Omar,
So what is your stance on this subject?
I myself find Female Circumcision, aka; Female Genital Mutilation, a
horrible, intolerable act which is totally barbaric and a brutal form of
child abuse.  I can not believe that many generations of people
religious or not would condone such practices.  It is not only inhumane
but total mutilation to the female body.  I think that it is sad for
women to have to leave their homes and to seek asylum in other
countries, because they refuse to have a part of their body that God
gave them, simply cut from their body.   I have read many cases on FGM
and they all go back to the same realization.   Parents are lying to
their daughter simply because they were lied to by their parents and so
on.  Parents are making decisions for their daughters when they don't
even know about their own human anatomy, much less what is good for
their daughters.  Girls are told that if the clitoris is left alone, it
will be wild, and grow and drag on the ground.  Parents are told by
their elders; that if their daughters are left uncircumcised, they will
be wild, and will crave men; that no man from their home country will
marry them uncircumcised.  They are told that circumcision aids in
menstruation and childbirth (this is totally not true); and that it is a
religious (usually Islamic) requirement.
My question is how could parents put their daughters through such a
horrible thing?
Why would or how could a parent justify such an act?  Whither it be just
a small cut to the hood of the clitoris, or complete removal of the
clitoris and some of the outer and inner labia.  Or in more severe cases
infibulation.  Infibulation from what I have gathered is almost all the
external genitalia cut away, the remaining flesh from the outer labia is
sewn together.  How can parent go to sleep at night
knowing that they have done this to their innocent daughters?  There is
no doubt within the medical community that FGM is a brutal, harmful
practice.  A World Health Organization report on FGM says,

        The immediate physical effects are as follows:  acute infection,
tetanus, bleeding of adjacent organs, shock resulting from violent pain,
and hemorrhage, which can even cause death. In fact, many such deaths
have occurred and continue to occur as a result of this traditional
practice.  The lifelong physical and psychological debilities resulting
from female genital mutilations are manifold: chronic pelvic infections,
keloids, vulval abscesses, sterility, incontinence, depression, anxiety,
and even psychosis, sexual dysfunction and marital  disharmony, and
obstetric complications with risk to both the infant or fetus and the
mother.
Perhaps many women have gone through FGM and come out ok but there are
many other women who have gone through FGM and had severe side effect
from it.
Why not leave the body as God made it?
We as a whole people need to educate others and ourselves on the
severity of this practice!  Why should countless women have to leave
their countries to keep from having such a intolerable act preformed on
them?   Ask yourself these questions!  Do I want my daughter to grow up
and hate me for what I have done to her?   Do I want my daughter to be a
able to enjoy sex when she is ready?  Do I want my daughter, to say, I
feel nothing, when I have sex?   Do I want my daughter, to go through
unnecessary physical pain and irritation?   Really is this what it comes
down to?   Do parents want to be asking themselves years from now these
questions?   I don't think so!  I hope not, anyway!  I myself would
never and I mean never have this preformed on my daughters and I hope
that others will make a stand and stop this unnecessary practice.  You
can never get back what you have taken or stolen from these girls and
women!   Well, I have shared how I feel on this subject and I would love
to hear hows other feel on it.  Please send your comments to the L or to
me directly at: [log in to unmask],.
I look forward to reading from you all.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Eidson

P.S.
This is to those parents that have recently announced the births of your
children on the Gambia-L   Would you do this to your innocent daughter?

Jennifer Eidson

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------