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'''Female Genital Mutilation''' (Arabic: ختان المرأة) is the practice of cutting away and altering the external female genitalia for ritual or religious purposes. It can involve both or either '''Clitoridectomy''' and '''Excision.''' Clitoridectomy is the amputation of part or all of the clitoris (or the removal of the clitoral prepuce). Excision is the cutting away of either or both the inner or outer labia. A third practice, '''Infibulation''' (or Pharaonic circumcision), is the paring back of the outer labia, whose cut edges are then stitched together to form, once healed, a seal that covers both the openings of the vagina and the urethra. Infibulation usually includes clitoridectomy. | '''Female Genital Mutilation''' (Arabic: ختان المرأة) is the practice of cutting away and altering the external female genitalia for ritual or religious purposes. It can involve both or either '''Clitoridectomy''' and '''Excision.''' Clitoridectomy is the amputation of part or all of the clitoris (or the removal of the clitoral prepuce). Excision is the cutting away of either or both the inner or outer labia. A third practice, '''Infibulation''' (or Pharaonic circumcision), is the paring back of the outer labia, whose cut edges are then stitched together to form, once healed, a seal that covers both the openings of the vagina and the urethra. Infibulation usually includes clitoridectomy. | ||
UNICEF's 2016 report into FGM estimates that in the 30 countries surveyed at least 200 million girls and women have undergone FGM.<ref>UNICEF [https://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGMC_2016_brochure_final_UNICEF_SPREAD.pdf Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: a Global Concern (2016)]</ref> Assuming a world population of 7.9 billion, this means that about one in twenty girls or women world-wide have undergone FGM. | UNICEF's 2016 report into FGM estimates that in the 30 countries surveyed at least 200 million girls and women have undergone FGM.<ref>UNICEF [https://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGMC_2016_brochure_final_UNICEF_SPREAD.pdf Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: a Global Concern (2016)]</ref> Assuming a world population of 7.9 billion, this means that about one in twenty girls or women world-wide have undergone FGM. | ||
The 20% of FGM attributable to non-Muslims occurs in communities living in FGM-practicing Islamic societies (e.g. the Egyptian Copts<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-040655/https://copticliterature.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/prevalence-of-and-support-for-female-genital-mutilation-within-the-copts-of-egypt-unicef-report-2013/ Prevalence of and Support for Female Genital Mutilation within the Copts of Egypt: Unicef Report (2013)]</ref>), or to non-Islamic societies that have been hubs of the Islamic slave trade (e.g. Ethiopia and Eritrea<ref>[https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/A-Profile-of-FGM-in-Ethiopia_2020.pdf A Profile of Female Genital Mutilation in Ethiopia]</ref>). About one in eighty (1.28%) non-Muslim women are genitally mutilated world-wide. | About 80% of this FGM is attributable to Muslims.<ref name=":2">[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-040325/https://fgmtruth.wordpress.com/what-percentage-of-global-fgm-are-moslems-responsible-for/ What Percentage of Global FGM is done by Moslems ?]</ref> And assuming a world population of Muslims of 1.7 billion, this means that at least one in five (20%) Muslim women is mutilated. | ||
FGM is found only in or adjacent to Islamic groups<ref name=":0" />. The 20% of FGM attributable to non-Muslims occurs in communities living in FGM-practicing Islamic societies (e.g. the Egyptian Copts<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-040655/https://copticliterature.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/prevalence-of-and-support-for-female-genital-mutilation-within-the-copts-of-egypt-unicef-report-2013/ Prevalence of and Support for Female Genital Mutilation within the Copts of Egypt: Unicef Report (2013)]</ref>), or to non-Islamic societies that have been hubs of the Islamic slave trade (e.g. Ethiopia and Eritrea<ref>[https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/A-Profile-of-FGM-in-Ethiopia_2020.pdf A Profile of Female Genital Mutilation in Ethiopia]</ref>). About one in eighty (1.28%) non-Muslim women are genitally mutilated world-wide. [[File:Fgmmuslimmap.jpg|alt=World maps comparing distributions of FGM and of Muslims|thumb|World maps comparing distributions of FGM and of Muslims|left|350x350px]]FGM predates Islam. The [[Banu Qurayza|Banu Quraysh]], Muhammad's native tribe, appear to have engaged in the practice (see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM before Islam|FGM before Islam]]). Muhammad maintained the practice after migrating to Medina and is recorded as approving of the practice in four hadith. Two other hadith record the [[sahabah]] (Companions of Mohammed) engaging in the practice. (see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM%20in%20the%20Hadith|FGM in the Hadith]]) | |||
