a man has to do. They circumcise the young girl before she knows her own body and before she can protest. This is to prepare her to become a future wife. They make her think what is between her legs is a monster, that if it is not cut it will make her horney, mentally sick and that she will not be stable in the marriage"(fgmnet). In a study conducted on 300 Sudanese woman, Hanny Lightfoot-Klien states " To this date, it distinguishes decent and respectable woman from unprotected prostitutes and slaves, and carries with it the only honorable, dignified, and protected status that is possible for a woman there"(17). Any transgression on the part of the woman disgraces the whole family, and only the most extreme measures will restore this honor. This may take the form of divorce, casting the woman out an in some cases death. The communities that practice it see FGM as an act of love and rite of passage to womanhood. FGM is a traditional practice, which is usually performed primarily on children, adolescents and some adult woman. According to the World Health Organization " over 130 million girls and woman" (Momoh 21) in Africa have undergone some form of female genital mutilation and that there are approximately " 6000 new cases every day" (Toubia 712). The origins of this abuse are still being debated but some estimate it going back as many as six thousand years. Although the rituals differ slightly from culture to culture, it is generally passed on from one generation to the next. The practice is common throughout the Middle East, Africa and some parts of Asia. This form of oppression is very deeply rooted i
Some common words found in the essay are:
Jomo Kenyatta, Genital Mutilation, Hanny Lightfoot-Klien, Mutilation FGM, Eastern African, Maserak Ramsey, Asia FGM, Health Organization, female genital mutilation, female genital, genital mutilation, Female Genital, adjacent labia, circumcision girl, male circumcision, human rights, clitoris adjacent, clitoris adjacent labia, hanny lightfoot-klien,
Approximate Word count = 1434
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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