Female Sexual Health

Today I had an interesting discussing with a number of people about female genital mutilation (FGM). For more details, see this article on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting

(Does anyone - of the millions reading this - know how to edit it so that you just click on a term, and there isn't a big ugly link stuck in the page? I haven't figured out how to format it.)

Anyways, on with the discussion. FGM is a practice which exists prodominantly in African cultures. There are many variations of FGM, with varying degrees. Some include making a small nick in either a labia major or minor. Others, however, involved infibulation. Typically, this means surgical removal of the clitoris and the labia minor, and surgical closure of the labia major, leaving a small opening for urine and menstrual blood. (The wikipedia article gives a description of these, and has a small diagram comparing different types. My information comes from a OBGYN with ~25 years of practice in Canada.) Following suturing, the labia major eventually fuse together.

These procedures are typically carried out during childhood, around age 8-10. There is no anesthetic used, and the conditions are not usually sterile. I cannot imagine what these girls go through - during the procedure, and during adulthood in their sexual relationships.

There have been many people within communities who practice FGM, who have spoken out about its practice, asking their communities to rethink this particular tradition. My question is, however, are there women out there who are... happy? pleased? that they have gone through this? Is it such an integral part of their female body image that to not have the procedure is to be stigmatized? For those women within the culture who have not had it done, it must be awkward to explain to their sexual partners/husbands why their anatomy is not what is expected.

What makes FGM mutilation, and removal of the foreskin not mutilation? What authority do we have to decide?

This whole 'writing down my thoughts' thing is fairly new, and I still feel quite clumbsy about it all. Too bad I couldn't just plug an S cable into my head, and everyone could see the 3D multi-media production that is my thoughts.