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.