Brooke Kivitz

Wm St 379.005

Queer Theory/Queer Lives

 

                        Genital mutilation, both male and female, has been present in many societies since ancient times. Today it is present throughout the world, with some forms being readily accepted into educated western societies. While cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) spark public outcries, it is interesting to note that corrective genital surgeries that occur shortly after birth do not. Female genital mutilation is practiced for many different reasons, including religious belief, cultural practice, control of women’s sexuality and reproductive function, cultural and gender identity, as well as a passage into womanhood. In the United States it is done, not under the name of FGM, but for so called medical reasons. When it is further analyzed the surgeries that are performed are merely to continue the oppression of sexual minorities and to maintain the belief in a societal binary two gender system. There are very few cases where genital mutilation is performed for medical reasons.

                        Female genital mutilation is a term used for removal of all or just part of the external parts of the female genitalia. These procedures are generally a part of African tradition. It is estimated that “between 80 and 114 million girls have undergone some form of FGM, and every year another 2 million girls are forced to submit to it”.[1] Most times this procedure is done without the care of medically trained people, due to poverty and lack of medical facilities.

                        The use of anesthesia is rare. The girl is held down by older women to prevent the girl from moving around. The instruments used by the mid-wife will vary and could include any of the following items: broken glass, a tin lid, razor blades, knives, scissors or any other sharp object. These items usually are not sterilized before or after usage. Once the genital area for removal is gone, the child is stitched up and her legs are bound for up to 40 days.[2]

                        In an FGM society, a girl can not be considered to be an adult until she has undergone this procedure. The main purpose of FGM is to destroy a young woman’s sexual sensation in order to preserve her virginity until marriage and to prevent her from succumbing to sexual temptation after marriage.[3] In most cultures a woman can not marry without FGM. There are also claims that it prevents homosexuality and “beautifies the woman.[4] The type of procedure used will vary with certain conditions and these conditions could include the females’ ethic group, the country they live in, rural or urban areas, as well as their socio-economic provenance. FGM is a culture identity practice. The fact that the procedure helps to define the group is obvious in cultures that carry out this procedure as an initiation into womanhood. Most FGM societies feel that unless a girl has this procedure done she is not a woman. They also feel that removal of these practices would lead to the demise of their culture.[5]

                        In the United States we do not have the aforementioned practices but we do have forms of genital mutilation. A term often associated with Western surgery is Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM). Doctors say about 1 in 2000 babies is born with ambiguous genitalia- neither totally male nor female.[6] Doctors are cutting into about 5 intersexed infants every day.[7] The response of American doctors is to cut them off, simply because they judge a clitoris to be “too large” or a penis to be “too small”.[8] Medicine has established standards for female and male bodies. Girls should have clitorises no longer than about 3/8 inch at birth. Boys should have penises that are about 1 inch stretched length at birth. These infants have no say whatsoever in how their bodies are cut, however doctors contend IGM is for the child’s own good. For parents, the decision about how to proceed is often agonizing and the stakes are high: the wrong choice could trap a little boy inside a girl’s body or create a girl who longs to be a man. There are studies which show that it is possible for a person to feel like a male without a penis. Many of the people who have had IGM done to them feel that it robbed them of their genitals and their sexual feeling. Most who survive IGM are also psychologically scarred for life, while others have committed suicide.[9] Cutting infant genitals to fit heterosexist norms is not medicine; it’s mutilation in every sense of the word.

                        The medical profession has traditionally viewed an intersex birth as a "social emergency," pushing to assign a child's sex immediately and perform corrective surgery as soon as possible, usually at the age of 6 weeks to 15 months.[10] Doctors want to avoid traumatizing parents and help the child grow up normally, without confusion or ridicule. The possible side effects of female genital mutilation are numerous. They include urine retention, hemorrhaging, infection, pain, menstrual complications, infertility, loss of sexual pleasure or inability to perform sexual intercourse, death, and psychological disturbances.[11]

                        A big issue with IGM is that the child on which it is performed does not have a choice in the matter. The Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act does permit genital surgery if it is “necessary to the health of the person on whom it is performed.”[12] Many times what the doctors declare the health of the child is not considered to be a health problem by the individual later in life when they realize what has been done to their body. Activists are now trying to modify the law so that it cannot be performed without the consent of the individual. This bill would prohibit genital mutilation for all persons under the age of eighteen including girls, boys, and the intersexed.[13]

                        In all the cultures throughout the world that practice genital mutilation there are many different claims as to why it should take place. Although the United States performs surgeries for different reasons than other FGM societies we are no different from the others. Those who perform the surgeries see it as a necessary procedure due to the fact that there are only two sexes. They do not see gender as a spectrum ranging between male and female which in reality is how it really is. The desire to produce a sexually “normal” child is the desire to ensure heterosexuality. Heterosexist views dominate our culture which leaves thousands upon thousands lost, feeling as though they do not belong. Instead of embracing difference we find new ways to improve differences to make everyone the same. Instead of looking outside the box we try to make every person fit inside the box. Not only is this harmful to all the “normal” members of society, but it leaves those who are “abnormal” alone and mutilated.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Burn, Shawn Meghan. Women Across Cultures: A Global Perspective.           Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 2000.

 

Donaldson, Lisa. http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Easel/9509/ genital.html. Female Genital Mutilation and Human Rights: An         Essay Examining This Practice in the 21^st Century”. 10     September 2004.

 

Schaffhausen, Joanna. http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/                         Living/Living/intersex_babies_040122-1.html. “Gender Bender:         Our Identity Has Little to Do with Sex Organs, Researchers                  Find.” 10 September 2004.

 

http://www.claycritters.com/intact/proposal.htm. 10 September 2004.

 

http://www.isna.org/drupal/index.php. 10 September 2004.

 

http://www.members.tripod.com?~Wolvesdreams/FGM.html. 10        September 2004.

 

http://www.medhelp.org/www/ais/. 10 September 2004.

 

http://www.grd.org/grd/trans/1996/intersexed.decry.amer.genital.mut ilation-10.14.96. 10 September 2004.

 

http://www.religioustolerance.org/igm_circ.htm. 10 September 2004.