madrid@auvax (Roslyn Madrid) (08/09/83)
From: auvax!madrid (Roslyn Madrid)
Newsgroups: net.women
Title: Clitorodectomy
Article-I.D.: auvax.210
Posted: Tue Aug 2 16:51:39 1983
If/when one of us has the opportunity to look in the
unabridged O.E.D., I think the word is spelled "clitoridectomy".
Just as an appendectomy is the surgical removal of the
appendix, a clitoridectomy is the surgical removal of the
clitoris.
It was one of the remedies recommended by the Victorians
for erotic behavior in females. It was (along with vaginal
infibulation) also documented by Richard Burton as an common
practice in the Sudan to ensure fidelity. This practice,
continuing to the present, has been the subject of considerable
concern recently. (If I remember correctly, a U.N. subcommittee
has officially condemned it.)
R.
auvax!madrid
infibulate: to sew up