ENGLISH
Hello peeps,
Welcome to another issue of Girlsplaining, where I - a girl - explain things. I don't pretend to be an expert on these topics; in fact, I am not. But I'm a fast learner, and I can easily explain the basics to increase your chances of someday winning 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' with every article you read.
First time reading? Subscribe here!
Being born a woman in the wrong country. Female genital mutilation.-Girlsplained.
When I lived in Venezuela, I believed that feminism was not important. I was convinced that my friends weren’t sexist, that I had been able to do everything I had set out to do and I had never limited myself because I was a woman. How naive, right?
Eventually, when I decided to move to Argentina, I began to realize there were things in those interactions that were not quite right. I had not been able to identify the legacy of the patriarchal society in those spaces before.
At the time, one of my best friends was much more of a feminist than me. One day we were fighting because I said I believed feminism wasn’t that important. She said to me “How can you say that? That’s so cruel, there are women who have their clitoris cut off because they were born women! "
I think I may have said something like "I did not know, but there is nothing I can do about it." The truth is that I was not prepared to feel so much pain and anger. I had not understood that the struggle of one woman is the struggle of all. Everything that I believed to be a lie (abuse, denial of women's value, mansplaining, homophobia, etc.), happened in places where I was present and had not been able to recognize it.
However, I never forgot my friend's words. "There are women who have their clitoris cut off because they were born women." It seemed unreal to me that this happened, in 2021, in different parts of the world, in the middle of women’s sexual liberation.
While there is a woman promoting a vibrator on her Instagram account, a girl is having her genitals mutilated for being born “dirty” and to prevent her from having sexual desire.
What is the FMG?
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a practice that occurs in more than 31 countries, and it is estimated that at least 4 million women a year are at risk of suffering genital mutilation before the age of 15. The estimated number is that there are at least 200 million women who have been separated from their genitals.
It is much more common in Djibouti, Egypt, Guinea, and Mali, where 90% or more of women of ages 15 to 49 have undergone FGM, according to World Vision.
Unicef describes it as “a procedure performed on a woman or girl to alter or injure her genitalia for non-medical reasons. It most often involves the partial or total removal of her external genitalia.”
It’s carried out without consent and it is a violation of human rights, it is psychological abuse and child sexual abuse.
As it is not approved for medical reasons, medical students are not taught this in their practices, they learn it from other doctors who, in turn, have learned it from other doctors as well.
Many have clandestine practices, although, in places like Singapore, there are doctors who advertise it by its Malay name "Sunat Perempuan", which means "female mutilation". It is even estimated that 2 out of 3 women who have been subjected to this practice have not been cut by a health professional.
This means that the practice is extremely high risk. Thousands of women die from an infection generated by the cut, others are left with fertility or menstruation problems, and others are infected with diseases - not to mention the psychological trauma of having been mutilated. -.
According to WHO, this happens due to the fact that “resection (totally or partially separating one or more organs or tissues of the body) or injury to normal and healthy genital tissue hinders the natural functioning of the organism and has immediate and lasting effects on health. "
Let's do a quick recap of vaginal anatomy.
Boys, you are finally going to see where the clitoris is.
Reviewing these terms will help you understand the types of FGM.
Types of female genital mutilation.
WHO classifies FMG into four types:
Type I: Partial or total cutting of the clitoris and/or clitoral foreskin. Some variations of type I are:
I.a, removal of the hood or foreskin from the clitoris alone.
I.b, complete removal of the clitoris.
Type II: Partial or total removal of the clitoris and labia minora, with or without cutting the labia majora. Some variations are:
II.a, removal of the labia minora.
II.b, partial or total removal of the clitoris and labia minora.
II.c, total or partial resection of the clitoris, labia minora, and labia majora.
Type III: Making the vaginal opening smaller, repositioning the labia minora and/or majora, with or without cutting the clitoris, and sewing the hole. (It is meant to close the vagina opening, leaving a gap so small that it allows them only to pee and menstruate in an unnatural way).
III.a, resection, and repositioning of the labia minora.
III.b, resection, and repositioning of the labia majora.
Type IV: All other harmful procedures of the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, such as puncture, perforation, incision, scraping, or cauterization.
Graphic from: www.healthonthemove.net
Types I and II are the most common, but it has been estimated that at least 10% of women who have been mutilated have also been stitched up (type III).