The Qur'an contains no explicit mention of FGM. However, Quran 30:30, by exhorting Muslims to 'adhere to the fitrah' indirectly, but ineluctably exhorts Muslims to engage in FGM. (see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM in the Qur.27an|FGM in the Qur'an]]) | The Qur'an contains no explicit mention of FGM. However, Quran 30:30, by exhorting Muslims to 'adhere to the fitrah' indirectly, but ineluctably exhorts Muslims to engage in FGM. (see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#FGM in the Qur.27an|FGM in the Qur'an]]) | ||
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==FGM as an Initiation Rite== | ==FGM as an Initiation Rite== | ||
Islamic FGM is | Islamic FGM is functional (as a chastity assurance measure) rather than an initiation rite, having a symbolic nature. The FGM practiced where Islamic influence is weakest (e.g. coastal West Africa) often takes on aspects of initiation ritual. The Islamic anxieties around 'purity' are, for example, entirely absent from the the FGM practiced by the Liberian Sandé. | ||
The table below compares and contrasts the characteristics of Rites of Passage and Islamic FGM. | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|+ | |||
!Rites of Passage | |||
!Islamic FGM | |||
! | |||
|- | |||
|rituals have symbolic function | |||
<br /> | |||
|practical function (e.g. chastity assurance) | |||
| | |||
|- | |||
|public or semi-public (witnessed by initiates) | |||
|private and secretive | |||
| | |||
|- | |||
|use symbolism, ceremony and celebration | |||
|lack of symbolism, ceremony or celebration | |||
| | |||
|- | |||
|occur at transitional life events (such as puberty) | |||
|can occur any time between birth and puberty<sup>[a]</sup> | |||
|<sup>[a]</sup> when a girl mutilated may depend on quite practical factors: families and isolated villages, rather than having to pay for a ‘cutter’ to visit as each daughter reaches a certain age, will have ''all'' their daughters cut during a single visit of the ‘cutter’, girls from a wide range of ages therefore being cut at the same time. | |||
|- | |||
|have three stages Severance, Threshold and Incorporation<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.26-041314/https://courses.lumenlearning.com/culturalanthropology/chapter/rite-of-passage/ Rite of Passage]</ref> | |||
|absence of Severance, Threshold and Incorporation | |||
| | |||
|- | |||
|involve transition from membership of a lower status group to a higher status group | |||
|status before and after FGM largely the same<sup>[b]</sup> | |||
|<sup>[b]</sup> a transitional element with Islamic FGM is that 'uncut' girls are frequently bullied, shunned and stigmatized by their peers. This stigmatization stops when the girl has undergone FGM. | |||
|- | |||
|involve some form of deliberate ordeal | |||
|involves a deliberate ordeal<sup>[c]</sup> | |||
|<sup>[c]</sup> anaesthetics are generally not used, even when available | |||
|- | |||
|often involve some permanent physical or psychological change | |||
|involves a permanent physical and psychological change | |||
| | |||
|} | |||
[[File:Indonesia - susanfemalecircumcision-1.jpg|thumb|Medicalised FGM in Indonesia ]] | |||
<br /> | |||
[[File:Fgm-in-the-middle-east.jpg|thumb|Iraqi Kurdish four-year-old Shwen screams during her circumcision in Suleimaniyah on April 14, 2009]] | |||
[[File:Endfgm-campaign-video-016.jpg|thumb|TUZ KHURMATU, IRAQ - AUGUST 25: In northern Iraq, a midwife slices part of seven year-old Sheelan Anwar Omer's genitals while performing a female circumcision. Female circumcision is a rite of passage for most girls in Kurdistan. It is meant to "cleanse" them of improper or sexual thoughts and actions. A woman who served as an escort for The Washington Post via Getty Images, left, rushed in to comfort the child. Maharoub Juwad Nawchas, the 40-year-old midwife back to camera, also delivered Omer and is a trusted and valued member of the neighborhood. Sheelan's mother, right, holds her. Photographed August, 25, 2008 in Tuz Khurmatu, Iraq. (Photo by Andrea Bruce/The Washington Post via Getty Images)]] | |||
As the above table shows, FGM shares with Rites of passage the element of ordeal and physical change - the eschewal of anaesthetics (either general or local), even when available is a near-universal characteristic of FGM. | |||
FGM shares | |||
increased visibility of initiation rits and victims skews narrative | increased visibility of initiation rits and victims skews narrative | ||
The function of chastity assurance is fundamental to both the pre-Islamic origins of FGM and also to Islam's adoption, maintenance and spread of FGM. However, chastity assurance doesn't fully explain certain near-universal aspects of FGM - in particular | The function of chastity assurance is fundamental to both the pre-Islamic origins of FGM and also to Islam's adoption, maintenance and spread of FGM. However, chastity assurance doesn't fully explain certain near-universal aspects of FGM - in particular | ||
This aversion to the use of anaesthetics It is a characteristic | This aversion to the use of anaesthetics It is a characteristic | ||