I am risking writing on something that may make me unpopular or popular for the wrong reasons but let me hope by addressing it from a different angle; you will see it my way.
I am a young African freelance writer living in the internet age. I grew up in town more so in a Christian environment. I attended formal schooling at a time when that was the most obvious step in one’s life. Thus I am a product of the environment I grew up in. Whatever values I hold in my heart and consider to be right are as a result of the schooling, the western cultural ideals, Christianity and modernization as a whole. I expect the same from most of my readers because we are who we are based on the environment we have grown in. But I hope this will reach a schooled African reader of the golden days’ generation. What I need is their perspective on an aspect of our African cultural heritage.
Culture by definition is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and practices, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society or social environment. Goodenough (1957)
Culture as an element of existence is present in nearly every living creature. While men live in social groups, primates don’t walk in isolation, they coexist. While we nurture our offspring a lot and do everything to bring them up in the most excellent possible way, carnivores kill just to protect their young ones. Culture defines what is right and wrong and by so doing dictates how a member of a social group conducts themselves.
Culture is eminent in all human races. It acts as the pallet on which an artist blends his paint. It is the ground on which an athlete trains for the sports career task ahead. It is the school to the western civilization, the informal orientation under grandma’s tutorage by the fireplace, the evening walks to the African and the programming software to a computer wizard. It is a potter’s mould and the metal worker’s kiln. Out of the process of cultural orientation, a human is born. It is this orientation into the ways of a particular culture that makes us uniquely able to identify with fellow men.
If every living thing has a cultural existent, are there cultures that are better than others? Egocentrism is a trait present in nearly every one of us. This by definition implies that we consider our culture to be better than other peoples.
This article is provoked by a paragraph in T.D Jakes’ book REPOSITIONING YOURSELF that I have been reading for the last three months. That is not to mean it isn’t interesting to read. It’s a hell of a motivational piece of Christian writing for those who know what I mean.
Let me make one thing straight first. I am not a misogynist. I believe that all people have a right to fair treatment. I respect and see sense in the gender equality Jakes advocates for in chapter eleven of his book. This is not Nationalism or patriotism at play since his plot of the chapter is a village in West Pokot District in Kenya but a concern that any other proud African might raise.
On page 187, he mentions the subject that has generated debate for many years; Female circumcision. If I can quote, “…..Usually, the girl’s mother would then prepare her daughter for her new husband by vaginally mutilating her so that her clitoris would be cut away in what is called female circumcision but looks-as I saw many horrific pictures of it –more like female castration.”
He goes on to say, “….I later learnt that many girls bleed to death in the bush from these castrations since they are often performed with such primitive tools as goat horns……Admittedly, I come from a different culture and may not understand the finer points of this complex ritual. I also understand that not all aspects of this ritual are performed by unsanitary goat horns in the bush. However, based on my observations, research and extensive questioning of Africans from many tribes, I remain troubled by the way it damages women-creating infection, deteriorating marriages and endangering child birth.”
But one question that has been going through my mind to the point of making me write this article is: What exactly is the cultural reasoning and justification behind the practice? Let me begin by shading some light on how it was done, which communities perform the rite and its global presence, and the vindications behind it.
HOW WAS IT PERFORMED?
Definition
Defining the practice depends on the standing point of the writer. By trying to be as neutral as possible, I lack a better way of describing it. This is because the practice has been called by many names. According to one of my university professors aligned to the traditional African cultural school of thought, the practice to an ancient day African is the female cut just as we have the male cut while to a western mind, it is genital mutilation.
On the other hand, we have the term clitoridectomy coming into the picture. The reason for the use of this terminology is because the practice is performed on the clitoris which is a part of the female genitalia. It also describes a major part of the process involved in the practice. The types of procedures undertaken in female genital cut can be broadly classified into four groups, ranging from the removal of a small part of the clitoris to infibulations, where the clitoris and labia minora are completely excised or cut out, the wound sewn shut, and just a small opening is left for urine and menstrual flow.
According to the World Health Organization, the practice is more of Female genital mutilation (FGM) because of the fact that the procedures intentionally alters or injures the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
WHO PRACTICED IT?
