Most immigration talk is dominated by the issue of illegal immigrants, but some legal immigrants can also bring problems into our country. A practice called female genital mutilation (FGM), predominantly seen in Muslim-controled countries, is now an issue in the United States.
Worldwide, an estimated 6,000 girls are subjected to the practice each day. For centuries, women performed FGM on family members or neighbors, anywhere from infancy to puberty. The practice is most common in parts of Africa and the Middle East.
Many girls do not survive the ordeal due to bleeding and infections and those who do are scarred both physically and emotionally for life.
Female genital mutilation is the cutting off or, in fewer cases, the mutilation of the external female genitalia. This procedure is often done without anesthesia using dull and dirty razor blades or scissors.
Female genital mutilation is unspeakably painful for its young victims.
To make matters worse, often the vagina is sewn closed until marriage. And sometimes, a girl’s legs are bound together for a period of time during which scar tissue grows over the vaginal opening.
In either case, only tiny holes remain for urination and menstruation, causing a number of health problems, such as constant pain, urinary tract and bladder infections, kidney problems including kidney failure, irregular periods, cysts and infertility.
In addition, childbirth can be life-threatening to both the mother and baby, and sexual intercourse is often excruciating.
Three Methods of Genital Mutilation
Female Genital Mutilation is usually performed in one of three ways:
- Clitoridectomy: removing part or all of the clitoris.
- Excision: removing part or all of the clitoris and the inner labia (the lips that surround the vagina), with or without removal of the labia majora (the larger outer lips).
- Infibulation: narrowing of the vaginal opening by creating a seal, formed by cutting and repositioning the labia.
Female genital mutilation is commonly referred to as “female circumcision,” but a more accurate term is “female castration” because victims typically lose the ability to become sexually aroused. As a result, they’re not tempted to engage in premarital or extra-marital intercourse.
Female genital mutilation was performed before Islam came into existence and it’s not dictated by the Quran, Islam’s holy book. However, FGM is largely practiced by Muslims, although not exclusively.
There appears to be some disagreement within the Muslim community about whether the practice is tied to their faith.
Sheik Yousef Al Badri, of Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, addressed the issue in a film called “Honor Diaries,” a documentary about abuses against women such as FGM, forced marriage and honor killings.
“Circumcision is the reason why Muslim women are virtuous, unlike Western women who run after their sexual appetite in any place with any man,” he says in the film.
Elsewhere in the documentary, Dr. Qanta Ahmed, a physician and the author of In The Land of Invisible Women, says, “Female genital mutilation is not advocated in Islam in any way, shape or form. It doesn’t appear in the Koran, but has very much been adopted by some Muslim societies.”
A Matter of Honor?
Paula Kweskin is the film’s producer and a human rights attorney.
“I do believe it’s an element of the honor system,” she said. “And I think if we can break down the honor system, we will break away issues like FGM and child marriage and forced marriage and honor killings because these things are all linked together.”
She says the purpose of her documentary is to educate the public about a topic unfamiliar to many people.
“We really believe in education and getting the message out. A lot of times when communities learn about just how harmful the practice is, they stop,” she said. “We’ve seen that in Africa and we’ve seen that in other parts of the world. A lot of times it’s just a lack of education and a lack of understanding, and it is a tradition that’s passed along, so it’s very hard to break tradition and break that cycle.”
Appearing on “The 700 Club,” Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of the book, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, recalled her experience in Somalia at the age of five.
“Not all of them are Muslim, but the majority of the women who have been subjected to this mutilation are Muslim,” Ali said.
“Not a day goes by where people who are Muslim, use their faith, using the guidance of the (Muslim) Prophet Mohammed and what they read in the Koran, to engage in violence and in oppression, and to justify that in the name of religion,” she continued.
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