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Article Excerpt
A student related to me that she had a conversation with a Nigerian, male friend in which she told him that she was very excited that her professor was writing an article on female genital mutilation. She reported that the he became enraged and shouted, "How dare this American woman characterize a custom of my culture as mutilation, and further, what right did she have to stick her nose into something that had nothing to do with her or her country." Since I knew that I would probably never have the opportunity to personally meet this "gentleman," I asked her to tell him the following: "No matter how many terms one conjures to lessen the impact of the horror visited upon women in the name of culture, mutilation is mutilation; it cannot be diminished by semantics. In addition, I am (1) my sisters' keeper; their pain is my pain. I have an obligation to use my words to speak truth to power in their name."
PREFACE: A WORD ON CULTURE AND TRADITION
"Culture is the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterizes a society or a group. It includes creative expressions, community practices and maternal or bruit forms." (2)
"Throughout history, people in all societies have created social norms that guide the behavior and conduct of their members." (3) There are many positives traditions that sustain a culture; conversely there are negative and harmful practices that diminish societies. It is possible to criticize a tradition which harms a society without denigrating or demonizing the culture as a whole. Indeed, slavery, in addition to being an economic institution, was arguably a "tradition" in the United States for over two-hundred years. Most reasonable persons would agree that slavery was a despicable practice which diminished the United States, dehumanized a race of human beings, and did very little to further American democratic culture. Likewise, those same reasonable persons would also agree that the abolition of slavery and Jim Crow succeeded in giving the United States the moral authority needed to spread a "culture" of democracy throughout the world. In other words, ending the terrible tradition of slavery did not result in the end of American culture, and ending female genital mutilation (hereafter referred to as FGM) will not destroy the societies that practice it. Moreover, strong criticism of FGM is not an attack on the culture of the societies that practice it, rather, it is an acknowledgement that all traditions are not worthy of continuation and that women should not be held hostage to practices that diminish their personhood. Just as slavery in the United States for almost two hundred and fifty years needed to end, so does the practice of FGM.
I. INTRODUCTION
Torture: torture (noun) Middle French, from Old French, from Late Latin tortura 1. a: anguish of body or mind: Agony b: something that causes agony or pain; 2: the infliction of intense pain (as from burning, crushing, or wounding) to punish, coerce, or afford sadistic pleasure; 3: distortion or over-refinement of a meaning or an argument. (4)
The phrase "female genital mutilation," (5) the practice of removing portions of females' genitalia, has made its way into the lexicon of the West in a horrific way. An article in the October 22, 2006 Atlanta Journal-Constitution started by stating, "A father stands accused of the unthinkable: brutally cutting his daughter's genitals. The girl was only two." (6) Those words were telling because, although this father's act was indeed brutal and also unthinkable to most Western readers, it was in fact, the repetition of a "social ritual" which has occurred on a yearly basis to millions of women, girls, and infants. (7) The father, Khalid Adem, performed an African ritual known as FGM, a practice that is centuries old. (8)
Adem, a native of Ethiopia, "circumcised" his two-year old daughter with a pair of scissors in his Duluth, Georgia apartment while his friend held her down. The young girl's mother did not discover that her daughter's clitoris had been severed until two years later. The State of Georgia prosecuted and convicted Adem of aggravated battery and cruelty to children. (9) Georgia has since enacted a law which specifically forbids the practice of FGM. Adem faced forty years in prison, but was sentenced to only ten (10).