While most of the fingers may point at Africa, research shows the practice to be a global concern. According to a publication compiled by Laura Reymond, Asha Mohamud, and Nancy Ali, it is evident that FGM is a global cultural practice.
The cultural practice has over the years been part of more than 28 African countries, a number of Asian countries as well as some communities in South and North America. The worst form of the practice, called infibulation which is the removal of the external genitalia and the stitching of the vaginal opening - is common to Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia, and also is reported in Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali and Nigeria.
Some countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have a 5% incidence. Here in Uganda, to the Sabiny (people of Kapchorwa Uganda), every young girl and boy is supposed to be circumcised as a traditional rite of passage to adulthood in December every even year.
The Somali ethnic group in Kenya has the highest prevalence of female genital mutilation - 97 per cent of Somali women have undergone the procedure. In Egypt, 97 per cent of married women aged 15-49 have been circumcised. In West Africa, Senegal and Burkina Faso are among some of the most notorious for the practice.
Outside Africa, the female cut is performed in Asian regions like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. It has also been reported in the Middle East. In Malaysia, it varies from state to state, but it is said that the procedure is generally performed while the girl is in her infancy (usually before her second birthday).
While most of the obvious arguments are based on assumptions that the practice is done in the most un professional and unhygienic ways, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recently sounded an alarm against a new trend of female genital mutilation where parents are using health-care workers to perform cutting in the belief that any medical problems of female circumcision can be minimized. There have also been reports of same procedure being performed by doctors in certain medical clinics in Singapore.
If cultural upholding and ignorance to human rights and fair treatment of the women and girls has been the basis for most of the reported cases of the female cut, this new trend raises new concerns. What of the trained medical physicians who carry out the cut with all the knowledge of its harm to a woman’s body?
The Statistical Standings
Statistically speaking the WHO estimates 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide to be currently living with the consequences of the practice. It is also argued that the practice is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15 years. In Africa an estimated 92 million girls from 10 years of age and above have undergone FGM.
According to No Peace Without Justice, an Italian NGO working to eliminate female genital mutilation, there are now between 120 million to 130 million women worldwide who have undergone female genital mutilation.
However UNFPA estimated 120 to 140 million women have been subject to this harmful and dangerous practice and 3 million girls continue to be at risk each year. The UN World Health Organisation says three million girls per year undergo some form of genital cutting, mainly in 28 countries of Africa and the Middle East.
THE MOTIVATION BEHIND THE PRACTICE
According to one argument, what seems certain is that deeply entrenched beliefs about gender have played a major role in the propagation of the practice. The WHO points out that FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behavior, linking procedures to premarital virginity and marital fidelity.
One main school of thought is for the idea that female circumcision prepares girls for responsible marriage life. Girls who are not circumcised, it is argued, are immoral, make rude wives and daughters-in-law.
This argument may be put in a different way based on ones knowledge of what exactly accompanies the cut. The girls would undergo some form of training in the hands of elderly women. They were trained into responsible motherhood, faithfulness, how to take care of their men among other domestic issues. This could be something positive about the rite of passage if clitoridectomy is done away with.
One of the young ladies I talked to argued that failure to circumcise females could be the major factor behind increased cases of restlessness and other forms of immoral behavior among the young generations. This view point is held by those who feel that failing to talk the young people into responsible sexual life and generally preparing them for adulthood is a cause for the increased cases of divorces and sexual misconduct.
Additional underlying factors for the practice include sociological which meant the practice was a stage of passage for girls into womanhood, social integration and the maintenance of social cohesion.
A more physical biased group would argue that hygienic and aesthetic grounds promoted the practice. Here, it is believed that the female genitalia is dirty and unsightly. This lot believes that sexually it was done to control or reduce female sexuality. Ultimately done to reduce a woman's sexual desire, it is argued that it ensured her virginity until marriage. The more extensive procedure, involving stitching of the vagina, has the same aim, but reducing the size of the vagina is also intended to increase the husband's enjoyment of the sexual act.
The above reason to me somehow points back to men and their selfish egos. Man has been known to subdue his subjects somehow with cruel means. In a society where the best parts of a chicken were reserved for the man and the woman was considered part of the man’s possession, this cultural practice may have been part of man’s selfish schemes designed to rule over those he considered his subjects.
