Bibliography

http://www.easybib.com/cite/view

Reflection B

Blogging about this project was actually so much more fun and easy than making a simple poster that I know will just get hung up on a wall in the classroom for a couple months, than added to the collection of past assignments in my closet at home. Here I was able to work on my project literally anytime I wanted to, at my own pace, all with the help of typing rather than writing everything out.

The absolute best part about this project is that since it is online, it is open for anyone to come and read about my topic. I can leave this blog here for months, maybe even years and over that time more and more people will have stumbled across my page and read up on this issue, perhaps even motivate a few people to take action. That's what this is all about, getting the word of this issue out to anyone who is interested, educate them, and get them to spread the world. These days it's so easy to share stories that I know this will have made a difference in the world, whether it's small or on a much grander scale.

Reflection A

I chose this topic because it was something that I knew absolutely nothing about.  I wanted to truly educate myself and learn about an issue that not most others did, rather than focus on a topic that gets more recognition (not to say that those such topics require less attention than mine). "Female Genital Mutilation"were three words that really stood out to me on the page we received the first day we started this project outline, it's hard to ignore something with a name as cacophonous as that.

I learned about the troubles that some girls will go through in order to fit in and be accepted by society as a whole and their families as individuals. I also learned how blinded some people are by tradition and how it makes them overlook personal well being in order to please others. The world is obviously a very cruel place, but it's hard to imagine it as one so cruel as to twist an entire population's mind into thinking that mutilating and permanently damaging the mind and body of a young girl is acceptable. I still believe that this issue needs more recognition than it gets, because it most certainly does not get enough.

http://medscope.blogspot.ca/2011/02/female-genital-mutilation-in-ireland.html

Upon starting this project I have come to realize how easily I have it here. I never imagined a problem such as this existed until just before I started this blog project, and now that I'm more aware of this particular global injustice I feel so compelled to tell more people about all that I learned from my research. I can't imagine being one of the young girls who is in danger of being tricked into thinking that getting a female circumcision done with enhance her health and beauty, or worse, knowing the costs of the procedure but being forced to do it anyway. The pain that I've seen from the videos I've watched and pictures I have seen online is indescribable.
I opened up this blog with a story about my pierced ears and the scars they left behind to give a general "first world" understanding of  what this issue could be like. I cannot stress enough how overwhelming understated my example was.
These girls go through so much more, and their scars run so much deeper.
This entire situation makes me wonder why I don't hear more about this in the news or online when I'm NOT searching it up myself. I feel that people aren't educated enough on the subject since every time I've mentioned it to anyone outside of class, they have no idea what it is. Further, they sometimes think I'm making this issue up, that only men get circumcised.

 

http://barenakedislam.com/2012/04/30/british-muslim-leader-caught-on-camera-advocating-for-female-genital-mutilation/

I feel like we are still stuck in the dark days when I think about the power that men have over women in regards to this issue. In North America and other Western parts of the world, most  people don't live in fear of shaming our families by not getting married. I don't know anybody who would go through what these girls go through just for the sake of one day having a husband, especially when you reflect on the medical impacts this procedure leaves behind.

One thing I did notice though, was that Western societies' "need to fit in" isn't too far off from this. Many girls (and boys) here will often do "whatever it takes" to fit in, whether it is changing their personality or their body,  much like the girls in Egypt and Pakistan and other countries, though to a lesser extent.

Properly Purifying the Problem

http://solkhar.blogspot.ca/2009_08_01_archive.html

http://petewiggins.wordpress.com/tag/fgm/

Purity is not found by holding women down and mutilating their bodies as their blood soaks the floor, creating a stain almost as permanent as the one that will be engraved into their soul forever. Purity is not found by continuing on a tradition that causes only pain and suffering for those involved. No.

Purity is found in creating a solution to the problem so that there is less suffering and intolerance in this world.

How can we do this though? How can we possibly put a stop to an age old tradition that happens so frequently in so many places?

http://mywokenya.org/research.html

Well, let's look at the basics. Like any other global issue, change starts with awareness. The more people that know about this problem the better. It can happen by reading up on the issue and educating yourself, then making the transition to getting the word out to others, either by talking about it or sharing the information you yourself have studied. The more people that know the better.

http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15359387,00.html

Next, you take the first step in truly dedicating yourself to change. Instead of just talking about female genital mutilation, you can truly learn about it, and start making a real step in stopping it (by organizing a protest or campaign to raise awareness, writing a letter to a government official, etc). Protests can often be seen as unpeaceful by the opposing party, but a campaign is always a solid approach. You can start a petition and get signatures from peers and other supporters, this will show how many people feel it is necessary to rethink the issue.


