OMG

FGM: Female Genital Mutilation.

If you're squeamish you might want to skip this one.

Female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision or female genital cutting, is a practice of removing the clitoral hood, clitoris, parts of the labia minora and labia majora or scraping the skin from the genital area of young girls. It is routinely done is some parts of Africa and Arabia for a variety of reasons including prevention of disease, preservation of virginity and social expectation. Many people consider the practice barbaric and are trying pass legislation outlawing FGM and to change social attitudes toward it.In order to avoid offending anyone the United Nations prefers to use the term Female Genital Cutting. I didn't understand that at first. Then I realised that you might be offended if I termed what you had done to your child as "Male Genital Mutilation" and I wouldn't want to offend you.

Male circumcision, practised in Muslim countries, the United States, the Philippines, South Korea, and Israel involves removal of some or all of the prepuce (foreskin) of the penis and is usually performed shortly after birth. The prevention of disease is the reason most often sited for circumcision here in the US, religious commandment is cited among Jewish and Muslim peoples. Those who claim it is important for health reasons have been unable to point to statistics showing a greater incidence of disease in Europe or other parts of the world where male circumcision in not routinely performed. The American Academy of Paediatrics found both potential benefits and risks in infant circumcision. It felt that there was insufficient data to recommend routine neonatal circumcision. The American Medical Association supports that view. Studies linking male circumcision to a lower incidence of HIV and HPV infection are in dispute. Some people in this country seem to be unaware that the practice is not universal and is in fact not done by the majority of the world's peoples.

My son is not circumcised. When the subject came up in conversation one woman told me "It is important for health reasons". It was obvious from her tone of voice that she knew this to be true, it was a proven fact. This may have been true when she and the world were young, before the introduction of safe and effective antiseptics and antibiotics. Another woman told me she would have done it "so that he fits in". That would be a wonderful message to send to a child, it is so important to "fit in" that cutting off bits of skin from your most sensitive area is appropriate. In this day of tattooing, body piercing and unprotected sex with users of non-prescription drugs "fitting in" is given quite enough good press, thank you very much.

Doctors have been quoted as saying "it doesn't hurt them that much!" Well doc give me the needle nose pliers and a bit of broken glass, we'll see about that. A short description of the operation courtesy of Wikipedia: With a Gomco clamp, a section of skin is first crushed with a hemostat then slit with scissors. The foreskin is drawn over the bell shaped portion of the clamp and inserted through a hole in the base of the clamp and the clamp is tightened, "crushing the foreskin between the bell and the base plate." The crushing limits bleeding (provides hemostasis). While the flared bottom of the bell fits tightly against the hole of the base plate, the foreskin is then cut away with a scalpel from above the base plate.

Sounds relatively painless as long as you are not on the receiving end.

There are many things that people in this society and elsewhere do without really understanding why they do it. Other than "it's tradition". Why kiss under the mistletoe? How come Holly is used as a Christmas decoration, that is said to have been started by the Egyptians. Why do men and now women shake hands when introduced? The idea of carrying on a tradition is a good enough reason to paint Easter eggs in the spring and set off fireworks on the Fourth of July. When it comes to cutting and permanently altering the body of another human being, one who cannot speak for himself, the reasons for doing so need to be carefully reexamined before the act is committed. EVERY TIME!

I am circumcised. Does that bother me? Not really. Do I think it is a barbaric practice that should be outlawed in civilised parts of the world? No. Why am I banging on about the subject here?

It disturbs me that parents would take a newborn, in perfect health, complete with all the parts he was born with and turn him over to someone to cut bits of skin from his sexual organ, for reasons that are buried in religious antiquity, after giving it less thought than they gave to picking out his name.

OWL

August 11, 2007