While there was no major religious connotation to the practice as for the Hebrew males, some believed that it is a religious requirement.
Socio-economic factors range from the cut being a prerequisite for marriage and where women are largely dependent on men - economic necessity can be a determinant to undergo the procedure. The cut may also be a major source of income for circumcisers.
Other varied justifications include the fact that a girl who is not circumcised is considered unclean in some communities and therefore unable to marry. A girl who does not have her clitoris removed can also be considered a great danger and, ultimately, fatal to a man’s health.
THE EFFECTS
The health consequences of the practice can be severe. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the effects can include severe pain, shock, excessive bleeding which can lead to death if not attended to, tetanus in the event that an unsterilized tool is used, or HIV if infected tools are used, urine retention, open sores and injury to nearby tissue.
In a world where HIV is one of the major causes of increased debates on the need to observe hygienic standards on health matters, this practice can be considered a major blow to efforts put in place to curb the problem.
The reasoning behind this is the fact that the whole world with minor exceptions is on war with the practice. Without the necessary health and hygiene knowledge and a conducive environment to perform the practice, many have resorted to doing it in great secrecy to avoid being lynched by the proponents of human rights crusades.
On the other hand the effects can be long term. These may include recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, infertility, and an increased risk of childbirth complications and newborn deaths, difficulties during sexual intercourse, menstrual problems, recurrent urinary and kidney infections, chronic infections of the uterus and vagina, infertility, acute problems during labour and birth, chronic vulva abscesses and difficulty in using contraceptive methods and general sexual dysfunction.
While some may have been lucky to safely undergo the practice, there are those who have lived to testify of its long term effects. Deaths due to excessive bleeding, inability to enjoy sexual intercourse, post practice trauma as a result of forcefully being subjected to the practice are some of the reported cases.
The many psychological effects include anxiety prior to operation, trauma, and sense of humiliation, sense of betrayal by parents, severe depression, and loss of sleep due to psychological trauma, nightmares and post traumatic stress syndrome.
Unlike before, most of the modern day efforts to carry on the practice have been made via force due to increase human rights sensitization from all quarters. Thus most of the young women forced into the practice have been deprived of a sense of self worth and belonging to the free generation and are left to live a life of self pity and general trauma.
MY THOUGHTS
The research above shows that a lot has been done to shed light and try curb the continuity of this practice. One obvious fact that has been continually underlined is that the practice of clitoridectomy is by all means brutal and inhuman.
But even as we argue against this practice for the obvious reasons cited above, could there be something positive about it? Another question that still lingers in my mind is why exactly is the western world against a cultural practice that at one point was considered an appropriate phase of any young woman’s life.
Even with the findings above, it still remains clear that not everything reported about the practice is exactly the case. Assuming that some voices in the scholarly world came to the rescue of the practice basing their argument on solid researched facts; would the world see it in a different light?
One factor that explains the dynamic aspect of culture is that culture changes when it comes into contact with another. Each may or may not pick something from the other. While the African customs, beliefs and cultural components are a heritage to some of its people, one may argue that it lost its taste partly when the barrel was pointed to the carrier’s forehead. In addition to this, exposure and availability of room for comparison and choices led to the loss of ground for its proponents. Salt tastes sour when sugar is brought into the equation.
How else do you explain a situation where a tree hates its roots? And even when the roots are worthless, can’t we see sense in holding on to the ground that once gave life to the tree? Like I earlier tried to exonerate myself, I understand the pain that some of our women and girls had to go through just to be considered grownups. But were there no other ways of doing this? The answer is yes. The practice was not entirely about the cut. A lot of pre practice and post practice issues were seriously addressed.
Before we fight to completely eradicate the practice, it’s important to find out whether there could be some positive impact in it. This is in the training that the young people were offered just before or after they underwent the rite of passage. When such is known to us, we will be in a position to know what our modern generations are missing out and thus find ways of advocating for the same training.
