Genital...relating to external sexual organs or to reproduction
Mutilation...disfigurement, defacement, damage, marring, injury, maiming

That is how the MS Word defines these two words. By extension genital mutilation –means disfigurement or injury to external sex organs. Under this interpretation, male circumcision or removing of the foreskin from a penis qualifies as genital mutilation.

Andrew, now consider your dad ending in the prison of some alien land because he cut your foreskin when you were a kid. That would be an outrage. Right? Well, it all depends whose cultural perspective you stand on, doesn’t it?

Cultural superiority anyone?

This line always comes up - you westerners have got no right to criticise our traditional ways etc etc.

But drop the dictionary definitions Dagmawi and read the Wikipedia entry on Female Genital Mutilation.

It is in a different universe from male circumcision.

Personally I think female genital mutilation is so bad that it is a clear answer to anyone who thinks all morality is relative and that traditional practices can only by criticised by people from the culture that engange in them. It is so essentially bad that anyone can criticise it from anywhere.

And it is not only "culturally superior" westerners who think female genital mutilation is a bad thing. Thake a look at the Kembatta Women's Self Help Centre Ethiopia(http://www.kmgselfhelp.org/)

Genital mutilation is done to suppress female sexuality. It is in no way similar to male circumcision. Male circumcision is done for most part for hygienic reasons. There is a lot of debate out there weather or not it is necessary. But female circumcision serves no other purpose but to repress female sexuality and their sexual pleasure. Dagmawi, please spare me the cultural perspective crap. As an Ethiopian woman I am very grateful that my parents were enlightened and didn't have me circumcised and left me with all my bits and pieces (I quite enjoy having them, btw). Genital Mutilation is a brutal practice that needs to be abolished.

FGM is an outrageous practice. That it could find a defender in someone who presumably has some modern education as the commentator above is just unbelievable.

The U.S. case on the otherhand is not so clear cut. I am not convinced at all that the mother didn't know anything was wrong with her daughter -was the child already taking care of herself at 2? Changing her own diapers? As despicable as FGM is, it is outrageous that a disgruntled ex-wife would use it to settle old scores.

I was so ashamed to read this on a local news paper this afternoon. This man did not only betray his daughter’s trust but also his wife’s, who found out his actions a year later.

It doesn’t matter how you look at it, this is wrong. Culturally…Physically…Emotionally, you name it.

Andrew,

Thank you for choosing to write about FGM and this case in particular. I could tell you that FGM is terrible for the little girls that go through it and women like me that have to live with the after effects.

But let us look into this story, which I think has gaping holes in it.

*The father mutilated the child at age two and the mother did not discover this till the girl was three years old.

*The girl was living with her parents and her maternal grand mother who is a nurse and is from South Africa. And neither the mother nor the grand mother noticed that she was mutilated for a whole year. Give me a break!!!

When my kids were small, I can tell you that I checked for any sign of bruises for fear that they might have fallen while I was away at work or to see they had diaper rashes daily, as do all the mothers I know. And I have no idea how a mother misses the mutilation of her two year old with whom she lives with for a whole year. The mother supposedly discovered this when she was about to divorce her husband and was in a hard custody battle.

If this was done by the father, and not by her, I believe that she is either a negligent parent who doesn't deserve to raise this precious child, an accomplice or the perpetrator of the mutilation who has to face some prison time herself.

Dagmawi, are you just trolling or do you seriously support female genital cutting?! The mind boggles.

Folks;

I am not an advocate of female circumcision nor am I an opponent. My daughter was not circumcised eventhough both of her grandmothers were horrified when we decided against it. We did not do it not because we thought it was an outrage but because we thought it just was not necessary. I don't know what you people have in mind, but what I know to be female circumcision where I come from (don't lough...I am from Gojam) is a ritualistic blood letting by cutting an incision...not removing anything.

My reaction to the Atlanta case is partly informed by this background. But it also reflects my sense that what this man did (if in fact he did it) he did out of respect for tradition not as a child molester or out of a desire to controll his daughter's sex drive (what is the fun in sleeping with a woman that cannot enoy what you give) as the media and Andrew keep on saying.

What he was charged with happens to be the newest cause that American liberals were rallyinhg against--right there next to fighting aids and global warming. The man had no chance from the get go. Folks have been looking for a case like this for quite soemtime to send a message.

There is such a thing called differing cultural perspective. What one group of people find horrific, others cannot do without. Are we next going to criminalize the body art practiced by women in the southwest of Ethiopia or the rings and studs implanted into various parts of young peoples bodies in the west because it looks horrific to us? Would we send to prison a Hindu resident of Ethiopia if he cremates the remains of his loved ones becasue the practice seems so barbaric to the sensibility of the average Ethiopian?

Of all people, it is Melese who seems to be reasonable on this issue. Even if this man did what he was accused to do, this man cannot be charged with anything more than being too stupid not to realize where he was living now.

Andrew;

My comment was not meant to gag you or to suggest that outsiders have no meaningful basis for criticising a curlture. Quite to the contrary! My comment itself was a critic of western culture which presupposes that only its view of things must be right AND MUST BE ADHERED TO lest you go to jail.

Andrew;

Please note that both my first and my last comments reflected my views as well as my wife's a woman circumcised in Addis (not Gojam).

Genital mutilation is a crime against humanity. We all have to keep shouting it until the horror finally stops. Thanks, Andrew, for doing what you can. You're absolutely right that it's a crime of such atrocity that culture has nothing to do with it.

