Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Female Circumcision in Britain

One of the CNN headlines several hours ago was 'Britain battles female circumcision'. Perhaps I am naive but how could this be? I thought this horrible practice only existed in Africa. The first time I had heard of this was in the book, 'Desert Flower'. I read this book by supermodel Waris Dirie several years ago and to be honest, it was extremely disturbing. I can't exactly say I enjoyed the book because it was an account of how the author survived the mutilation and then suffered for much of her life afterwards.

I realize that this is a cultural practice and I don't like commenting on other people's beliefs however, this particular one is out of place in today's world and serves no purpose except maybe to assure some men of their woman's fidelity or perhaps their future wife's loyalty. The perpetrators of this crime claim that the ritual is to curb a woman's sexual desire and maintain her honor. Maintain HER honor! How can mothers who have gone through the ordeal arrange for the same torture for their daughters? I no longer have 'Desert Flower' in my possession to verify this but I think I remember reading that the procedure was carried out by some village woman with a razor while a bunch of other women pinned the girl down.

The article in CNN points out that British police are offering US40,000 for information leading to Britain's first prosecution. So, if you live in Britain and you're reading this post now, please go to the police so that some innocent girl can be spared.

1 comment:

NomadicExpat said...

Fundamentally, it's a control issue.

Interestingly, there's a recent survey in the U.S. on male circumcision, and apparently, parents here are opting not to have their sons circumcised at birth. They didnt see any value for doing so.