Female Genital Mutilation, II

The following discussions of female genital mutilation took place
on WMST-L in January and August, 2000, February and November
2001, and October 2004. See the file 'Female Genital Mutilation'
for earlier discussions that took place in 1994 and 1997.  Also
of interest may be 'Incorporating FGM into Courses'. For
additional WMST-L files available on the Web, see the
WMST-L File Collection.

PAGE 1 OF 4

In my course on "Gender and Culture" (anthropology) we are going to discuss
instances of FGM or female circumcision in several places, including the
Sudan. I would like to 'bring the issue home' to students - and I seem to
recall that this was practiced in the US at one time - not frequently - not
necessarily openly - but as a "treatment" for women. Can anyone give me any
sources for this? Thanks

Suzanne Baker
Creighton University
sbaker   AT   creighton.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"When we want to understand something, we cannot just stand outside and
observe it. We have to enter deeply into it and be one with it . . . "
                - Thich Nhat Hanh
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Dear Suzanne,
There is some evidence that it IS practiced in the US - and by doctors.  I
believe a big controversy started in Seattle a few years ago because
physicians were engaged in the practice, many because they thought they
could perform the process more safely.  I will see what I can find and get
back to you.

Frances Gateward
gateward   AT   uiuc.edu

     In G.J. Barker-Benfield's book, Horrors of the Half-Known Life: Male
     Attitudes Toward Women and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century America,
     this practice is detailed in the US. I was first referred to this book
     by Alice Walker in Possessing the Secret of Joy, in an afterword she
     recommends this book for a US perspective on the practice. Horrors
     also provides a history of the origins and rise of gynecology in the
     US (a horrific story, as one might imagine).

     Routledge just republished this book after it had been out of print
     for some time.

     Good luck with the course.

     Ilene Kalish
     Associate Editor, Routledge

Following this thread with much interest.  An article I use in classes
is "Victorian Clitoridectomy:  Isaac Baker Brown and His Harmless
Operative Procedure" by Elizabeth A. Sheehan, collected in Roger N.
Lancaster & Micaela di Leonardo, eds., _The Gender/Sexuality Reader_,
Routledge 1997.  I'd like to learn about articles on 20th-century
practice of clitoridectomy in the West as well and I look forward to
others' postings.  I've been amassing materials on this topic and may
well have something else in my pile, will add messages as I run across
things.

- Janet Gray
gray   AT   tcnj.edu

It is true that female circumcision was practiced on women early in the
century to prevent masturbation and other forms of self-induced female
pleasure. But the story does not end there.  Other forms of female
circumcision persist to this day in the form of elective cosmetic surgery
(Paradigm Surgery Center of West Los Angeles for example advertises
vaginal rejuvenation as one of their "aesthetic surgeries") and suturing
after episiotomies (sp?) when doctors sow women just a little tighter for
the pleasure of their male partners.  Go figure.


Susanne Dietzel, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Women's Studies
Tulane University
(504) 865-5248
http://www.tulane.edu/~dietzel

> In my course on "Gender and Culture" (anthropology) we are going to discuss
> instances of FGM or female circumcision in several places, including the
> Sudan. I would like to 'bring the issue home' to students - and I seem to
> recall that this was practiced in the US at one time - not frequently - not
> necessarily openly - but as a "treatment" for women. Can anyone give me any
> sources for this? Thanks

The film _Rites_ (not from Women Make Movies, but Film Library, I
think...) on FGM has an excellent historical section ranging from European
practices to a US doctor from Chicago who -- in the 90s [1990s, that is]
reshaped women's vaginas to better please their husbands. So the
discussion includes the range of practices in the US and Europe. I like
_Rites_ better than _Warrior Marks_, and there's supposed to be another
excellent film called _Fire Eyes_, which I haven't yet seen.

Also, there's a group of women in Kenya who redesigned FGM into a ritual
of words. I read about this on a list some time last year, but I haven't
got the reference. If I find it, I'll post it.

I think any discussion in a US class of FGM must include the kind of
"bringing it home" perspective Suzanne Baker refers to as well as a
careful attention to geographical/cultural/religious specifics.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sandra D. Shattuck, Associate Director          shattuck   AT   umbc.edu
Center for Women and Information Technology     www.umbc.edu/cwit
University of Maryland, Baltimore County        research.umbc.edu/~shattuck
Fine Arts 452, 1000 Hilltop Circle              ph:410.455.2822
Baltimore MD 21250                              fx:410.455.1027

If I might add my two cents worth, any discussion of FGM also
ought to include discussion of the surgical swat teams called
in to perform "corrective" sexual reassignment "surgery" (mutilation)==
yes, here in the US == on newborns who are born intersexed.