Human rights groups from around the world watched this case closely, not only because they viewed it as a landmark case, but because it also presented an opportunity to shine a light on FGM, a custom which is viewed by many as barbaric torture. (11)
However, Adem's was not the first case of FGM (although Adem was not technically charged with female genital mutilation, this was the term used in the media to describe the acts which he committed that comprised aggravated battery) prosecuted in the United States. On January 9, 2004, the United States Department of Justice issued a press release announcing the arrest of two California residents on the charges of conspiring to perform FGM on two young girls. (12) One of the defendants bragged to undercover officers that he had performed more FGMs than anyone else in the Western world. (13)
If there is anything good that emerges from these two cases, it is that they present an opportunity for further dialogue on the subject of FGM. Much has already been written on this topic, but thus far the dialogue has been limited to scholars and human rights organizations. (14) These cases have put FGM on the front pages of newspapers around the world and made the subject accessible to the general public in the Western world. (15)
It is the contention of this paper that FGM is a form of torture and that multiple strategies should be employed to eradicate it, including the Convention against Torture. (16) It is only when there is extensive education, worldwide condemnation, shaming, and punishment for FGM that this practice will end. The author acknowledges that there is an ironic fact which complicates the position taken in this paper, and it is that the majority of acts of FGM are performed by women. (17) In fact, in many African societies, the circumciser is an older woman who is past the age of childbearing. (18)
Women who perform these acts of torture serve as shields to hide the true guilty parties and to deflect attention from the chattel status of women in many of these countries and in certain tribes. Female genital mutilation has reduced women to instruments of male pleasure; it ensures the sexual control or suppression of the sexual behavior of women. (19) If in fact this is what is occurring, it seems unduly harsh to punish victims, even when they participate in their own torture. Women appear to be powerless over their own bodies and thus, not the "guilty" parties in this equation. But how does one go about applying the Conventions against Torture for those practicing FGM without once again victimizing the victims? Hence, punishment should be inflicted upon governments that tolerate, encourage, and venerate this practice; while education should be provided for the "unwitting foils" who perform this practice.
The intent of this article is to graphically describe FGM; discuss the background of FGM and its health, psychological, and social implications; propose some workable solutions to ending FGM; and raise the level of awareness of the pain and suffering of women around the world. In part, this article will discuss invoking the Convention against Torture against those nations unwilling to end this horrific practice. There is also a caveat to this article: the author acknowledges that discussing solutions to the practice of FGM is not a simplistic and straight-forward endeavor; Professor Leslye Amede Obiora quoting Adam Kuper writes: "Complex notions, like culture, inhibit an analysis of the relationships among the variables they pack together ...". (20) In other words, solutions to ending FGM are as complicated as the societies that practice it. Therefore, ending FGM cannot be reduced to feel-good sound bites, but must be thoughtful, respectful, and deliberate.
II. BACKGROUND
"as Nobel Peace prize laureates, we know there is a direct relationship between peace, justice and respect for human rights. As long as women are denied human rights, anywhere in the world, there can be no justice and no peace. Recognizing women's equal rights, therefore is an essential requirement for the creation of strong, sustainable and stable societies and ensuring that women enjoy equality with men in all areas of life is a key step to make human rights a universal reality." (21)
What is Female Genital Mutilation?