In countries such as Sudan, female genital mutilation is actually outlawed even though it is still practiced. If more  awareness is brought forward to the governments of countries like Sudan, perhaps by writing letters or holding conferences regarding the issue, then we will truly be closer to resolving the issue.


Here is a fun way in which a group of boys (yes, boys) decided to raise awareness. They created a short video which included some very important facts about the issue.

Who is Affected

• Young Girls and Women- Players..
  - Often manipulated into getting the surgery done
  - Affected emotionally and mentally
  - Need to be accepted into society, so they need to get it done
• Mothers/Aunts/Grandmothers/Other Guardians
  - Stakeholders..
  - Allow/Enforce female genital mutilation upon young ones without regard for their personal well being, even though they are aware of the traumas it causes.
  - Feel that because they had it done, it need be done unto their children
  - Won't be accepted in society if they don't pass on the tradition
• Government Leaders
  - Stakeholder..
  - Possess the ability to outlaw female genital mutilation, if they so choose
  - Can influence the other stakeholders to resist/stop continuing on the tradition
• Bystanders
  - Players..
  - Have the ability to protest/raise awareness for the issue
  - Can influence government officials/leaders/other stakeholders to rethink the legality of the procedure
  - Can aid the women/girls who have undergone the surgery or get them help before they are forced into getting it done

The Big Question

With all the medical, emotional, and physical complications that come with female genital mutilation, it's a wonder why this even exists.  What on Earth possesses these women to make their daughters undergo this horrible procedure that they too have suffered through and know the consequences of?

Why is this happening?

There are many different social and cultural reasons why FGM happens.


The most common reason is attempting to control a girl's response to puberty.  Often when a young woman reaches the adolescent stage of her life she starts to learn more about her body, and naturally the reason her body is the way it is. Usually around this time girls and boys start interacting with each other and relationships of a more mature nature form, which will eventually lead to sexual activities. It is almost always frowned upon when this happens in any community, as many adults feel it is more respectful to only react sexually to stimuli at an older age. This is why female genital mutilation procedures happen at a younger age, preferably before adolescence. The surgery that the girl has to take when getting her circumcision is so painful and scarring that it creates a feeling a fear in regards to being sexually active. The victim will usually be too afraid to have sex because of the pain it will most likely cause her, therefore controlling the sexual response to puberty.

FGM is also practiced because of social/cultural beliefs. There is usually a social pressure to conform to what the other members of the community do, as is in every culture. Since so many of the women have undergone the surgery and most girls are forced into doing it, it would feel almost wrong to not suffer through it as well, so that they do not become a "black sheep."
From the mother's perspective, female circumcision is considered to  be a vital part in raising a girl properly, to prepare her for potential suitors. Men feel that a a girl is more attractive when she is circumcised, in this way they have control over the women because it makes the women feel like if they do not get a circumcision they will never get married.


A common misconception of FGM is that it is also practiced for religious reasons when in fact, it has nothing to do with religion at all. It has been noted that there is absolutely NOTHING in the Qu'ran about the need for girls to get circumcised, or for women to purify themselves through altering their bodies (same goes for writings in the bible). It might be said that FGM is a religious practice to make it seem more tolerable for others, since arguing with religious practices is often a hard battle to win. But it is in fact a tradition carried out simply for cultural reasons.

Affects

Given the lack of cleanliness, it is not unexpected that female circumcision comes with many complications. In fact, there are no health benifits at all; it is a procedure that is intended to make the body look more beautiful on the outside, while the inside starts to fall apart.

http://www.path.org/files/FGM-The-Facts.htm

Female genital mutilation causes severe bleeding, especially when the operation is being done. Since the instruments used are so unprofessional in their nature, it is not uncommon for the victims to lose a large amount of blood, which could be fatal. The victim will mostly likely experience serious infections and problems urinating after the operation and later on in life as well. In the future, cysts could form in the body of the victim because female circumcision  often affects the menstrual cycle. Sometimes the hole is not wide enough to let the menstrual blood flow so it remains in the body and causes exremely serious infections and complications. Complications are also present with childbirth and fertility. Girls who have undergone female circumcision are at a higher risk of giving birth to a still born baby, or having a newborn death, presumeably because the vaginal hole has been narrowed to such an extent that it affects the newborns ability to exit the body safely.

