In areas and cultures where circumcision is practiced, it appears to be routinely given a religious rationale as well as a cultural purpose. For myself, I've been aware from childhood of the Jewish practice of male circumcision and its common practice among some African tribes.
Female circumcision on the other hand is something I've only become aware of recently. It appears to be a much more complicated issue, tied in to a view of the nature and place of women that is not only cultural but supported by popular religious understanding (even if not supported or actively opposed by religious leaders).
Especially the more severe forms outlined below are at least to me shocking. It's certainly nothing that could be discussed too readily from the pulpit, and yet as there is more and more ethnic and cultural diversity in religious communities, and as health care professionals in the US come into more contact with the practice, how is it to be addressed?
Female circumcision would seem to be rarely discussed outside of the person's cultural/ religious group, but it would seem to me to be highly significant medical information in the process of giving treatment.
I would also consider it highly significant as a traumatic event, especially when done without anesthetic, by or with the approval of family members.
For further information I'd suggest:
The Female Genital Mutilation Homepage (http://www.hollyfeld.org/fgm/index.html)
(The following information, unless otherwise noted, is taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica)
Male circumcision is the operation of cutting away all or part of the foreskin (prepuce) of the penis. The origin of the practice is unknown. The widespread ethnic distribution of circumcision as a ritual and the quite widely preferred use of a stone knife rather than a metal one suggest a great antiquity of the operation. Wherever the operation is performed as a traditional rite, it is usually done either before or at puberty and sometimes, as among some Arab peoples, immediately before marriage.
Among the ancient Egyptians, boys were generally circumcised between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Among the Ethiopians, the Jews, the Muslims, and a few other peoples, the operation is performed shortly after birth (among Jews, on the eighth day after birth) or perhaps a few years after birth. Among most other peoples who practice it ritually the operation is performed at puberty. At any age the ritual operation is regarded as of the profoundest religious significance. For the Jews it represents the fulfillment of the covenant between God and Abraham. The operation at puberty represents a beginning of the initiation into manhood and the leaving behind of childhood.
From the medical aspect the operation consists in the cutting of the foreskin to allow its free retraction behind the glans penis (the conical head). The foreskin consists of a double layer of skin that, without circumcision, more or less completely covers the glans penis. Under the inner layer of foreskin there are situated a number of glands that secrete a cheeselike substance called smegma. Accumulation of smegma beneath the foreskin may result in great discomfort and may serve as the source of a rather penetrating odour, if cleanliness and hygiene are not observed. Studies have indicated that uncircumcised men have a higher incidence of AIDS, syphilis, and other sexually transmitted diseases than circumcised men, and it has been speculated that the foreskin might allow viruses and other microorganisms to survive longer on the skin and thus give the organisms more time to enter the body. Moreover, cancer of the penis is rare in circumcised males and in uncircumcised males with high standards of hygiene. Overall, the physiological value of circumcision may be highest in countries and regions where poverty and endemic disease make high standards of hygiene difficult or nearly impossible. In Western countries, in any event, the operation has been widely practiced as a hygienic procedure. In many hospitals it has been routinely performed upon the newborn unless there is some objection.
Female circumcision is usually referred to as clitoridectomy or excision. This ritual surgical procedure may range in degree from the drawing of blood to infibulation (also called Pharoanic circumcision), which consists in removal of the clitoris, the labia minora, and the anterior two-thirds of the labia majora, the sides of which are joined leaving a small posterior opening.
The practice of female circumcision dates to ancient times and was traditionally performed to guard virginity and to reduce sexual desire. Though statistics are generally unavailable because the operation is rarely performed by the medical community, it is widely practiced in such places as New Guinea; Australia; the Malay Archipelago; Ethiopia, Egypt, and other parts of Africa; Brazil; Mexico; Peru; and by various Islamic peoples of the Middle East, Africa, western Asia, and India. Infibulation is common particularly in The Sudan, Somalia, and Nigeria. The operation is usually performed by a midwife, often under less than hygienic conditions. Especially with the more radical excision, consequences sometimes include severe bleeding, tetanus and other infections, exquisite pain, and death. Even with normal healing, urination and sexual intercourse can be quite painful and menstrual blood can back up. Where the practice of infibulation is common, women are reinfibulated after the birth of each child.
Groups in which clitoridectomy is practiced also usually practice male circumcision and view the ritual as part of a religious or ethnic tradition and as a necessary stage for passage into responsible adulthood.
Copyright 1994-1998 Encyclopedia Britannica
Other sources indicate that with infibulation an opening of about the size of a straw is left. At marriage a husband may be given a double-edged knife to create a larger opening for intercourse, and the opening may be sewn shut again if the husband goes on a trip. For childbirth, a large opening is created which is again sewn closed after the birth.
Quoted statistics indicate a higher incidence in less urbanized, lower economic status subgroups. In some religious/ cultural groups rates may go as high as 90%+ of women.
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The United States considers fleeing from female circumcision to be a valid reason for the granting of refugee status.
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Page was last updated on 07/04/00