Page 328 - Essencials of Sociology

Gender Inequality in Global Perspective 301

Cultural Diversity around the World

Female Circumcision

“Lie down there,” the excisor suddenly said to me [when I
was 12], pointing to a mat on the ground. No sooner had
I laid down than I felt my frail, thin legs grasped by heavy
hands and pulled wide apart. . . . Two women on each side
of me pinned me to the ground . . . I underwent the abla-
tion of the labia minor and then of the clitoris. The operation
seemed to go on forever. I was in the throes of agony, torn
apart both physically and psychologically. It was the rule that
girls of my age did not weep in this situation. I broke the rule.
I cried and screamed with pain . . . !
Afterwards they forced me, not only to walk back to join They point out that men dominate the societies that
the other girls who had already been excised, but to dance practice it.
with them. I was doing my best, but Change is on the way. Responding to a
then I fainted. . . . It was a month be- social movement to ban female circumci-
fore I was completely healed. When sion, the World Health Organization has
I was better, everyone mocked me, declared that female circumcision is a hu-
as I hadn’t been brave, they said. man rights issue. Fifteen African countries
(Walker and Parmar 1993:107–108) have made the circumcision of females ille-
gal. Without sanctions, though, these laws
Worldwide, about 140 million females accomplish little. Egypt prohibited female
have been circumcised, mostly in circumcision in 1996, but almost all girls
Muslim Africa and in some parts of continue to be circumcised (Leopold 2012).
Malaysia and Indonesia (Lazaro 2011). In Some mothers and grandmothers even
Egypt and Indonesia, about 95 percent insist that this custom continue. Their con-
of the women have been circumcised cern is that their daughters marry well, and
(Slackman 2007; Leopold 2012). In in some of these societies, uncircumcised
most cultures, the surgery takes place women are considered impure and are not
between the ages of 4 and 8, but in allowed to marry.
some, it is not performed until the girls Health workers have hit upon a strategy
reach adolescence. Because the surgery that is meeting with some success. To over-
is usually done without anesthesia, the come resistance to change, they begin by
pain is excruciating and adults hold the teaching village women about germs and
girls down. In urban areas, physicians hygiene. They then trace the women’s cur-
sometimes perform the operation; in rent health problems such as incontinence
rural areas, a neighborhood woman to female circumcision. When enough sup-
usually does it, often with a razor blade. port has been gained, an entire village will
In some cultures, only the girl’s clito- An excisor (cutter) in Uganda holding the publicly abandon the practice. As other vil-
ris is cut off; in others, more is removed. cutting blades she is about to use to lages do the same, the lack of circumcision
In Sudan, the Nubians cut away most circumcise teenage girls. no longer remains an obstacle to marriage.
of the girl’s genitalia, then sew together
the outer edges. They bind the girl’s legs from her ankles to Sources: As cited, and Lightfoot-Klein 1989; Merwine 1993; Chalkley
her waist for several weeks while scar tissue closes up the 1997; Tuhus-Dubrow 2007; UNIFEM 2008; Lazaro 2011; Sacirbey 2012.
vagina. They leave a small opening the diameter of a pencil
for the passage of urine and menstrual fluids. When a woman
marries, the opening is cut wider to permit sexual intercourse. For Your Consideration
Before she gives birth, the opening is enlarged further. After ↑ Do you think that the members of one culture have the
birth, the vagina is again sutured shut. This cycle of surgically right to judge the customs of another culture as inferior or
closing and opening begins anew with each birth. wrong and to then try to get rid of them? If so, under what
Why are girls circumcised? Some groups believe that it circumstances? What makes us right and them wrong?
reduces sexual desire, making it more likely that a woman will ↑ Let’s go further. Some are trying to ban the circumcision
be a virgin at marriage and, afterward, remain faithful to her of boys. Already, one court in Germany has ruled that the
husband. Others think that women can’t bear children if they circumcision of boys “amounts to bodily harm even if the
aren’t circumcised. parents consent to the circumcision” (“German Court . . . ”
Feminists have campaigned against female circumcision, 2012). Do you think the same principle should apply to both
calling it a form of ritual torture to control female sexuality. female and male circumcision? Why or why not?