Female Genital Mutilation

The Culture, the Reasons, and the Dangers of Female Genital Mutilation

In her essay “Is Multiculturalism Bad For Women”, Susan Miller Okin briefly touches upon the issue of FGM. She sees it only as a means to control women’s sexuality. Okin has been criticized for her views by many. Honig says that there is an equal attempt to control male sexuality in these cultures as well. Okin replies that the women always suffer more, and I agree with Okin. 

Female Genital Mutilation is believed to have started in Egypt 2,000 years ago and spread from there. Only a few years ago, FGM was considered a cultural tradition, but now the United Nations has labeled it as a violation of human rights. Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United States have declared Female Genital Mutilation grounds for seeking asylum and is a punishable offense (1). 
  
Many people have never heard of Female Genital Mutilation until the story of Kauziya Kasinga, a woman from West Africa. Her father did not believe in polygamy, forced marriage, or "female circumcision". He died when she was 17 and the father's sister inherited the home, banished the mother, ended Fauziya's schooling, and arranged a marriage as a fourth wife to a man she had never met. The aunt scheduled her for the circumcision and she ran with 3,000 dollars that one of her aunts had saved. 
  
What is female circumcision? The female genital mutilation term covers three main varieties of genital mutilation (2). There is the "sunna circumcision"; this consists of removal of the prepuce and/or the tip of the clitoris. Ironically, sunna in Arabic means "tradition". This is done because it is believed that the clitoris is a very dangerous part of the female anatomy.