Who Are We to say what is Normal?

The United States of America, the land of the Free, Or so we think.  It's what most of us like to call it because for the most part we live a privileged life.  We don't worry about running water, we don't worry about where our next meals are coming from, and we most certainly do not live with the uncertainty of our life expectance as those in the third world.
But along with all the comforts that some Americans live with there's also those too that take the benefits that money can buy a bit too far.  See thats the American dream.  It is believed that as long as you work hard enough anyone can do whatever they want.  So people do just that. It has gotten to the point that people have become so obsessed that they've taken that vain quest for fame and beauty to another level altogether. People will do just about anything to improve upon their looks, and invest in cosmetic surgery.  This goes far beyond your basic breast implants from years ago. The different types of surgeries to change ones bodies would surprise any logical person around the globe, but hey, We're American and We do whatever we want! As long as we can pay for it! And even if we can't, we still do it. Why? Cause it's our god given right as Americans.

 But we are very quick to frown upon other peoples rituals or traditons if we don't think they fit our "normal" way of life. We consider ourselves to be the advanced group of people on this side of the globe and truley wish everyone else would catch up and start behaving as such!

Now back to FGM, I say all of this because we all have strong opinions of what's right and whats not.  One thing that we should all be able to agree upon unfortunately we still to this day do not and that's children's rights!!!  Maybe what people do to their bodies here is a little strange and down right superficial, but overall, one thing that remains true, is that people everywhere should practice what they believe.  So is it better or is worse, what we do here? Regardless in the West our prospective  is that we have freedom of choice.

What is being done to Ban FGM?

               Even though there have been laws passed to criminalize FGM all together, there are still groups in Kenya that try to reverse the laws and ask for it to be respected as a legitimate ethnic practice.  This picture here is actually a group of More than 2,000 women and men from the Maasai community that gathered to protest against Prohibition of FGM Act of 2011, a  law specifically banning FGM. This was only the 2nd time that the people got together to try and fight the FGM laws.  Even though laws have been passed in some countries to ban FGM, places such as Mali has not passed this law, so people who want to have their daughters cut, will flee to this country to have the procedure done.
                


 In response to people who do not enforce these laws there are also groups such as Equality Now that was founded in 1992.  Equality Now is an organization that advocates for the human rights of women and girls around the world by raising international presence by exposing individual cases of girls in these countries that try to run away from FGM.  Equality Now  makes efforts to put political pressure to enforce these laws. Here's a video of a campaign they have advocating for the Laws against FGM.

Other Voices

Yet still within these communities there are plenty of women who stand by their culture and this practice.  The main concern is becoming an outcast and not being able to find a husband , so women will undergo this procedure and make sure their daughters do it also.   It's interesting that this is the main reason.  Some of the complications caused by FGM themselves can make them an outcast also.  Some women acquire dysmenorrhoea, which means they are no longer able to have periods.  This is contrast to the belief that going through FGM will keep a women's virginity intact and make them more fertile.  Quite the opposite occurs!! Fistula is another result of FGM, and is described as the continuous leakage of feces and urine, which can cause the woman to be outcast from her community.  What happens then??  Kinda sounds like... a fruitless endeavor.  

As I mentioned before there are many women who argue the debate of FGM and are strongly committed to fight Westerners & give their opinion on the subject.


I found  Fuambai Ahmadu,  she is an anthropologist that argues that women who do this to their daughters are just doing the same thing they do for their sons.  Here's a quote I found from her interview with Anthropology Today. 
  "why, one woman asked, would any reasonable 
mother want to burden her daughter with excess clitoral and labial tissue that is unhygienic, unsightly and interferes with sexual penetration, especially if the same mother would choose circumcision to ensure healthy and aesthetically appealing genitalia for her son?"  Here's a video she has on her personal page.

.http://www.projectcensored.org/14-family-pressure-on-    young-girls-for-genitalia-mutilation-continues-in-kenya/

Another voice that understands the Opposition...

John Dennis Roberts October 21, 2011
"Whilst bringing to an end the practice of female circumcision may in western eyes be seen as entirely laudable, it must nonetheless be understood as a cultural practice that has as much legitimacy within those societies which practice it as any cultural practice as any to be found in Europe or north America. Campaigns to ban things just because they are not in keeping with the norms of western societies is just a form of cultural imperialism."

