2014, and millions of young girls are subjected to this.
Correctly named Female genital mutilation (FGM). 2014, and millions girls are subjected to this around the world to make them “clean” and “presentable” and “to reduce or eliminate their enjoyment for sex.” Those terms I took directly from religious types trying to defend it being interviewed on CNN.
Often done with dull knives and non sterile conditions, infections and complications are common, and it goes without saying, offers no health benefits to the girl. It’s simply to prevent them from enjoying sexual intercourse.
There are some things in this world that need to be respected as part of a culture and or religion, and there are some things that are a universal human rights abuse issue, and this is one of those.
Put simply, if your religion or culture calls for or condones mutilating your young women to …“reduce or eliminate their enjoyment for sex” than your religion sucks and so does your culture,and you need to fix it. People need to stand up this. It needs to end. It’s 2014 for Fu%$ sake…
From the World Health Org (WHO):
Female genital mutilation
Key facts
• Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
• The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.
• Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.
• More than 125 million girls and women alive today have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and Middle East where FGM is concentrated (1).
• FGM is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15.
• FGM is a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
Out of curiousity, how many people condone male circumcision but don’t condone female circumcision? Why? It’s well proven that cutting off the foreskin also lessens … sensation … during coitus. I mean, there are some proven health benefits, but overall, it’s also more of a cultural thing than medical.
Circumcision of females or males is a sick and barbaric practice that needs to be stopped world wide. There is no justification of the mutilation of children.
So what do we say about the women who willingly go to a doctor to have the excess taken care of?? I know of a few who do not like the appearance of “beef curtains” and had a simple procedure
Are you serious? The two are not remotely equivalent. Close to equivalent would be someone cutting off the head of your pens with a dull knife. There are known pros/cons to male circumcision and no one forcing them to do it. Many young girls are held down as young teens to mutilate them. Personally, in terms of male issue, as long as the doc discusses with the parents the proc/cons of male circumcision, then it’s up to the parents to decide that one.
• Circumcision may reduce the risk of developing a urinary tract infection (UTI), such as a bladder infection.
• Circumcision may reduce the risk of getting some types of sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV and genital herpes.
• Circumcision may reduce the risk of female partners developing some types of sexually transmitted infections, such as bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis.
• Circumcision may reduce the risk of developing cancer of the penis.
There are pros and cons, and as long as parents are aware of them, I’m fine with that. It’s far from similar or a humans rights abuse.
Will, I’ll admit that partly I’m adding fuel to the fire intentionally, since I find this an interesting topic (I have an anthropology minor, so I find varying attitudes interesting). And I as I said in my intial post, there ARE benefits to male circumcision. Thanks for spelling some of them out more specifically. Don’t forget that foreskins can have some risks, such as phimosis.
“There are pros/cons to the male circumcision and no one is forcing them to do it?” What? Really? All those 2 and 3 day old infants are consenting? Then you directly contradict yourself in saying that parental consent is cool. So which is it - the infants are forced, or they aren’t? You know the answer to that. It’s the parents. So lets extend this further - young girls being held down as teens. Presumably with parent consent again. Cool, they’re under 18, no problem, right? In both instances they’re minors getting non-medically indicated procedures with parent consent.
You’re right, in that a cliteroctomy is analagous to cutting off that glans. Removing the prepuce is similar to the foreskin, which is a form of ‘mutilation.’ But again, why is one socially acceptable and the other isn’t? And, yes, I know about other forms of this like infibulation, which don’t have male analogues.
Since this is typically a cultural thing, are you OK with it when the teen girls are OK with it? If it’s “just what we do” then who are you to tell them it’s wrong? In a lot of ways it’s similar to other cultural … oddities. Getting gauges in your ears, foot binding in China, those African tribes with the long neck/ring thing going on. This just happens to A) really hurt, B) cause reproductive issues, and C) involve genitals.
Personally, I’m not OK with it, but I’m not about to push my values on others. Out of curiousity, why did you start a thread on it?
Then I’d say we really having nothing to discuss here and will have to agree to not agree.
I saws an interview (quotes above) on CNN with some Muslim “leaders” defending the practice and it prompted my wanting to post on it as a reminder what a bunch of worthless sh&% heads they are after they interviewed the girls who’s lives were ruined by it. Some women had to flee their own country because they refused, and if found, would be held down and have their genitals mutilated. Some of course had various medical issues, and of course, psychological scars, etc. F-ing disgusting.
I love how the American left says the right has a “war on women” because some don’t want abortions at all…or abortions past 24 weeks or partial birth abortions.
However, Muslims (even some in America) can do this to women, keep them from driving or going to school and even commit honor killings and nobody on the left accuses them of a “war on women.” Nope…it is only conservatives in America that are waging a war on women.
A person who decides to have their body altered for cosmetic reasons (even if it produces a terrible result like Michael Jackson) is far different from a person who is forced to undergo a procedure due to religious or cultural demands.
These “risks” are pretty well solved with soap and water and/or condoms.
In developed nations (like the UK) that do not widely practice circumcision on infants, there are not credible reports of higher occurrences of the purported “risks”.
The issue with the information pushed by the “pro-circumcision” folks is that they draw data from non-developed nations and economically disadvantaged populations within developed nations to attempt to indicate a wider spread of the “risks” in these groups.
If some dude wants to prove his dedication to his favorite religion, he is free to do to his foreskin whatever he pleases.
If some dude keeps getting urinary tract infections because he keeps banging nasty bar skanks and/or can’t be bothered to apply some soap or antibiotics to the afflicted area, he is free to proceed with whatever preventative maintenance to his penis that he sees fit.
These reasons, however, do not justify the act to an infant.
There are also a huge amount of botched circumcisions, many of which the victims don’t even know that they have.
Look up “botched circumcision” on google.
These mistakes may result in reduced length, removal of the tip (glans) completely (!), reduced pleasure (for both parties) during intercourse, bridges of skin (can collect debris and/or can be severed during intercourse), and death (either due to complications while under general anesthesia, or blood loss from disturbing the wound).
Male genital mutilation has become acceptable in the US, and many fight the concept that it is not acceptable/normal/good because parents are pressured to have it done by medical professionals/family/religious beliefs, and/or had it done themselves and don’t know what they don’t know. These reasons, however, do not mean that we have to keep doing it to our infant sons.