Cutting can be done with various types of sharp tools “special knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass, or razor blades. Anaesthetic and antiseptics are generally not used unless the procedure is carried out by medical practitioners. In communities where infibulation is practiced, girls' legs are often bound together to immobilize them for 10-14 days, allowing the formation of scar tissue.” The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) explained.
Why are they cut?
For being born a woman in the wrong place.
Because of a deeply rooted gender inequality in certain societies. In these places, both men and women support the practice, and failure to comply can cause social rejection or even sanctions.
Although this practice does not belong to any particular religion, (religions do not condemn it either) it is usually carried out due to cultural or religious beliefs where it is believed that women are born "dirty" because they have something in their bodies that can give them pleasure, and they can decide to use that "button" to her liking.
Furthermore, more than half of the women in four out of fourteen countries where there is data available on FGM see mutilation as a religious practice.
Although in many parts of the world it is said that women are the owners of their bodies, in many other countries there are women who are being mutilated as a form of control. To have them be virgins until marriage. As if that's the only thing a woman should exist for. To marry and show her husband her purity.
We are not a pure entity that came from heaven to procreate and that's it. We are human beings with desires and ambitions of our own. Not only by having the possibility of getting pregnant does it mean that we want to do it. Not just because we can get married does it mean that we want to. Not because we can wait until marriage to have sex for the first time does it mean that we want to do it. And that doesn’t make us dirty or less of a woman.
They also cut women because of tradition. Usually, the mother was mutilated, so the daughters must be too.
The reasons can be divided into five categories according to the UNFPA.
Psychosexual reasons: This practice is done to control the sexuality of the woman who is believed to be "insatiable" if her clitoris is not removed. So, by not having it, she can wait until marriage to have intercourse which, of course, increases male sexual pleasure.
Sociological and cultural reasons: The FMG is considered a cultural part of the transition from being a girl to becoming a woman. There are myths that perpetuate this practice such as believing that the clitoris grows the size of a penis if it is not cut, or that FMG will improve fertility.
Hygiene and aesthetic reasons: in these communities, the female external genitalia are considered dirty and ugly, so they are removed for hygiene and aesthetics - although it does not make any sense to cut them for aesthetics if it is assumed that no one will see them until marriage -.
Religious reasons: As I mentioned above, the FGM is not endorsed by Islam or Christianity, but they are not condemned either. And since they do not condemn it, it is done because it is believed to be a religious ritual.
Socio-economic reasons: In many communities, female genital mutilation is a prerequisite for marriage. And especially in places where women depend on men to support themselves financially, it can be an important factor to undergo the procedure. It can also be a requirement to be able to inherit.
How is it different from male circumcision?
If we describe both processes on paper, they could be very similar, “the mutilation of a child's private area without their consent”. However, the differences are much larger:
Religion and sexism. Men's circumcision began as something religious (it is well known that Jesus Christ was circumcised) and it’s seen as something beneficial for men especially in the Jewish community. Removing the foreskin was believed to mean that men "would have easier erections and increased fertility." While women are cut to avoid feeling pleasure, men are cut to make it easier for them to get aroused.
Medical procedure. Although the process is often performed by someone in the church to which the family belongs, male circumcision is a medical procedure called a "post-actomy." Female genital mutilation is not considered a medical procedure because the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
Hygiene. It is done to men to make it easier to clean their penis; to women, to cleanse themselves of having sexual desires and stop being "dirty."
Risk of urinary tract infections or STDs. Male circumcision is made to prevent men from getting infections from uncleanliness or sexually transmitted diseases. For women, the simple fact of mutilating them can generate infections and leave worse consequences than those of some STDs, such as infertility, problems with menstruation, psychological trauma, etc.
There are other reasons but I will not share them to avoid making this issue longer, but you can see the pattern. The decision to mutilate a woman has nothing to do with anything other than her womanhood.
There are also many people who believe that male circumcision is unnecessary and traumatic, perhaps it is also time to stop it.
Some testimonies and the inheritance of the trauma.
Doing this article has been incredibly difficult for me, I had put it aside for weeks because I didn't feel ready to face the pain of hearing from women who have been through this. I was not ready to feel so exposed and afraid of everything that can happen to us just because we were born with the "wrong" reproductive organ.