Thanks,
Lisa Burke
LBurke2   AT   njcu.edu

OK, so I just went to the WMST-L files (after I sent my reply to Suzanne
Baker's request for material!) and found -- of course-- fantastic
resources, from Fran Hosken's report to Nawal el Sa'adawi's first person
account in the _The Hidden Faces of Eve_. There are TWO separate files
of WMST-L extended discussions of FGM: one is called "Female Genital
Mutilation" and the other is, I think, "Introducing Female Genital
Mutilation" (oh shoot, I've already forgotton the title of the second
file, but it's organized around specific bibliographic suggestions for the
classroom).

At any rate, I'm once again struck with how invaluable the WMST-L files
are. Especially given the ephemeral nature of the web, it's fantastic to
be able to return to a reliable source built out of the collective widom
of all the folks who participate on WMST-L. And I really appreciate Joan's
work in translating WMST-L files into html and then organizing them in
such a user-friendly way.

Where is this cornucopia of wonders? you ask (if you haven't already
visited) --

http://research.umbc.edu/~korenman/wmst/wmsttoc.html

or, go to the CWIT site (URL below) and scroll down to the bottom of the
splash page and click on the "women's studies" link; then scroll down to
WMST-L files.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sandra D. Shattuck, Associate Director          shattuck   AT   umbc.edu
Center for Women and Information Technology     www.umbc.edu/cwit
University of Maryland, Baltimore County        research.umbc.edu/~shattuck
Fine Arts 452, 1000 Hilltop Circle              ph:410.455.2822
Baltimore MD 21250                              fx:410.455.1027

The Horrors of the Half-Known Life by G. Barker-Benfield

There is mention of the practice in the US in "Woman: An Intimate
Geography"  (author escapes me at present).  Cases of women with large
clitorises having the procedure done for cosmetic purposes.

Helen Thompson
Alabama State University

> There is mention of the practice in the US in "Woman: An Intimate
>  Geography"  (author escapes me at present).

Natalie Angier. Great book!

Judith Laura
Ashira   AT   aol.com
http://members.aol.com/Ashira

Thank you, Lisa, for bringing this up.  Suzanne Kessler has a great
discussion of just such practices in _Lessons from the Intersexed_
(Rutgers, 1998).
Nancy San Martin

Nancy San Martin
History of Consciousness
University of California, Santa Cruz
nancysm   AT   cats.ucsc.edu

Dear List-members,

I read the responses to Suzanne Baker''s enquiry with great interest. I do
hold an British M.A. in Women's Studies (York) and just wrote another M.A.
thesis on FGM for my German M.A. degree in political science. ( I will
present part of  its results at the 41st Annual Convention of the ISA in Los
Angeles, CA (14-18 March 2000)).

Although it is rarely discussed in public, cases of FGM do occur frequently
amongst the immigrant population in Germany. In international (soft) law,
norms have been developed prescribing how states should deal with the
practice, for example to prohibit the practice, and to grant asylm to women
threatened by it.
In my dissertation, I analyzed whether the international norms dealing with
FGM have been implemented into German national policies. In both cases, in
which implementation failed or (partly) succeeded, I examined the foregoing
interaction of NGOs, members of parliament and governments. I found that
personal networks of NGO representatives and members of parliaments (often
having a personal history of activity in the new social movements themselves)
have been crucial - though not always successful - in pressurizing the
government to live up to its international obligations. Chances of success
depended heavily on the costs (ideological as well as material) attributed to
the norms' implementation.

As I am going to proceed working on this topic, I am very intersted in
learning about similar studies.

Thank you!

Heike Brabandt

See also Terri Kapsalis, Public Privates: Performing Gynecology from Both
Ends of the Speculum.

