Female circumcision is a ritual removal.parts or all of the external female genitalia. This practice is found in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as well as in some communities of Muslim countries. This article will tell about the procedure and traditions of female circumcision: what it is and why it is done.
Terminology
Until the 1980s, this practice was widely known in African countries as female circumcision, which implies equivalence with male circumcision.
In 1929, after the missionary work of a representative of the Church of Scotland, Marion Stevenson, the missionary council of Kenya called the practice of female circumcision "sexual mutilation of women."
During the 1970s, circumcision was increasingly calledmutilate In 1975, the American anthropologist Rose Oldfield Hayes used the term "female genital mutilation" in the title of an article in an American scientific journal.
Спустя четыре года, Франс Хоскен, The Austrian-American feminist writer called this practice “mutilation” in his influential report, more specifically, “female genital mutilation.” The Inter-African Committee on traditions affecting the health of women and children has begun to refer to this document and also calls circumcision as a crippling operation. The World Health Organization (WHO) followed suit in 1991.
The terms "female genital circumcision" and "female genital mutilation" are used as well, which are used by those who conduct explanatory work with practitioners.
Name in African and Oriental languages
UNICEF statistics for 2016 indicates that200 million women have been circumcised around the world. Currently, female circumcision is practiced in Africa and the Muslim East. These are 27 African countries, Indonesia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Yemen and some others.
In countries where this is widespreadtradition, many practice options are reflected in dozens of terms. In the Bambara language, which is mainly spoken in Mali, it is known as bokololi (literal translation of “hand washing”), and in Igbo language in eastern Nigeria as isa aru or iwu aru (in the literal translation “wash”). The common Arabic term for circumcision is the root used for male and female circumcision (tahur and tahara). The tradition is also known in Arabic as Chaf or Hifa.
Some groups of nations may call circumcision"Pharaoh" for the type of infibulation and circumcision according to the Sunnah (the Holy Book of the Muslims) for all other species. Sunnah means “the way or the road” in Arabic and belongs to the traditions of Islam, although none of the procedures is required in Islam. The term infibulation is derived from the word fibula, translated from Latin as "clasp". The ancient Romans, as you know, attached fasteners to the foreskin or labia of the slaves to prevent sexual intercourse. Surgical infibulation of women became known as Pharaoh's circumcision in Sudan, but in Egypt it is called Sudanese. In Somalia, this is known simply as qodob - stitching.
Types of circumcision
Usually traditionally performed usingrazor blades. This procedure can be carried out a few days after the birth of a girl. Usually, female circumcision can be done right up to the puberty of a girl. In many African countries, most girls spend up to five years in this procedure.
The technique of circumcision varies by country or ethnic group.
The first type: circumcision of the clitoris (clitoridectomy) or the clitoral hood:
- subspecies a - circumcision applies only to the clitoris hood;
- subspecies b - and the clitoris itself is removed.
View of the second - the clitoris and labia are removed:
- subspecies a - only small labia are removed;
- subspecies b - small labia and clitoris are removed;
- subspecies - completely remove all the labia and clitoris;
- subspecies g - completely labia lips are removed.
Type three - Infibulation ("Pharaoh'scircumcision) is an operation in which either the labia minora, or the large lips are cut off, then these tissues are closed. After surgery, the clitoris, the opening of the urethra and the entrance to the vagina are blocked. After this operation, there remains a small hole for the passage of urine and menstrual fluid.
Methods of operation
How do female circumcision?Procedures are usually performed by healers in the homes of girls with or without anesthesia. This is usually an elderly woman, but in certain countries where there is a male doctor or health worker, he can also perform the rite.
When female circumcision is performed in every possible way.The kind of traditional healers are most likely to use non-sterile devices, including knives, razors, scissors, glass, pointed stones and nails. According to a Uganda nurse, the healer will use one knife for 30 girls at a time.
In Egypt, Kenya, Indonesia and Sudan, often givenThe procedure is carried out in medical institutions by doctors. In Egypt, 77% of the procedures, and in Indonesia, more than 50% were performed by medical specialists as of 2016. According to surveys, in Egypt it was reported that local anesthesia was used in their daughters in 60% of cases, general anesthesia in 13%.
