The Cultural Compulsions and Strange Faiths - Research Paper Example

The female genital mutilation started in Africa almost 2000 years ago. According to some statistics it is being practiced in more than twenty Africancountries and as per the estimation of the Amnesty International 130 million women all over the world are affected by FGM of some form or other. In Africa this practice is prevalent commonly in countries extending from Ethiopia on the east coast to Senegal in West Africa. It is seen in countries from Tanzania in the southern Africa to Egypt in the north. Though recently Egypt passed legislation against the practice of female genital mutilation, Egypt still remains the country where this practice is most prevalent According to World Health Organization, in Somalia the prevalence of female genital mutilation is almost 98 percent. Ethiopia, Mali and Sudan are other countries where the practice is very evidently prevalent. In Arabian Peninsula the practice is seen mostly among the Afro-Arabs, who are the descendants of various African races. The practice is seen generally among these races in Saudi Arabia, Southern part of Jordan and in Northern Iraq. It is actually migratory workers from East Africa and Nile Valley who have brought this practice to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. The practice is prevalent in some parts of Asia, like Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world and in South America too. THE CULTURAL COMPULSIONS AND STRANGE FAITHS: There are so many factors that cause the continuation of the practice of female genital mutilation in different communities. They include sometimes religious, but most often cultural and social factors present with in the families as well as the communities. In cases where the practice remains a social convention, conforming to what all others in the society are doing without questioning is the major factor that keeps this practice alive. The reason to oblige to this age old social custom is thus, the desire to belong to the society. Behind this social practice is the age old faith about how to bring up a girl. Thus female genital mutilation is done in honest faith as a way to prepare the girl for adulthood and marriage. In such societies the girl is not considered to be an adult until she has gone through these painful rituals and will not be able to get married without FGM. The parents follow the blind faith without any sense of guilt, but with a sense of responsibility to their girl child. Here it is done out of love or concern for the girl child. Thus FGM for these parents is a practice that keeps up their cultural identity. But this so called faith or this concept about how to bring up a girl child, of course has a male dominated ideology to guide it. The female genital mutilation thus is meant to control the female sexual desires forcibly by the male dominated society. By controlling her sexual desires the society tries to safe guard her pre martial virginity and martial fidelity. These societies think that it is the unmutilated genital that tends to make the girls masturbate and lead them even to lesbianism. The FGM is believed to reduce the girl’s libido which is believed to help the girl in resisting “Illicit” sex .In some cases the mutilation is so harsh that it narrows down the vaginal opening. The fear of pain in opening it again keeps the girl away from sex. Sex becomes a frightening experience for these girls. As Nawal El-Saadawi , herself a victim of infibulation , explains: “ Behind circumcision lies the belief that , by removing parts of girls’ external genital organs sexual desire is minimized…….Chastity was imposed on male attendants in the female harem by castration which turned them into inoffensive eunuchs. Similarly female circumcision is meant to preserve the chastity of young girls by reducing their desire for sexual intercourse.” (Nawal El-Saadawi, “The Hidden Face of Eve, Women in Arab World” PP33). Some of the communities that practice FGM are polygamous where the men are allowed to marry many times. Thus very old men will have young women as their wives. These older men will not be able to match the sexual drive of the young wives. Thus controlling her sexuality becomes a need for successfully sustaining the polygamy and hence FGM is made a social custom. In some cultures the FGM is believed to be a process of removal of the unclean body parts of the girl. The clitoris which is biologically the female counterpart to the erectable penis is considered as a male organic part in a female body. Thus removal of the clitoris along with the labia is considered to make the female really and fully feminine. After FGM the girl is considered clean and more feminine. These societies also believed that the FGM would get rid of bad genital odors of the female. There are cultures that consider the menstrual blood as unclean and keep the women isolated from others during the menstrual periods. Other “logics” for FGM include preventing nervousness in females when they develop into women from girlhood. This nervousness is explained as an external symptom of suppression of sexual arousals. Thus to avoid suppression of sexual arousals one has to reduce the sexuality or nullify the sexuality and hence FGM! So goes the strange logic. There is no clear religious sanction to this practice. Neither the Bible nor the Koran had prescribed to female genital mutilation. But it is often believed that it forms part of the Islamic faith. This belief that it has got something to do with Islam has little or no base. FGM does predate Islam, and not all Muslims practice this also. Those Muslims who practice it defend it with the words of the prophet Mohammed in the Sunnah (words and actions of Mohammed).They claim that in one of the Sunnah, there is discussion between Mohammed and a woman who was performing genital mutilation on slaves. She asks the Prophet’s permission to continue the practice. The Prophet allows it; but tells her not to over do it. Some Muslim scholars however refuse to sanction authenticity to this version of Sunnah.The Muslim women’s league comments: “According to Sayyid Sabiq, renowned scholar and author of Fiqh-us-Sunnah all hadiths concerning female circumcision are non-authentic.” (“Position paper on Female Genital Mutilation/Female Circumcision.” Muslim Women’s League At: Http:/www.mwlusa.org/) .These scholars point out that there are passages in Holy Qur’an which by implication oppose genital mutilation in females. Thus not all Muslims practice this and even among those practicing it there are differences of opinion regarding the religious sanction to this practice. Beyond religion, FGM is deeply embedded in local traditional belief systems. It is older than Islamic, Judaic and Christian religions; but is practiced by followers of a number of different religions including Muslim, Christians, animists