If we were to come up with a better word for the practice, I think initiation would do. Female Genital Mutilation, Female Castration as Jakes puts it depends on factors such as who is speaking, their background and the target audience. The quotation that led to this article is justified to his American audience. The chapter is dedicated to women and in the arena of mental patronage, one ought to know how to use the right words to captivate your audience and in the long run pay your bills. Calling the practice female castration is a little far stretched and insulting to an African who knows that even if his/her mother is lame, she still is ones mother. While for those who fall in the Female Genital Mutilation mass, could it be the term was coined in the negotiations meetings just as the proposal for funding was being signed by some multi-billion donor company? I am not sure.
Was there anything positive is this practice that was carried on by our people for many years? Still I ask. I am yet to come across majority of Africans that will speak for it. All we have done is remain tongue tied and watch the neighbor call us names trying to make sense of actions foreign to him but part of our culture. When this is the situation, the report given out there to the world is that they walk naked, sleep on trees and are cultureless
.
I don’t in any way advocate for clitoridectomy but I am just wondering how insensitive our people must have been then if a neighbor had to come to the rescue of our own daughters being strangled by their own male kinsmen in the name of upholding what seems a demeaning culture. Why else should we theoretically define selfishness if we have such a picture in mind? This continues to be the podium on which anti crusaders preach unless it is erased by a proper defense from the elites familiar with the issue at hand.
Even as we bow to the pressure to demonize and stop what we have been doing for many years, don’t we think there should have been an explanation? If we accept without a rationalization, a number of things are clear here;
One is that the cultural practice and its advocates were quite primitive or selfish and the second thing is that we didn’t know a thing on human rights and fair treatment of fellow human beings precisely our women and daughters. A third clear indication is that the west came to the rescue of our own people. In other words, it’s like a neighbor barred you from killing your daughter in your selfish pursuits of a meaningless and inhuman cultural practice. Lastly, am left wondering, is it then that the phrase Africa being a dark continent was somehow true until civilization came dressed in combat gear and a shepherd’s cloak holding a bible?
In conclusion, Culture according to Edwin Hitchins in his article Cognition in the Wild, is not a collection of things whether tangible or abstract but a process. It’s a human cognitive process that takes place both inside and outside the minds of people. He goes on to argue that a major component of culture is the cognitive process.
This to me implies that the ability to make sense of concepts is part of culture and that concepts considered appropriate in a particular culture change with time. This is in line with the fact that culture is dynamic. Thus while the female cut was an accepted cultural practice among some people, this changed as the mind got exposed to varied external forces like foreign cultural ideals, modernization and Christianity which resulted in a gradual cognitive change which led to the current stand on the practice once cherished. Knowledge being an element of culture thus helps in furthering equality agenda and upholding human rights. That explains feminism in the 21st century.
THE FUTURE
A majority of people will agree and echo my sentiments that female circumcision is no longer a necessity, but a selfish vehicle used by the male species to rule over and sabotage women’s sexual needs. That it greatly affects the status and development of girls and women, and that it is a reproductive and human rights issue is no secret.
But while clitoridectomy greatly serves to pull back efforts to achieve a fair ground for human rights, initiation of our youths into adulthood still remains a key ingredient in every effort meant to empower the future generations and thus secure the future of gender coexistence. Calling the practice Female Genital Mutilation, Female Castration or Clitoridectomy does not substitute the need for an appropriate socialization mechanism for young people to embrace adulthood.
Even in these somehow human rights undermining cultural environments, there still is future for the girl child. There have been countless efforts from governments and humanitarian organizations both local and international to curb this practice and give people a chance to decide what is best for their own lives culturally speaking.
On Monday, 14 February 2011, the UNICEF released a press report on a conference where over 6,000 communities chose to abandon this cultural practice. According to a joint United Nations program designed to eliminate this practice, the number is growing which assures safety for the girl child’s fundamental right to choice of what cultural practices to subscribe to.
With the commemoration of 6th February as the international day against the practice, this will create more awareness and bring more crusaders on board. With such efforts, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
REFERENCES
http://www.unfpa.org/public/site/global/lang/en/pid/4830
http://www.orkut.com/CommMsgs?start=1&tid=5600316953754255656&cmm=4805256&hl=en