Aside from the medical affects, female genital mutilation affects the girl's emotionally and mentally. Every woman who has been asked to describe the day they were circumcised testifies that it was the most traumatic experience of their lives; the pain was so immense that they had wished death upon themselves rather than continue on with the procedure. For the rest of their lives they often live in fear of engaging in sexual reproduction because of the pain they know it will bring. They often develop trust issues with the family members that encouraged/tricked them into getting the operation done, and some cases of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome have been found with the victims as well.

Female Genital Mutilation Procedures

There are four different procedures that are executed. They are as follows (in order from least to most brutal):

1. Clitorectomy - Partial or total removal  of the clitoris, and in rare cases only the prepuce (a small fold of skin surrounding the clitoris).
2. Excision - Partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora. Excision may or may not include the labia majora.
3. Infibulation - Narrowing of the vaginal opening by creating a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner our outer labia, with or without the removal of the clitoris.
4. Miscellaneous - Any other harmful procedure (pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing).
• Pricking - A ritual/ceremonial "nicking" of the clitoris.
• Cauterizing - Burning the skin of a wound with a heated tool or a corrosive substance. Usually done to tighten the vaginal opening and stop the bleeding and spread of infection.

Since the objective behind FGM is to "smoothen" the female genitalia, almost all girls get an excision; this is one of the reasons why it is very rare that only a clitorectomy is done, as it leaves behind all the parts that make the vagina look "rough" or unsmooth. The idea is that once all the "excess skin" has been removed, the vagina will look much more simplistic, and beautiful.

http://www.middle-east-info.org/gateway/genocide/index.htm

http://witnesshr.blogspot.ca/2012/05/britain-allows-fgm-against-young-girls.htm

 These are examples of some of the instruments that are used when female circumcisions are done; in her left hand is a long handled knife, and in her right is a razor blade. Notice that neither of them look very clean, this is because antiseptics and anesthetics are not always readily available, especially in the impoverish areas that practice female genital mutilation. In other regions, tools can be as barbaric as sharpened rocks/rocks that have been fashioned into blades, or pieces of broken glass. There is no doubt that in those cases none of the tools have been cleaned. The edges of the blades are often jagged, which doesn't allow for a smooth cut when incising the female genitalia.

Two Different Worlds

In my culture it is traditional for children to get their ears pierced at a young age. In all of my family's photo albums my sister, my cousins and I are all seen eating food from our high chairs or drinking milk from our bottles with glimmering gold studs poking out the sides of our delicate little ears. It should be obvious that I don't remember the process of getting my ears pierced, being that I was just under a year old. However, I do remember that I didn't enjoy all the times my parents would have to hold me down to slip the earrings through my earlobes, while I would bounce and fidget; wanting to get away because I never did enjoy that particular type of jewelry.

I know, poor me for having to sit there and endure my parents trying to bejewel my infant head, that must have scarred me forever. First world problems at it's finest. But believe it or not, there was a point to my little story.

You see, much like my culture's tradition of infant ear piercing, there are plenty of other cultures around the globe that partake in a form of bodily piercing and such, but on a much more brutal scale. The issue I'm leading into is one that takes place everyday and forever ruins the lives of many young girls and women. It goes by two names; The first is what one would call "politically correct," and that is Female Circumcision. The second name is what everyone should really be addressing it as, not the socially approved name we're tricked into using:

Female Genital Mutilation.


Female genital mutilation, or "FGM" for short, is the removal/alteration of parts of the female genitalia. It is often mistaken to be a religious custom, even though there is no mention or acknowledgement of the act in any religious texts (such as the bible, or the Qur'an). It is prominent mainly in Muslim countries such as Egypt, Somalia and Pakistan, though there are cases where women are subjected to circumcision in Western countries as well.

http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/africa_fgm.jpg

Women/girls who undergo circumcision are led to believe that the operation will make them more "smooth and beautiful," and that it will "purify" them. Unfortunately for them, they are not informed of the horrors they will need to endure in order to become the ideal, smooth and beautiful woman;

The health risks, the complications it could cause in the future, the emotional trauma..

Traditions come in many variations depending on how in touch you are with your culture, the country you come from, the religion you believe in, etc. You won't always agree with some of the customs that are practiced in your culture, and it's fair to say that sometimes you'll probably complain, fuss and try to shy away from it, much like me with my earrings. But before you do, stop and think; Is it really so bad? I hated my earrings, and because I stopped wearing them I now have two strange little marks on my earlobes, but that is nothing compared to the scars that millions of women have etched into their bodies, and engraved in their souls.
We both have traditions, but we come from two different worlds, and the world I am from has taught me to believe that the practice of female genital mutilation is wrong, and this blog is here to raise awareness for this social injustice, and aid in the process of putting a stop to it.