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"We live in a world in which women do not have basic control over what happens to their bodies. Millions
of women and girls are forced to marry and have sex with men they do not desire. Women are unable to depend on the government
to protect them from physical violence in the home, with sometimes fatal consequences, including increased risk of HIV/AIDS
infection. Women in state custody face sexual assault by their jailers. Women are punished for having sex outside of marriage
or with a person of their choosing (rather than of their family's choosing). Husbands and other male family members obstruct
or dictate women's access to reproductive health care. Doctors and government officials disproportionately target women from
disadvantaged or marginalized communities for coercive family planning policies." -HRC Watch 2004
An estimated 135 million girls have undergone Female Genital Mutilation. That is approximately
6,000 procedures per day.(Amnesty Int’l, 3) (womynkind.org)
You are more likely to get killed, injured, or physically attacked in your own home by someone
to whom you are related than in any other social context. Dr. Richard Gelles "Parents Magazine" Sept. 1984
Nearly 6 million wives will be abused by their husbands in any one year. Time magazine Sept.
5 1983
80% of the male participants in a Minneapolis, MN violence-control program grew up in homes
where they saw or were victims of physical, sexual or other abuse. Time 7/4/94
Violence appears to become a family behavior over time. About 1/3 of all battered women report
having grown up in violent families.
Two million women are beaten every year. Time 7/5/94
Every 9 seconds a woman is battered in the U.S.(//www.womynkind.org/edu.htm)
Violence appears to become a family behavior over time. About 1/3 of all battered women report
having grown up in violent families. (//www.womynkind.org/edu.htm)
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Physical Consequences of FGM/FGC:
It is impossible to estimate the number of deaths, since the nature of the operation requires that unsuccessful attempts
be concealed from strangers and health authorities, and a very small proportion of cases of immediate complication reach hospital.
Nevertheless, hospital staff in all the areas concerned are very familiar with last minute and often hopeless attempts to
save bleeding, terrified little girls. Operators are not held responsible by parents if death or infection result from the
operation.
Long-term complications: Chronic infections of the uterus and vagina are frequent,
the vagina having become, in the case of infibulation, a semi-sealed organ. Sometimes a large foreign body forms in the interior
of the vagina as a result of the accumulation of mucous secretions. Keloid scar formation on the vulval wound can become so
enlarged as to obstruct walking. The growth of implantation dermoid cysts as large as a grapefruit is not rare. Fistula formation
(due to obstructed labour -- rupture of the vagina and/or uterus) causes incontinence in later life, so that many mutilated
women are continually dribbling urine. ...
from "Female circumcision, excision, and infibulation: facts and proposals for change (Revised 1983 edition)"
Report No 47 of the Minority Rights Group, 29 Craven Street, London WC2. The identifying number for this series
of reports is ISSN:0305-6252.
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By M.A.S. Mustafa, of Djibouti,
from the thesis of Dr. Alan David
'The little girl, entirely nude, is immobilised in the sitting position on a low stool by at least three women. One of
them with her arms tightly around the little girl's chest; two others hold the child's thighs apart by force, in order to
open wide the vulva. The child's arms are tied behind her back, or immobilized by two other women guests. The traditional
operator says a short prayer: "Allah is great and Mahomet is His Prophet. May Allah keep away all evils." Then she spreads
on the floor some offerings to Allah: split maize, or, in urban areas, eggs. Then the old woman takes her razor and excises
the clitoris. The infibulation follows: the operator cuts with her raxor from top to bottom of the small lip and then scrapes
the flesh from the inside of the large lip. This nymphectomy and scraping are repeated on the other side of the vulva. The
little girl howls and writhes in pain, although strongly held down. The operator wipes the blood from the wound and the mother,
as well as the guests, "verify" her work, sometimes putting their fingers in. The amount of scraping of the large lips depends
upon the "technical" ability of the operator. The opening left for urine and menstrual blood is miniscule. Then the operator
applies a paste and ensures the adhesion of the large lips by means of an acacia thorn, which pierces one lip and passes through
into the other. She sticks in three or four in this manner down the vulva. These thorns are then held in place either by means
of sewing thread, or with horse-hair. Paste is again put on the wound. But all this is not sufficient to ensure the coalescence
of the large lips; so the little girl is then tied up from her pelvis to her feet: strips of material rolled up into a rope
immobilize her legs entirely. Exhausted, the little girl is then dressed and put on a bed. The operation lasts from fifteen
to twenty minutes according to the ability of the old woman and the resistance put up by the child.'
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