Torture, Not Culture – Female Genital Mutilation

TORTURE, NOT CULTURE
(AN INSIGHT INTO FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION)
Female circumcision, better known as Female Genital Mutilation,
is an ugly monster finally rearing its head from out of the
depths of time. It can attack a girl at any age, with a little
prompting from her society, and the aid of an unsuspecting human
wielding the knife. Usually, it is performed from a few days
after birth to puberty, but in some regions, the torture can be
put off until just before marriage or the seventh month of
pregnancy (Samad, 52). Women that have gone beyond the primary
level of education are much less likely to fall victim to the
tradition (“Men’s…”, 34). The average victim is illiterate and
living in a poverty-stricken community where people face hunger,
bad health, over-working, and unclean water (“Female…”, 1714).
This, however, is not always the case. As one can see in the
following story of Soraya Mire, social classes create no real
barriers. Soraya Mire, a 13-year-old from Mogadishu, Somolia,
never knew what would happen to her the day her mother called her
out of her room to go buy her some gifts. When asked why, her
mother replied, “I just want to show you how much I love you.” As
Soraya got into the car, she wondered where the armed guards
were. Being the daughter of a Somolian general, she was always
escorted by guards. Despite her mother’s promise of gifts, they
did not stop at a store, but at a doctor’s home. “This is your
special day,” Soraya’s mother said. “Now you are to become a
woman, an important woman.” She was ushered into the house and
strapped down to an operating table. A local anesthetic was given
but it barely blunted the pain as the doctor performed the
circumcision. Soraya was sent home an hour later. Soraya broke
from her culture’s confining bonds at the age of 18 by running
away from an abusive arranged marriage. In Switzerland, she was
put in a hospital emergency room with severe menstrual cramps
because of the operation. Seven months later, the doctor
performed reconstructive surgery on her. Now in the U.S., Soraya
is a leading spokeswoman against FGM (Bell, 58). In addition to
being active in the fight against FGM, she is a American
filmmaker. She has come a long way. Being well-educated about the
facts of FGM also brings to light the ugly truth. “It is
happening on American soil,” insists Soraya. Mutilations are
occurring every day among innigrants and refugees in the U.S.
(Brownlee, 57). Immigrants have also brought the horrifying
practice to Europe, Australia, and Canada (McCarthy, 14).
Normally, it is practiced in North and Central Africa
(“Men’s…”, 34), the Middle East, and Muslim populations of
Indonesia and Malaysia (“Female…”, 1714). Although it seems to
have taken root in Muslim and African Christian religions, there
is no Koranic or Biblical backing for FGM (“Men’s…”, 34). Many
times female circumcision is treated as a religion in itself. It
can be a sacred ritual meant to be kept secret forever. As a
woman told poet Mariama Barrie, “You are about to enter Society
{sic}, and you must never reveal the ritual that is about to take
place.” (Barrie, 54).
The ritualistic version of FGM is much more barbaric than the
sterile doctor’s world which Soraya Mire passed through. Mariama
Barrie had to endure the most severe form of FGm at the tender
age of ten. Mariama’s torture is known as infibulation. There is
also excision and sunna. Infibulation consists of the removal of
the entire clitoris, the whole of the labia minora and up to 2/3
of the labia majora. The sides of the vulva are sewn or held
together by long thorns. A small opening the size of the tip of a
matchstick is left for the passage of menstrual blood and urine.
Excision is a clitoridectomy and sometimes the removal of the
labia minora; sunna is the only type that can truthfully be
called circumcision. It is a subtotal clitoridectomy
(“Female…”, 1714). To put this in perspective, infibulation
would be like cutting off a man’s penis completely, cutting the
testicles to the groin, and