To the commenter comparing it to male circumscision. I'm a biologist. Let me explain the biological equivalent "circumscision" in a male: complete removal of the penis, removal of some of the scrotum, and sewing together the remnants of the scrotum to cover the gap. If you would like to support that as a means of keeping men faithful to their wives (I bet it would be surprisingly effective), then I guess you have a right to your views on female mutilation.

Andrew,

The point is not whether FMG is bad or not the point in the case of Adem. Just because he comes from Ethiopia does not make him guilty. Men never cut their daughters, and it is always performed by females.

As for your judgement, do you think male circumcision is mutilation? Why is it only when girls are involved that all of the sudden it is a crime? Millions of young babies are mutilated every year in the US. This case is actually putting a lot Jews in the defensive as well.

The Somalis practice an extreme form of cutting and infibulation not done by other Ethiopians. So do not generalize.

Anyway, see story on this by an Ethiopian living in the US: ewenetethiopia.blogspot.com

Quixote,

Cutting off the tip or the whole clitoris is NOT like cutting off the penis of the man and removing the scrotum. That is ridiculous and I don't understand what type of biologist you are. What you described is the equivalent of removing the entire vagina and the ovaries (what a gross discussion).

Most of circumcision in Ethiopia (outside of the nomad somali communities) involves a symbolic minor nick, or removal of the clitoris or the cover of the clitoris or nothing at all if the girl is a "mariam dingil"

IN most cases, it is no more invasive than tearing the foreskin off the penis and cutting it of.

Okay-enough gross stuff.

Genital mutilation is a crime against humanity. We all have to keep shouting it until the horror finally stops. Thanks, Andrew, for doing what you can. You're absolutely right that it's a crime of such atrocity that culture has nothing to do with it.

To the commenter comparing it to male circumscision. I'm a biologist. Let me explain the biological equivalent "circumscision" in a male: complete removal of the penis, removal of some of the scrotum, and sewing together the remnants of the scrotum to cover the gap. If you would like to support that as a means of keeping men faithful to their wives (I bet it would be surprisingly effective), then I guess you have a right to your views on female mutilation.

Posted by: quixote at November 3, 2006 6:07 PM

Safiya: The kind of biologist I am is the biology kind. I've taught zoology, botany, evolutionary biology, and a branch of molecular biology at the university level for over 20 years.

The homologies between male and female genitalia are as follows: Head of the clitoris = head of the penis. (Yes, the small thing about the size of a pinhead has the same number of nerves as the whole head of the penis. To understand what higher concentration of nerves means for sensitivity, consider the difference in tactile sensation between the cornea of your eye and the inside of your cheek.) The more visible tissue around the clitoris itself is equivalent to the foreskin.

The female equivalent of the shaft of the penis is two strands of tissue that extend backward and surround the vagina. They are erectile, but stay pliable when swollen, unlike penile erectile tissue. This part is not removed in genital mutilation, probably because it's hard to get at. This tissue is homologous to the corpus callosum and is not the source of sensations of arousal. There are nerve endings in the vagina, not removed by mutilation, that function in arousal, but after all the other nerve damage of mutilation, in most women pain sensations are the overriding result. Unsurprisingly.

The minor labia are homologous to the sensitive skin on the shaft of the penis. When the minor labia are also removed in mutilation, in terms of sensation, it is equivalent to removing the whole penis.

The major labia are homologous to the skin surrounding the scrotum. Since these are the parts sewn together, I'm afraid the analogy is as I said.

If you would like more information, I can refer you to some basic developmental biology textbooks.

I think this issue is often ignored and kept quiet in Ethiopia its a case of a lot of people in the cities dont do it due to education but in the countryside they practise it. We have to say it loud and clear without out embarrassment that FGM is an unecessary cruel, culture that needs to disappear. Its not about how dare foreigners tell us what to do with our children, I am glad the father was jailed as it probabley has saved hundreds of soon to be mutilated young girls from the same fate. FGM occurs at usaully 12 years old can you imagine how that memory will be there forever, where as circumsing baby boys would benefit their health.
Womens rights in Ethiopia and certain african countries needs to be respected hopefully women can also stand up to domestic violence from males who think it is alright to hit women, abuse women. Well Im abesha and although I was brought up in America I will stand up for these women. Some people need to understand that change can be a good thing.

Anyone who takes the topic seriously should see Ousmane Sembene's excellent film "Moolaadé". A wise old man tackling a delicate subject, with wit and sensitivity and not an ounce of rant, all the while keeping dead true aim on his target.

(I'm with those who see the more extreme forms - and as Safiya says, we should distinguish - as pointless and barbaric. But let us not forget that when the Martians come they'll find plenty of other horrors we've all implicitly condoned to justify throwing the lot of us behind bars.)

Correction to my last post above. Obviously, I meant corpus cavernosum, not corpus callosum. This is what happens when typing while furious, at least to me. Not that the other commenter made me all that angry. What makes me incoherent is that there can be human beings anywhere on the planet who don't see genital mutilation for what it is. It's as is if we had people saying lynching was actually okay.

(The point is not whether death or a life robbed of good sex is worse. The point is that making excuses for crimes against humanity is just Not On.)

We are in 2008 and genital mutilation for from decreasing continues as a barbarian act particularly in African and Asian countries, really sad fact.