Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation is a very controversial topic, especially when it comes to industrialized countries that do not practice it, or therefore really understand it. This is the custom of cutting off all or part of girls' external genitalia, and it is still very commonly practiced in Africa. I am going to explore some of the history and major feminist movements in relation to female genital mutilation, as well as discuss this practice in regards to colonization, migration and globalization, and finally, reflect on how I believe the experience of women in Africa will contribute to the larger discourse on transnational feminist solidarity.

Female genital mutilation is an extremely controversial topic because it touches on many of the complexities of politics in the modern international system. It sparks debate over gender equality, cultural autonomy, and human rights.

"Currently, female genital cutting is more serious than the medicalization of postpartum sexuality. In the cultures where it occurs, female genital cutting tends to be widespread, involves children, can result in serious health consequences, and permanently affects a woman's sexuality. (Boyle, x)"

Female genital mutilation has been in practice in Africa for about 4,000 years and there are many historical reasons behind its practice. Monjok, Essien & Holmes Jr. explain a few of the reasons in their journal titled "Female Genital Mutilation: Potential For HIV Transmission In Sub-Saharan Africa and Prospect For Epidemiologic Investigation and Intervention."

"A variety of reasons (sociocultural, religious, psychosexual, hygienic, and esthetic) have been suggested for the continuation of FGM in the locale where this procedure persists. These reasons include marriageability, curbing sexual desire, protecting virginity, religious rite, initiation to womanhood, improved hygiene, and beautification. (Monjok et al., 36)

This procedure aside from being an issue of woman's rights, is also controversial due to the unsanitary nature of the practice. According to our Goldberg text "Rights vs. Rites":

"All these procedures tend to be performed in unsanitary conditions, without anesthesia, using knives, razors or scissors. In some places, there have been efforts to medicalize the practice and have doctors or nurses, rather than midwives or barbers, perform it, which makes it safer, but also, many feminists fear, even more entrenched. According to the World Health Organization between 100 million and 140 million women around the globe have undergone genital cutting. Each year around 3 million African girls are cut, almost half of them in Egypt and Ethiopia. Immigration has brought immigration to Western Countries. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as of 1990, 168,000 girls and women in the Unites States had either undergone circumcision or were at the risk of being subjected to it, and it's safe to assume that number has only grown in the ensuing years. (Goldberg, 124)"

The subject of female genital mutilation also relates to the reading we did in class by Uma Narayan titled, "Essence of Culture and A Sense of History: A Feminist Critique of Cultural Essentialism." She states:

"These essentialist portraits of culture often depict culturally dominant norms of femininity, and practices that adversely affect women, as central components of 'cultural identity.' They often equate women's conformity to the status quo with 'the preservation of culture' and cast feminist challenges to norms and practices affecting women as 'cultural betrayals. (Narayan, 85)'"

From the theoretical aspect of Women's Human Rights according to the USAID Bureau for Africa, it is believed that in addition to having potentially serious health consequences, the practice of female genital mutilation seriously violates these rights.

"Women's rights and health are protected under major human rights treaties, including the International Bill of Human Rights, which includes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment may also be applicable."

In this same article, I learned that in 1990, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women adopted General Recommendation No. 14, Female Circumcision, which noted "with grave concern that there are continuing cultural, traditional and economic pressures that help to perpetuate harmful practices, such as female circumcision." Also, article 2 of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women explicitly states that:

"Violence against women shall be understood to encompass, but not be limited to.. physical, sexual, and psychological violence occurring