“Female Circumcision: FGM: The devil made them do it.”
When I first went to Nigeria in 1988, I found out about female circumcision. It is a practice that is still widely practiced in Nigeria, in Somalia, in many African countries, in many third world countries, and, increasingly, in Europe and the United States. Here is an article that I have written on the subject: If you want to know more, you may write to us, or call, 715-866-4060. Or, you may google FGM Network on the internet.
“SHOULD WE CIRCUMCISE OUR DAUGHTER?”
John Roy Bohlen
Scientific data and Historical background:
I have been studying the subject of female circumcision since the spring of 1988, during my first trip to West Africa. Since then, I have made 21 trips to Nigeria, 2 trips to the Republique du Benin and Ghana, plus one trip each to South Africa, and Lesthoto.
During this time, I have talked with and/or interviewed a significant number of highly experienced doctors, obstetrical nurses and medical personnel, some of which are the kind of friends who will tell me the truth, without bias. I have also been doing marriage seminars, during which time I have the participants, male and female, answer an anonymous questionnaire, including questions like: “Do you believe in female circumcision?” “If you are a woman, have you been: circumcised.?” “If so, how extensively: (partial clitoris, whole clitoris, plus inner lips, plus outer lips)?” “Frequency of intercourse?” “What % of the time are you able to experience a peak, orgasm, climax?” “How much do you enjoy sex?” If you have daughters, have you had them circumcised?” We explain:
4 Kinds of Circumcision for a Woman
a) Partial clitorectomy, (removal of part of the clitoris), b) complete clitorectomy, c) a plus b, plus the removal of the labia minora, (inner lips) or, d) infibulation, which includes a, b, c, plus the removal of at least part, and sometimes all, of the labia majora, and the sewing of the gaping wound shut, so as to allow a small opening and a scar where the genitals had been. The more nerve endings that are destroyed or cut away, the less pleasure and enjoyment there is for the woman. The scars make the area less resilient, allowing for tearing in childbearing, and often, tetanus or other infection. Sometimes the raw and exposed nerve endings never heal, and cause constant pain.
Our questionnaire asks if the woman is able to experience an orgasm, and if so, what percentage of the time, and the frequency of intercourse. By this means, an increasingly more accurate picture is emerging, of the status of women as to circumcision in West Africa and South Africa, and around the world. I also ask the question: “Have your circumcised your daughters, if any.” On a recent trip to Nigeria, 10 out of 20 women in Ondo State (Akure), said “yes”! In nearby Ekiti State (Ado), 17 out of 18 women said that their daughters had been circumcised. This means that female genital mutilation, or FGM, also known as female circumcision, is common in Nigeria and other African countries, and now, increasingly, in other countries, up to the present day, in spite of laws, literature, teaching and publicity to the contrary. One man explained that his wife had had their daughters circumcised without getting his permission. An enlightened University Professor confided that when their daughters went to visit the grandparents in the village, that the daughters were circumcised without getting the parent’s permission.
5 Occasions For Female Circumcision
There are 5 times in the life of a female when she may be circumcised: 1) at birth, or, 2) at puberty, or before, or, 3) upon becoming engaged to be married, or, 4) after marriage, if the husband is not satisfied with the degree of his wife’s circumcision, or, 5) just before the baby is born, as there is a superstition that the baby will die or be cursed if the head of the baby touches the mother’s clitoris, during birth. This ugly superstition is more stupid than the one about if a person drinks coconut milk, his brain will get weak.