Another excellent article I found in Spiked! (a British Internet Magazine)

 http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/ending-fgm-the-white-womans-burden/14673#.VTR_JfnF_ud

Ending FGM: the White Woman’s Burden?An Eritrean woman explains why Western campaigns to End FGM do more harm than good.

As I read this article I was able to see the other side of this debate and a woman's outlook who has undergone this procedure, and why she feels it is a private matter that needs change within their own communities.  
"For women of my background, FGM is a deeply personal and private issue in which a greater understanding of the wider cultural background to this practice is essential if we are going to have a serious discussion about bringing it to an end. "
She also explains that the efforts in educating British schools about the harms of FGM is....
"At worst is a condescending and patronizing initiative that echoes the ‘let’s save these savages from themselves’ attitude that informed the Victorians who colonized our nations in Africa a hundred-plus years ago."
"Demanding an instant, law-enforced end to FGM does nothing to change the hearts and minds of communities. In fact, vilifying and punishing immigrant parents who already live on the margins of society only pushes them further away from mainstream society, making them cling to their own cultures and traditions more tightly."
"Eradicating the practice entirely will require more African women thinking about this issue, discussing it, and transforming themselves and their communities. Liberal do-gooders wagging their fingers at us will achieve nothing, except to make certain communities feel even more cut off, and thus more inclined to embrace their own ways and traditions."
It seems pretty clear where this woman stands. They feel undermined and also insulted to say the least, that people from the outside world have tried to come in and change their culture without their say.  Because really who are we, to tell anyone what is normal or what is acceptable?  On the West side of the globe, we find it perfectly admissible for women to change their bodies through plastic surgery, as a matter of fact it is sometimes encouraged on different stages of society, whether it be, being a house wife, a celebrity, or just for vanity purposes.  

Voices within the Community

Although this practice has been carried out for centuries the debate of FGM was unheard of until the 1950s.  Most of these women and children suffered in silence.  They accepted this fate because there was no one to advocate for them.  The dangers and harms caused by FGM was brought to the attention of The United Nations and WHO (World Health Organization) by African activists and some of their medical practitioners in the 1960s.  Once again the silence was broken in 1984 when the Inter African Committee Against Harmful Traditional Practices (IAC) was formed.   They began the discussions of all the health factors and harmful effects FGM causes in over 28 different African countries.  They brought this issue to the attention of African governments.  Equality Now is another Activist group, they work for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women and girls around the world since 1992, Equality Now documents violence and discrimination against women and mobilizes international action to support efforts to stop these abuses.  More and more Research groups are becoming available for the those to which whom without may never have the opportunity to get their stories heard.  I found this research project by the WHO and provided the link below.

http://www.planusa.org/docs/ListeningtoAfricanVoices.pdf

Crossing Religious/Cultural Boundaries

     

              The question most would ask is how did this practice come about?  We know who, and where, but why?   Is it purely religious or is it strictly based on socioeconomic aspects?  Can we blame this only on a certain group of people for lack of education or does this imply something more profoundly embedded after years and years of practice?  Some of the religions that practice this "ritual" or as some cultures call it, a rite of passage for a woman, (if you could call this barbaric mutilation something to look forward to) include,  Muslim communities, one Jewish group Beta Israel of Ethiopia also known as Falasha’s Israel ,  its also a part of Islamic teachings in Malaysia and Indonesia, by no means are these the only ones who are guilty of this  inhuman act. I also found that there is a group in Christianity within the Russians called Stoptsy, these people did all sorts of things that date back to the early 1900's, from castrations and early types of FGM, lastly there are Animists groups in Africa that practice FGM, yet their religious views are undocumented.  It's quite interesting though because from the research I've done, it's agreed that "there's no close link between  the practice and the religious belief", yet in Egypt, Mauritania, Eritrea, Mali, and Guinea it is a religious requirement.

