Shirley Jackson Background - Assignment Example

Shirley Jackson Background One ritual that I found out recently that horrified me was the circumcision of females that has been in practice for more than 2500 years and is still practiced in around 40 countries in the world (Slack, 1988). Female circumcision, like male circumcision calls for the cutting of the female external sex organ. Different societies have different ways of getting through this custom that most probably originated in the Egyptian society. From just nicking the female genital to removing all the external genitals, this practice reminds one of the barbaric societies.

Estimates of women having gone through female circumcision exceed 100 million (WHO, 2010). Female circumcision is performed on the females for the purpose of ensuring that they remain virgin until their marriage. With female circumcision done, the woman would not feel the urge to indulge in free sex since sex becomes a painful act after the circumcision. Females will thus only have sex when they are obligated to perform it and this after their marriage with the husband. Thus, this ensures the good name of the family where the daughter has been circumcised.

Female circumcision has been considered as a major health risk to the females undergoing the circumcision and often leads to death due to infection. The utensils used in performing this task calls are usually kitchen knives and other household tools and even at that they are not sterilized to perform this task. In some cases, the victim does not survive from the operation and dies from infection or pain; and those that do survive increase their risk of catching sexually transmitted diseases as a result of unsterilized tools being used for the operation (Goldman and Hatch, 2000).

However, this does nothing to prevent the dangerous ritual from being continued. On the other hand, most believe that only the strongest women survive and this allows the particular society to foster only the strongest women and go away with the weak ones. I believe that not only is this ritual unnecessary but also unsafe and violates human rights on the basic level. Most societies follow this ritual believing that it is a religious ritual or more specifically an Islamic ritual. Learned Islamic religious leaders argue that female circumcision is not allowed in Islam since women sexual satisfaction is as important as male, and considering the fact that female circumcision prevents women from enjoying sex, the circumcision of females cannot be a part of the religion (Ahmed, 2000).

I condemn this ritual not only on the basis of moral reasons but also on medical reason. Women undergoing circumcision have to face short term as well as long term effects of the treatment. The short term effects range from bleeding to infection. Having gone through circumcision at a young age adds trauma to the life of these young girls. The long term effects of the ritual are even more horrifying. Most circumcised women have problems in urinating all their life. Also they do not enjoy sex since it becomes a painful activity for them.

Circumcision also affects pregnancy as research suggests that the rate of infertility among circumcised women increases by 25 to 30 percent (Bacquet, Jordan and Moneti, 2009). Most health care organizations seriously condemn female circumcision including the World Health Organization. According to WHO, there are no benefits of female genital mutilation but rather the women undergoing such violent treatment are impacted by the treatment for the rest of their lives. ReferencesAhmed, Imad-ad-Dean.

Female Genital Mutilation: An Islamic Perspective, Maryland: Minaret of Freedom Institute, 2000Bacquet, Caroline, Jordan, Sandra, and Moneti, Francesca, UNICEF Female genital cutting factsheet, Womenhealth.org Retrieved from http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/female-genital-cutting.cfm, 2009Goldman, Marlene B. and Hatch, Maureen, Women and health, California: Gulf Professional Publishing, 2000 Slack, Alison. Female Circumcision: A Critical Appraisal. John Hopkins University Press: Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 10, pg. 437-486, 1988WHO, Female Genital Mutilation, Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/, 2010