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