  

                 
  Hmmmmm, something about the word requirement doesn't sound like there's much of a choice involved, and my only issue with this, is that this requirement is pushed on a child against their will, and or knowledge as to why they must go about it.  Okay so why i ask, why has this tradition been justified? What are the reasons that have been given to back this up?  First the obvious, this is a direct Stab, excuse my pun to control a women's sexuality, they believe that this will "lessen" their sexual desire. In fact it takes away from their sexual pleasure and makes it painful after the process has been administered, picture a man  tearing through the scar that has been formed after they've sewn it up, well, I can't imagine what that feels like, but , it doesn't sound too pleasant. It's also been said that they proceed with FGM as an "initiation" process to include them into their society.  They even try and get away with filling their minds with the absurd idea that having a normal vagina intact is "dirty" and they themselves are unclean without this procedure.  They also believe in some cultures that FGM, (the trauma inflicted)  will affect their personalities and make these girls into a  "complete woman" and that maybe this process will create them into the women they ought to be docile, submissive, and let's 
not forget, obedient!

             All of this is backed up by "Cultural/Religious" traditions that are in place as they have been for years, and no one questions this.  When and how would innocent children and women be able to battle this practice? Especially if in certain countries, as I mentioned before,it is a religious requirement.  How long will we turn a blind eye and allow this barbaric, inhuman practice to continue?  Where does one draw the line between "keeping up with traditions in one's culture",and just causing physical mutilation to children?  Is it really okay to just do whatever they want to, regardless of how abusive these rituals might be?  When is it ok for someone to step in and say , "No this is wrong and it must stop! ". Above when, the question is how, since most of these women and children are born into this type of culture and have no choice.
 

Where?

Another fact to include, where does FGM take place?
                                                                                                                                                      according to Wikipedia, also the WHO, UNICEF, and UNFPA, they have reported these stats.

This is a map of all the different countries where FGM is practiced and the prevalence.

The Crime of FGM Women & Children's Rights

I decided to choose the topic of FGM, better known as Female Genital Mutilation. Allow me to explain in full detail what this process involves. This is done to girls from birth up to the age of 15.  These young girls are taken from their homes and they are told that they will be not be “marriyable” and will basically be worthless and shunned by their community and family, if they do not undergo this despicable, inhuman, disgusting, and barbaric, “tradition”.

“Excision, the most common practice in Africa, involves the cutting of the clitoris, its removal, and slicing of the labia minora and majora. An inexperienced hand or poor eyesight, (basically if a professional doctor isn’t doing these “operations”), this can lead to puncturing of the urethra, the bladder, the anal sphincter and/or the vaginal walls. Heavy keloid scarring can impair walking; the development of dermoid cysts is not uncommon. A ritual frequently justified as a guarantor of fertility can lead to sterility. Most women in the Horn of Africa are also infibulated. “ In addition to clitoridectomy, the reduced labia majora are sewn together, leaving a trivial opening. After the operation, the girl’s legs are bound together from hip to ankle for up to 40 days to permit the formation of scar tissue. Urination and menstruation are excruciating ordeals: it can take up to 30 minutes to empty the bladder; the retention of urine and menstrual blood guarantees infection. “.”  This information I’ve quoted from The Crime of Female Genital Mutilation reprinted from Women And Revolution No. 41, Summer/Autumn 1992.                

These “traditions” and practices backed up by “religious” enforcers  have been carried out for far too long, it’s a violation of Children’s rights/Human Rights and just another way to try and keep Women submissive, and it needs to stop! There have been a few laws passed to criminalize this, but only enforced as of 2011. This is under reported and it needs to be exposed to the public and criminalized everywhere.  There is no room for justification on any level what so ever. Anyone, who would do this kind of heinous, inexcusable, nauseating, psychological abuse, that affects these children/women for life should be punished by the law. I’ve enclosed a copy of a case where a man was convicted of this revolting crime and hopefully this case will start a trend.  If it was up to me the laws to punish this man would have been far worse.  Until then, I will continue to report and fight the good fight. No religion has any right to cause any child this type of bodily harm. Period.

Georgia: Man Convicted in Daughter’s Mutilation By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: November 2, 2006An Ethiopian immigrant was convicted of the genital mutilation of his 2-year-old daughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in what was believed to be the first such criminal case in the United States. The man, Khalid Adem, 30, left, was found guilty of aggravated battery and cruelty to children. Prosecutors said Mr. Adem used scissors to remove his daughter’s clitoris in his family’s Atlanta-area apartment in 2001. Mr. Adem wept loudly after the jury’s verdict was read. Federal law bans the practice of genital mutilation, but many states do not have a law addressing it. Georgia lawmakers, with the support of the girl’s mother, passed an antimutilation law last year.