Cari M. Carpenter
English and Women's Studies
University of Michigan

The justifications for such so-called "corrective" surgery are amazing and
will help students understand the profound social construction of biological
sex.  Estimates are that between 1 in 500 and one in 1500 babies are born
with ambiguous genetalia in which case physicians recommend surgery to bring
the babies into compliance with  normative definitions of male and female
(often with loss of sexual arousal).  In the US hospital context, the
parents of a boy born with a micropenis (less than 2.5cm) or a girl born
with a large clitoris (over 1 cm) will be pressured to do "corrective"
surgery to bring the child into compliance with ideas about acceptable
genetalia.  A good source for students is the Intersex Society of North
America web page <http://www.isna.org/faq.htm>.  Especially good medical
articles available on line for students to down load are Kenneth Kipnis and
Milton Diamond "Pediatric Ethics and the Surgical Assignment of Sex" from
_Journal of Clinical Ethics_(1998)
<http://www.afn.org/~sfcommed/pedethics.htm> and Alice Dreger, "'Ambiguous
sex'--or ambivalent medicine?" from _The Hastings Center Report_ (1998)
<http://www.isna.org/dregerart.html>.
Margaret Duncombe
Sociology and Women's Studies
Colorado College

According to a bit in the _Vagina Monologues_, the last
"recorded"clittoridectomy was perfomed in the U.S. on a five year old girl in
1948.

I always read those "vagina facts" from that book to my wms students.
Brings it all home.
Especially when the majority of the class are voicing opinions in discussion
that sexual discrimmination doesn't exist at all anymore or if it does it's
very rare or minor.
sheesh.

peace
chris tower
Western Michigan University
Women's Studies-English
gmrstudios2   AT   cs.com

There is a fascinating site online which tells in very graphic terms how the
operation is done:
http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/wlgr/wlgr-privatelife253.html

It was a revolting, traumatizing procedure quite obviously meant to put women
in their place!
Lili
pinteareed   AT   aol.com
Dr. Lili Pintea-Reed, Ph.D.
Adjunct Prof. Psy SUNY-Olean/Jamestown/Dunkirk
1000 title Feminist Bibliography
http://members.aol.com/PinteaReed/fem_books.html

I just read the description which is located specifically at:

http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/aetius.html

It is replete with tones of masculine control of women.

In addition, I must say that the use of the euphemism "female circumcision"
really chaps my hide.  Let's call it what it is:  a CLITORIDECTOMY, the
removal of the clitoris.  It is not parallel to removing the foreskin of the
penis, it is parallel to removing the penis itself.

Marnie Enos Carroll
University of Colorado-Boulder

Yes. I use the term "excision," which leaves no doubt that a chunk of the
female genitalia is being amputated. "Female circumcision" implies "cutting
around" instead of "cutting off." And FGM sounds too techno-speak to me;
its meaning gets explained once and then the impact is lost as the acronym
is repeated (what was that again?).

>In addition, I must say that the use of the euphemism "female circumcision"
>really chaps my hide.  Let's call it what it is:  a CLITORIDECTOMY, the
>removal of the clitoris.  It is not parallel to removing the foreskin of the
>penis, it is parallel to removing the penis itself.
>
>Marnie Enos Carroll
>University of Colorado-Boulder

Max Dashu    Suppressed Histories Archives
30 Years of International Women's Studies 1970-2000
 <maxdashu   AT   lanminds.com>

I think female genital mutilation is exactly what it should be called, without
 resorting to acronym.  The use of the acronym does weaken the impact of the
 term.  "Excision" sounds remote from what it really is -- too cold.  I think it
 also implies getting rid of unwanted material in its connotation.  Both
 circumcision and clitoridectomy are also problematic as terms used to cover a
 wide range of practices.  The same thing does not happen to every woman who
 experiences mutilation: the practice ranges from cutting part of the labia
 majora off, to knicking the clitoris, to cutting off all of the surrounding
 flesh, removing the clitoris, and sewing the entire area shut except for a
 small hole.  I think the term "mutilation" carries with it the connotation of
 the violence which is done to women.
Alyson Buckman
Visiting Assistant Professor of English
Illinois College
cataria2   AT   aol.com

Re posts on FGM & terminology
- Yes circumcision is inappropriate - as a recent post said, the equivalent to FGM
is not cutting off the foreskin but cutting off the penis

- Clitoridectomy has the advantage of naming the attack on women's sexuality which
is what FGM is about

- Excision is used in French and I think that is why some people use it in English
(I did in my 1994 article on FGM trials in France - for those interested the ref is
Signs 19:4 - although these days I use FGM for reasons that follow).  I don't think
there's anything untowardly clinical about it, just a bit foreign sounding.  it
does have the advantage of denoting "cutting out" which is what happens, and is
wider in meaning than clitoridectomy which as someone pointed out is not always all
that happens (and sometimes doesn't happen:  the "mildest" forms of FGM - if it is
possible to speak of "mildness" here - involves labial excision only, but this is
pretty rare:  usually the clitoris goes as well)

- Female genital mutilation is undoubtedly the most specific and accurate term.  It
is mutilation, it is genital and it only happens to women (or rather to girls, in
most cases at least).  It is the term used by women campaigning against it in
Australia (and yes I am talking about women whose cultural background is from the
societies where it is practised), as elsewhere e.g. France (both "excision" and
"mutilations sexuelles" are used).

