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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------