and also non-believers. HEALTH PROBLEMS FROM FGM: The age at which a girl is subjected to FGM varies from community to community and from country to country. But in most cases the ritual take place between the age of four and eight. According to Havelock Ellis, “in boys the first sex feelings occur between the ages of 5 and 14 and in girls between 8 and 19.” (Havelock Ellis, Psychology of Sex, PP68) Typically FGM is done on the girl before she starts to have sexual feeling. The process is somewhat surgical in nature, but is most often done by medically untrained people, the reasons being poverty, lack of awareness and absence of supportive medical facility. The use of Anesthesia is very rare. In most cases elder women forcefully hold the girl down while the mid-wife does the cutting off with blades or scissors or sharp knives. The “surgical equipments” are not sterilized before or after use. After the mutilation the girl is stitched up and her legs are held bound for more than a month, often up to forty days. There are three or four types of FGM procedures. The procedure called Sunna or Clitoridectomy is the least common one. Here the skin fold around the clitoris is first removed. Then the clitoris is partially or completely removed. The second procedure known by the same name, involves partial or total removal of the clitoris and the near by tissues called labia minora. In the third procedure the clitoris is completely removed along with the labia minora as well as the labia majora. Both sides of the vulva is stitched and joined together, thus reducing the opening to just enough to pass urine and to allow the menstrual flow. This procedure is called the infibulation or Somalian circumcision. The fourth procedure involves pricking, piercing or stretching of the clitoris and the labia. When the genital hole is made very small the girls may find it difficult even to pass urine or menstrual blood. They are forced to spend longer time in toilets. Though many women have pain during the menstrual periods, after FGM girls suffer extra menstrual pain. FGM can cause infection of urinary bladder as well as of the kidney. Wetting of pants during day and night, which is medically termed as incontinence is very common in girls after FGM. Incontinence can be due to the development of fistulae or holes or tunnels between the urinary bladder and the vagina or between the rectum and the vagina after the FGM.This creates not only health problems but also social embarrassment problems for girls. More over this can cause infections in the skin and the linings of the vagina. Because of the reduction of the size of the hole, intercourse may be painful. This will lead to sexual problems and even conflicts in married life. EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS: FGM is usually done forcibly. There is intimidation and violence against the girl undergoing the procedures of FGM. The intimidation and violence come from the relatives and parents whom the young girl has trusted till that moment. This will lead to lose of trust and the emotional shock due to that. Most of the girls living in such societies have absolutely no option to express her fears and emotional shocks. Because of these suppressed negative emotions these girls become angered for no reason and become emotionally very distressed too, especially in adolescence. These girls are reported to suffer nightmares and sleeping difficulties. Due to constant mood swings they lack the ability to concentrate which affects their studies. In some societies there is this practice of de-infibulation or getting the FGM reversed. Here the woman is subjected to another torture as the opening at the entry to the vagina, narrowed once, is widened again. This is done as a practice for preparing the woman for marriage, and to facilitate sexual intercourse and child birth. This could be a double blow to the female body leading to further lose of self esteem, which most women may not express; but will silently live with. FGM IN USA: It is the emigration that brought FGM to United States, as also to Europe and Australia. Almost seventeen states in the United States have outlawed the female genital mutilation. In 1996 the American Congress passed a law that banned FGM in girls under the age of eighteen. In 2006, Khalid Adem became the first person to be prosecuted in the United States for forcing FGM on his daughter. But the enactment of the law has created controversies since many minority communities claim that the law is an infringement on their religious rights. The American Congress while passing the law also directed the Government to take action to wipe out this practice even outside America. As the American Govt. cannot do much about it outside the country, the migrant population, now- a-days gets the FGM done in their native countries by sending their girls there for vacation. Thus the federal law fails to solve the issue. It needs to be redrafted to protect the human rights of the young girl. The law should be able to recognize the cultural diversity of the American society. Human rights versus cultural diversity become a tight rope walking always. More over the general western attitude towards issues like FGM is often very mechanical. The west considers their society as civilized and technologically advanced and their women as modern and free. They also harbor strange notions about the underdeveloped world, where they see the societies as backward, barbaric and superstitious and the women in those societies as oppressed. When one looks through this looking glass, FGC can easily be explained away as due to “superstitious tradition” or to “cultural backwardness”. To understand the practice in its real meaning one has to look at it as something which got imposed on some societies as a cultural practice and which has to be eradicated through education that will create new awareness among these communities. Mere passing of a law, without understanding the cultural ethos behind these practices and without educating these societies to over come them, will not help much. The announcement of UNICEF in 1980 echoes this : “ The best way to handle the problem (of FGM) is to trigger awareness through education of the public , members of the medical profession and practitioners of traditional health care with the help of local collectives and their leaders.” (“Position of UNICEF on Female Excision.” -- Page 1) ======================= Sources cited: 1) Ellis Havelock, Psychology of Sex, the New American Library of World Literature, inc., July 1964. 2) Muslim Women’s League, Position Paper on Female Genital Mutilation/Female Circumcision, http://www.mwlusa.org/ 3) Nawal El-Saadawi, The Hidden Face of Eve, Women in Arab World, translated and edited by Sheriff Heat, Zed Press, London 1980. 4) UNICEF, Department of Information, “Position of UNICEF on Female Excision”, 1980, SEP-23. Read More