Honestly, I think it is beautiful to be a woman, to show everyone that we are powerful - even if they constantly want to make us feel otherwise. Seeing the women that I am going to share with you below, despite the pain, made me admire them a lot. It’s admirable to see how after what they have suffered they have decided to turn their lives around, change their stories and tell them as the protagonists of their lives.
Another thing that caught my attention was realizing they were able to overcome the trauma of having their own mothers or relatives taking them to be cut against their will because "it is what should be done." I don't know if I would have had the same strength. Here are two of the stories that touched me the most:
Khadija Gbla, tells the story of how her mother brought her to The Gambia to have her clitoris cut with an indigenous knife, without anesthesia, while she looked her mother in the eyes.
Leyla Hussein recounts her testimony with FGM, the trauma that she had, and what it meant in her society to have been mutilated. She also tells the story of women who have decided to break the wheel.
According to UNICEF, "Progress to end FGM needs to be at least 10 times faster if the practice is to be eliminated by 2030." This is not an African or religious issue. It is not a fight of women alone. It is the task of all of us who hear about this practice, to keep talking about it. It is now our duty to do our part if we want to prevent this from happening forever.
As author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explains, “Some people ask, 'Why the word feminist? Why not just say you believe in human rights or something? ' Because that would be a way of pretending that we are not the women who, for centuries, have been excluded. It would be a way of denying that the gender problem is directed at women ”. Therefore, we should all be feminists.
Sign these petitions to help end FMG:
Support Khadija Gbla in stalling female genital mutilation (FGM).
End Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting by 2030: Invest in Research, and Support in Asia
Look at all the things you learned today:
Female genital mutilation consists of removing all or part of the woman's genitalia.
It is a practice that occurs in more than 31 countries.
It is estimated that at least 4 million women a year are at risk of FGM before the age of 15.
It is estimated that there are at least 200 million women who have suffered an FMG.
2 out of 3 circumcised women have not been cut by a healthcare professional.
There are four types of FMG with variations to each type: i) Partial or total resection of the clitoris; ii) total or partial removal of the clitoris and labia minora, with or without cutting the labia majora; iii) sewing the labia minora and majora to reduce the size of the vaginal opening; iv) any other practice that seeks to mistreat the female genitalia.
This practice stems from deeply ingrained gender inequality.
Some reasons to do FGM are:
Psychosexual reasons.
Sociological and cultural reasons.
Hygiene and aesthetic reasons.
Religious reasons.
Socio-economic reasons.
It is different from male circumcision because, in addition to not being a medical practice, the reasons for cutting a man are to improve his hygiene and sex life; while they do it to women to limit them in the same aspects.
We can all do our bit to prevent this from happening.
We should all be feminists.
Thanks for reading. I hope you learned something. If so, please recommend it, leave a comment if you want me to explain any particular topic, or buy me a beer if you truly enjoyed it.
What did you think of this article?
Sorry but this was cringe and it illustrates why we shouldn't be feminists! Genital mutilation is essentially the same irrespective of the genitals being mutilated and the creed or culture of the victim. It is done to brand the new generation as belonging to the community and it is generally worse for boys than girls. The sources you use are all biased and the reasons you come with to construct a false distinction between the cutting of male and female genitals is boysplaining and an insult to male victims, some of whom have paid the ultimate price.
You claim cutting males is religious whereas cutting females isn't, not true. First even if it were true does it make any real difference? If a religious person could convince you that it was also religious to cut females, would that make it more palatable, acceptable, for you? Religion is an aspect of culture and whether religious or not it is still a cultural practice, a harmful one. You write that to many it is regarded as a religious practice. When people of a certain religion say a practice is part of their religion, who are you to tell them otherwise? The Islamic Council of Malaysia have declared not only that female cuttting is a part of their religion but that it is mandatory, would you tell them to their faces they are wrong? The Islamic sect the Dawoodi Bohra also say it is part of their religion and in the court cases there have been in USA and Australia, the prosecution has never denied this. Then t here is the fact that as good as all girls cut outside of Africa, are Muslim. What possible connection is there between girls cut in the Philippines and those in Somalia other than Islam? The historical data is clear, female cutting was introduced to Southeast Asia with Islam as an Islamic practice within the Shafi'i branch, one of the four branches in Sunni Islam with today hundreds of millions of followers.