FGM is, "The traditional custom of ritual cutting and alteration of the genitalia of female infants, girls, and adolescents" which "has been a tradition since antiquity." (22) FGM is a collective term which describes several different traditional rituals that result in the circumcision and disfigurement of females. (23) Although FGM is deemed an "African" ritual, it is, according to the World Medical Association, (24) a common practice in over thirty countries, some of them non-African. (25) UNICEF reports that over two million (26) women, girls, and infants are mutilated a year. (27) In Djibouti (28) and Somalia, 98% of all girls are subjected to FGM. (29) Moreover, evidence has been uncovered that supports the fact that women in rural areas of Iraq have reported having undergone FGM. (30)
First, it should be noted that FGM is performed without anesthesia and with the aid of instruments like scissors (as in the Georgia case) (31), knives, razor blades, stones, broken glass, or any other sharp and accessible tool. (32) To add to the complexity of FGM, in most instances this ritual is performed by a female elder, (33) with no medical training, who is called a midwife. The midwife will perform the cutting, while other women will hold down the child and force her legs open. (34)
The four most common forms of FGM are described below. It is only when one fully comprehends the viciousness of this practice that it becomes clear that it is in fact a form of torture. (35) FGM takes several forms, all of which the American Academy of Pediatrics oppose. (36)
Clitorectomy
Clitorectomy involves excision of the skin surrounding the clitoris with or without excision of part or all of the clitoris. When this procedure is performed in infants and young girls, a portion or all of the clitoris and surrounding tissue may be removed. (37)
Excision
Excision is the removal of the entire clitoris and part or all of the labia minora. Crude stitches of catgut or thorns may be used to control bleeding from the clitoral artery and raw tissue surfaces, or mud poultices may be applied directly to the perineum. (38)
Infibulation
In infibulation (39) circumcision, the entire clitoris and some or all of the labia minora are excised, and incisions are made in the labia majora to create raw surfaces. The labial raw surfaces are stitched together to cover the urethra and vaginal introitus, leaving a small posterior opening for urinary and menstrual flow. (40)
Type IV
Type IV includes different practices of variable severity including pricking, piercing or incision of the clitoris and/or labia; stretching of the clitoris and/or labia; cauterization of the clitoris; and scraping or introduction of corrosive substances into the vagina. (41)
The medical descriptions, while graphic, do not give the full import of the horror visited upon infants, young girls, and women; nor is the term female circumcision adequate. (42) Using the term female circumcision invites one to compare it to the common practice of male circumcision which is widely performed in the United States. (43) A more apt comparison is to compare FGM to castration since FGM removes a vital part of the sexual organ that allows a woman to have orgasm and experience the pleasure associated with intercourse. Is it any wonder that Nahid Toubia concludes the following: "These women are holding back a silent scream, a silent anger, so strong it could shake the [E]arth." (44)
A. Health Implications
FGM constitutes a significant health risk to females wherever it is practiced. When FGM is coupled with the realities of living in a third-world society, (45) the results are overwhelming. The lack of proper health care and the pervading attitudes towards the role of women in the society lead to serious health complications for many who are subjected to FGM. (46) The Encyclopedia of Medicine gives this stark view of the various complications of FGM:
First, you can suffer fatal hemorrhaging, because in the clitoris there are a lot of blood vessels, including the dorsal artery, the vein of the clitoris, so young girls can bleed to death. Fear is also a very important problem, because when those children are taken away they are not prepared for the pain they are going to suffer, and the pain creates stress and shock. In addition, you have infections, even tetanus. Infections begin in the area of the wound but may spread to the internal organs.... but that is not all. The woman has been cut and traumatized, so intercourse is very painful and there are a lot of problems giving birth. (47)
Hanny Lightfoot-Klein (48) reports that, although no accurate statistics are available, in Sudan, the country where she has conducted research, medical fatalities are quite high and vary from ten to thirty percent. (49)
Likewise, the New England Journal of Medicine reports that the most common long-term complication is the formation of cysts in the line of the scar. (50) These cysts can be as small as a pea or as large as a grapefruit. In addition, the development of dermoid cysts and keloids (51) can cause pain and embarrassment. (52) Moreover, most women will be unable to experience orgasm as a result of the removal of their clitoris. (53)
In an article published in the British journal The Lancet, (54) a study found that women who undergo FGM are at significant risk for having a caesarean section, an episiotomy, an extended hospital stay, and for suffering post-partum hemorrhage. These are potential complications for women who are fortunate enough to have their babies in medical facilities. (55)
In addition to the physical complications outlined above, sexually transmitted diseases are common complications of FGM. (56) Margaret Brady writes that the complications that result from FGM create an environment for infection and resulting infertility. (57) More devastating is the proposition that FGM may play a role in HIV transmission. (58) The irony behind these findings is that at least one tribe, the Maasai, believes that FGM actually curbs the spread of HIV/AIDS in the community by reducing a woman's sexual feelings for men: "when you cut...
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