Female genital mutilation

Female circumcision or Female genital mutilation abbreviated FGM, is one of the greatest rites of passage in African traditional society. It is considered an initiation ritual whose symbolism is characterized and supported by cultural beliefs which the older “uncivilized” generation still holds on to today. According to the World health organization (WHO), “an estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM and about three million girls are at risk for it annually.” The practice is prominent in the western, eastern, and north-eastern regions of Africa, in some Asian countries and the middle east, and among certain immigrant communities in North America and Europe. There are four categories of circumcision surgeries mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and 15 years, but the most common one involves the removal of the clitoris glans, cutting and scraping of the labia minora and majora, and s pinning shut of the vulva. This practice is evil and it internationally recognized as a violation of human rights of girls and women because of the pain and suffering it inflicts on them, the health hazards’ it poses on the young women, and is a form of power alienation.
The initiates undergo unnecessary pain, suffering, and humiliation during and after circumcision. Infibulation is not a single operation. The vulva is pinned shut with pins and thorns, leaving a small hole the size of a match stick, for urine and blood to escape during the healing process. Due to the reduced size of the hole, women experience overwhelming pain during intercourse and childbirth. Pain is also experienced during the operation due to lack of anesthesia, since surgery is a test of courage, and thus one is not permitted to cry. I n some tribes, the suffering is revisited after childbirth, where the vulva has to be reshut and restored to post-wedding night condition.
The barbaric way in which circumcision is conducted is despicable. Numerous health issues arise, lack of sterile instruments being the first. Tools not limited to razors, scalpels, pieces of broken glass, pottery and sharpened rocks are used . Infections are also common due to unsanitary conditions. Secondly, elderly women generally perform these operations and are not only inexperienced, but may have low grade of precision. It is a status symbol for one to be a “surgeon”, and thus these women do not give in to retirement. Factors like impaired eyesight due to old age affect their judgment and the result is a severely mutilated candidate. These candidates suffer from severe hemorrhaging, pain leading to shock and in some cases death. Blood clots due to the inability of menstral blood to escape the passage are also common. A woman’s stomach bulges as a result and the condition may be confused with pregnancy causing innocent women to either be accused of infidelity or fornication, whichever applicable.
Women in societies that practice FGM generally face alienation from community power and are subordinates to a male dominated regime. They are controlled in family, emotions and sexual matters. They are also deprived of their right to choose. Alienation is evident sexually whereby her ability to enjoy intimacy diminishes and sex becomes a painful experience. The removal of the clitoris does not decrease sexual desire, but the chance of the satiation of that desire. She is thus deprived the innate appetite she is unable to fulfill and faces communal alienation from the marriage institution and community as a whole if she chooses not to get circumcised. women are denied their right to normal learning procedures, and personal experiences, and taught in seclusion away from men. Their syllabus is comprised only of domestic issues since the male chauvinistic society believes it is a waste of money and resources to educate women, when they eventually end up as professional housewives.
Formally and informally, education plays a role in shaping society. Maintaining ignorance in women and keeping them in the dark only makes evil cultural practices like circumcision reoccur. The removal of the practice will not only be eventually effective by the law, but by education. The law has failed repeatedly to eradicate this demon due to corruption and the dictatorship nature of how most world governments are run. This goes hand in hand with human prostitution which will require a whole new bog to discuss. I wrote this as my social action plan and decided to post it too as "MY PLAN" in the effort to end its evil.