Personally I don't have a problem with using the acronym FGM.  We know what it
means and for those who don't it is possible to explain.  When I write about it I
always spell it out first and then put the acronym in brackets, using it thereafter
(it saves space for one thing, which, unfortunately, is a consideration when one is
writing about feminist issues, whatever the publication one is writing for).
Odd that one comment mentioned the risk of "forgetting" what it means, when, unless
we have suffered some brain damage, we are all capable of effortlessly remembering
the meaning of countless acronyms.  The fact that some fear they will "forget" what
FGM means seems to demonstrate that it is not really considered important enough to
rememberàà

Bronwyn

Somehow my bookmark page was wrong:

The clitorectomy site is:
http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/aetius.html

the process is used unchanged to this day. YEs they cut off the whole
clitoris and in many countries do infibulation which is the cutting and
sewing of the vaginal lips together except for a small hole for menstruating.
Women who work in the clinics in some African locations report having to cut
through the infibulations to deliver the woman's baby at childbirth.

These are utterly horrifying practices.

This whole classics site (browse it a bit) is very interesting in giving
insight into ancient attitudes about women on issues like rape, child care,
infanticide, a woman's place etc.... I find it useful because many women in
the non-western world still live this way.
Lili
pinteareed   AT   aol.com

"Lili Pintea-Reed, Ph.D." wrote:

> ààmany women in
> the non-western world still live this way.

Not only the non-western world!
First, FGM has been for a long time tolerated in most western countries who just
put it into the too hard basket, often swayed by cultural-relativist arguments -
although feminist activism is now changing this, fortunately, with feminist
activists and educators now working side by side with health and legal
professionals and community groups, but because of the complexity of the issues
(the operation performed by women - usually high-status women in the community;
the politics of post-colonial racism in w. countries etc etc etc)  it is a slow
and difficult process.

Second, we would be mistaken if we assumed that mutilation of women is just a
nonwestern practice.  Apart from the "corrective" operations discussed on this
list, labial ablation is also increasingly common among women involved in
pornography and prostitution, to correspond to a pedophile-style aesthetic

Let us also not forget the huge cosmetic surgery industry where women "choose"
to have their bodies mutilated in the name of some warped idea of beauty,
thinness or whatever.  Not to mention all sorts of sexual/gender reassignment
surgery where the problem of sex-role stereotyping to correspond to a masculinst
ethic is addressed not socially or politically but through mutilation of an
individual's genitals.

NB in case this is misinterpreted, I am not condemning any individual who is in
prostitution, who has cosmetic surgery performed on her or who has "gender
reassignment" surgery.  What I *am* doing is questioning why such practices are
on the increase and increasingly culturally acceptable and even promoted.  I am
particular stressing, within the context of this discussion thread, that genital
mutilation is a western issue too.

Bronwyn

i'd like to second Bronwyn's contribution to the discussion on FGM.  It is
very easy for western feminists to uncritically condemn the practice or to
see it outside of the cultural context in which it is practiced.  Like
liposuction, rhinoplasty, and compulsive exercise, I suggest that we look
at it to see it as part of the social/medical/surgical construction of
gender and femininity.  Just because an increasing number of women in the
West pay big bucks to have their vaginas reconstructed or rejuvenated as
the surgeons put it, doesn't introduce choice into the matter or makes it
okay or acceptable.

I'd like to recommend Stanlie James' "Shades of Othering: Reflections on
Female Circumcision/Genital Mutilation" in Signs vol 23 no. 4 (1998)


Susanne Dietzel, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Women's Studies
Tulane University
(504) 865-5248
http://www.tulane.edu/~dietzel

Robert Francoeur also has two articles in one of his latest Taking Sides:
Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Human Sexuality (published by
Dushkin).  One presents the pro side of FGM and the other the con side. The
articles discuss the role of culture in regards to FGM.  Very thought
provoking!

Deb Berke
Messiah College
dberke   AT   messiah.edu
Eustis525   AT   aol.com