Nobody knows how exactly ritual genital cutting started as it originated in Africa when we were all Africans long before Jesus Christ who, incidentally wouldn't have had a posthectomy as practiced later, but a acroposthion, a much less radical cutting. Cutting is always seen as beneficial to those practicing it just as any other harmful cultural practice. How about removing the clitoral foreskin to make it easier for a women to become aroused and increase fertility? The fact is that many justifications are given which naturally fit with community values and norms so exactly the same ones can be found for men and women and in different communities at different times. So the claim of sexual enhancement for women is made for example in some parts of Malaysia and indeed in the modern West, starting from the 70s when feminists emerging from the sexual revolution of the 60s siezed on the issue and Blue Shield insurance in USA removed it from it's health insurance cover. the same goes for the opposite claim, that it diminishes sexual pleasure in men, which is one of the major reasons it started in USA, check out the cereal man, Kelloggs. Since you take a particular interest in the Jewish practice, this is what revered Jewish leaders have stated:
"Circumcision is a symbol of two things necessary to our well being:
1. The excision of sexual pleasure
2. To check a man's pride"
Philo Judaeus, 30 AD
"The bodily pain is the real purpose of circumcision. One of the reasons is to bring about a decrease in sexual intercourse and a weakening of the organ. The fact that circumcision reduces sexual sexual pleasure is undeniable."
Moses Maimonides 1180 AD
"Foreskin represents man's worst animal-like urges and must be forcibly harnessed."
Nosson Schermann, 1985 AD
"Impairment of sexual sensation is a special virtue of circumcision."
Paysach Krohn, 1985 AD
One real difference between the cutting of boys and of girls is that the spectrum of procedures is far more limited in the former, although I have already covered one which was historical. Genital surgery, as in a medical. not ritual, procedure, is naturally performed on female genitals just as it is on male ones, there being nothing magical about female genitals! Genitals are fleshy highly innervated and vascularised bodily appendages whether male or female and broadly susceptable to the same ailments, although the female more often. In genital surgeries, as with others, stitching or clamping of the wound is required to complete it. When female genitals are stitched it is almost invariably after the very common medical procedure called an episiotomy. In contrast when male genitals are stitched it is almost invariably after the very common ritual procedure called circumcision. Other genital surgery may be required due to adhesions, cancer etc. and just as with an episiotomy, naturally the advantages are considered to outweigh the disadvantages. Whether a procedure is regarded as mutilating has nothing to do with advantages or disadvantages to health. When a women shows off her breast enlargement it would be very derogatory to say she had been mutilated despite there being only health disadvantages to the procedure. If on the other hand the result was not as she had been led to believe it would be and felt it left her disfigured, then she could quite rightly be said to have been mutilated.
You are buying into very stupid cutting myths if you truly believe parts of the normal body are amputated for the benefit of ease of cleaning! If you think it is true for boys why not girls? Normal genitalia in cultures where the norm is for it to be cut, is considered unclean irrespective of gender. Since the discovery of germs cutting cultures have conflated spiritual and physical cleanliness, saying those not cut are smelly and dirty whether girls or boys. It is all bodyshaming the normal genitals as part of the pressure to force social conformity of the practice.
No, cutting boys is not about UTIs or STDs, that's just cutting cultures seeking scientific justification and again it is used irrespective of gender. Independent research out just a couple of months ago shows that it is the reverse, that cutting increases the risk of STDs and both male STDs and male UTIs are far more common in USA where most boys are cut soon after bírth than in Europe where only the fewest are. In fact the estimated death toll from UTIs in days old male babies is almost 50 times higher in USA than here in Denmark! The notion that creating an open wound in an environment with faecies and urine reduces infections, is frankly nuts! If you think amputating parts of the normal male genitalia prevents infections, then why wouldn't you think doing the same with female genitalia wouldn't have the same effect, and females get far more infections?
Here is a list of complictions from up to 100% risk for genital cutting irrespective of gender:
Short term:
Haemorrhage
Urinary retention
genital swelling
Damage to the urethra - fistulae
Infection
Long term:
Genital scarring unsightly and painful
Keloids
Epidermoid inclusion and sebaceous cysts
Neuromas
Poor urinary flow
Dyspareunia
Apareunia
Dysorgasmia
Anorgasmia
Nerve impingement
Impaired sexual function
lacerations during intercourse
Psychological sequelae:
Flashbacks
PTSD
Anxiety
Difficulties to reproductive functions
anejaculation/haematocolpos
Don't tell me they are different! As long as this is feminism, nobody should be a feminist!