History of tradition
Женское обрезание- что это и зачем делается?This practice is rooted in gender inequality, attempts to control the sexuality of women and the idea of female purity, modesty and beauty. Why do female circumcision? Usually such rites are initiated and conducted by women who believe that this will save their daughter’s honor and who fear that the absence of circumcision in their daughters and granddaughters will lead to the social isolation of girls. This is an attempt to preserve the woman’s chastity, according to practitioners of circumcision.
Health effects depend on the specificprocedures. There is a huge amount of complications after this operation. These can include dangerous genital infections, difficulty urinating and going through the menstrual cycle, chronic pain, development of a cyst, inability to become pregnant, complications during childbirth, and lethal bleeding. There are no health benefits for this operation.
Female circumcision: before and after
This tradition harms the physical andwomen's emotional health throughout their lives. Short-term and late complications depend on the type of circumcision, occur regardless of whether the manipulation was performed by a surgeon and used antibiotics and sterile or disposable surgical instruments or a healer performed the procedure. In the case of infibulation, an important factor is the size of the hole, which is left for the passage of urine and menstrual blood, regardless of whether a surgical thread was used instead of an agave or Arabian thorns and whether the procedure was performed more than once (for example, to sew a hole that is considered too wide or expand too small).
The reasons for the operation
Why do female circumcision? The main reasons are the following:
- an attempt to preserve physical chastity and innocence;
- a woman does not receive "sinful" pleasure during an intimate act;
- increased enjoyment of a man during sex with a woman who has a small vagina;
- the clitoris is the sinful part of the female body;
- the desire to cleanse a woman on the spiritual level;
- part of the patriarchal tradition of many eastern and African countries.
Psychological effect
According to the 2015 systematic review,There is little high-quality information about the psychological effects of female circumcision. Several small studies have concluded that women who have undergone this procedure suffer from anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. A sense of shame and inferiority can develop when women leave the culture that practices this rite and learn that their condition is not the norm. Within their native culture, they can proudly say that they have gone through this ritual, because for them it means beauty, respect for tradition, chastity and hygiene.
Studies on sexual aspects have also beeninsignificant. In a 2013 analysis of 15 studies in which 12,000 girls from seven countries participated, concluded that women with circumcision twice as often report unsatisfied sexual desire, and 52% report painful sexual intercourse. One third reported a decrease in sexual feelings.
Circumcision in Dagestan
What is female circumcision in Muslims? In principle, the Muslim tradition is not much different from the African.
In Dagestan, among people practicing Islam,who live in mountainous regions and remote villages, still practice circumcision in women. In addition, there has recently been a burst of false information in various newspapers and oral sources about the benefits of female circumcision. Dagestan, therefore, partially preserves this tradition.
A variety of spiritual mentors are calling forcircumcision in women in order to get rid of lust and sinful desires, as well as to prevent fornication and adultery in marriage. Legally, any surgery on the genitals is prohibited, except for medical reasons.
Fight against cruel tradition
Since the 1970s, internationalefforts to convince people in circumcision countries to abandon this tradition. This practice has been banned or restricted in most countries in which it exists, although laws are poorly enforced. Since 2010, the United Nations has asked medical providers to stop all forms of the procedure, including re-infibulation after childbirth and the symbolic “tearing up” of the clitoral hood. Doctors and scientists are struggling with this brutal tradition of some countries.
Women's suffering
Dahabo Musa, a Somali woman, describedthe suffering of women in the 1988 poem as “three women's sorrows”: the procedure itself, the wedding night when the woman suffers again, and then the birth, when her genitals are cut off again. Confessions of female circumcision victims are often published and published.
Despite the obvious suffering, it is womenorganize all forms of circumcision. The anthropologist Rose Oldfield Hayes wrote in 1975 that educated Sudanese men, who did not want their daughters to be circumcised, discovered that the girls were sewn after their grandmothers arranged visits to their relatives. Tradition is associated and associated with ideas of honor, chastity and fidelity in marriage. Also this crippling ritual was maintained and transmitted by women.
