clayton@17449.DEC (03/13/85)
Dug up what I could find in my (limited) library about clitoridectomies since
there seems to be a fair amount of interest on the net...
The following (reprinted w/o permission) is from FEMALE SEXUAL SLAVERY by
Kathleen Barry, 1979, Avon Discus Books. All footnotes are as they appear
in her book.
...There are three forms: sunna circumcision, which removes the prepuce;
excision or clitoridectomy, which removes the entire clitoris, the labia
minora, and other exterior genitalia; and infibulation. Infibulation
guarantees virginity, as after excision both sides of the vulva are scraped
raw and surgically sewn together, leaving only a small opening for urina-
tion and menstruation. These rituals are usually performed at puberty. In
some cased the woman has to be opened for sexual intercourse and childbirth
after marriage. (69)
...Recent evidence indicates that this practice is much more widespread than
it was assumed to be. It is also more prevalent in central Africa than it
is in the Mediterranean world where female chastity is guaranteed by making
women invisible. Genital mutilation of women is still practiced in Islamic
countries like Egypt, the Sudan, and South Yemen, but it appears to be a
larger practice in black African countries south of the Sahara where women
are much more economically active, especially in agricultural work.
Presently it is estimated that over 20 million women in 30 countries
are subjected to it...
In Ethiopia... a pediatrician at the Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa
[said] that all girls are circumcised throughout the highlands of that
county. It is noted that it is practised regardless of religious affili-
ation, whether Christian, Moslem, Animist, or Jewish. (74)
[Reasons???...]
Besides ensuring chastity, infibulation has another function. According to
Esther Ogunmodede of NOW-Nigerian Organization for Women, the narrow opening
which results after the wound is healed "increases the husband's pleasurable
sensations during intercourse, even though for the women, sex is nothing but
agony, one reason she does not bother to take a lover." (71)
But Sohier Morsy, in her study of a peasant community in Egypt, sees it
another way. She recalls the positive role of sex in marriage in Islam and
that the wife has a right to sexual satisfaction... she describes the role
of genital mutilation in what she sees as egalitarian sexual relationships:
It is important to note that clitoridectomy is primarily a
practice to safe-guard premarital chastity and virginity.
Women's right to sexual gratification within marriage is
recognized. Since the clitoris is identified as the locus
of sexual excitement, the gypsy who performs the operation
is always cautioned against its complete excision. It is
said that women who have been subjected to complete removal
of the clitoris "drain their husbands of their strength."
Informants note that for such women orgasm is delayed...(72)
69. Ibid., defintions of forms of genital mutilation derived from Dr. J.A.
Verzin, "Sequelae of Female Circumcision," *Tropical Doctor*, October
1975; and Dr. Ahmed Abu-el-Futuh Shandall, "Circumcision and Infibulation
of Females," *Sudan Medical Journal*, vol. 5, no. 4, 1967.
74. Fran Hosken, "Clitoridectomy: Female Circumcision in Egypt," *Women's
International Network News*, 3, no. 2 (Spring 1977), p.34.
71. Esther Ogunmodede, "Why Circumcize Girls?" excerpted in *Women's Inter-
national Network News*, 3, no.4 (Autumn 1977), p. 45.
72. Soheir A. Morsy, "Sex Differences and Folk Illnesses in an Egyptian
Village," in *Women in the Muslim World*, eds. Lois Beck and Nikki Keddie
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978), p. 611.
The author's (K. Barry's) view is difficult to paraphrase in a few words.
It is also very radical and the book needs to be read with several grains
of salt, but it brings up many interesting interrelationships between male
dominance, patriarchies, sex, rape, pornography, prostitution, marriage,
sex as power... It is fairly long (about 300 pages) and comprehensive (in
terms of supporting her thesis). Worth reading.
E. A. Clayton
UUCP: ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-satan!claytonsunny@sun.uucp (Ms. Sunny Kirsten) (03/13/85)
[ Man's inhumanity to (wo)man knows no bounds...] > Presently it is estimated that over 20 million women in 30 countries > are subjected to it... [Reasons???...] > to safe-guard premarital chastity and virginity > "increas[ing] the husband's pleasurable sensations during intercourse, > even though for the women, sex is nothing but agony > it brings up many interesting interrelationships between male > dominance, patriarchies, sex, rape, pornography, prostitution, marriage, > sex as power... Somehow I find it pretty revolting that such mutilations are practiced just to protect the delicate male ego from ever being compared with (the skills of) another lover (requiring virginity of his mate), and to inflate that ego with his own pleasure at the expense of his mate's. Patriarchy really must die... -- {ucbvax,decvax,ihnp4}!sun!sunny (Ms. Sunny Kirsten)