good story at Salon:-
http://www.salon.com/life/violence_against_women/index.... "The American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested a new way to fight female genital mutilation in the
United States: Allow doctors to give girls a "nick" down there. In a policy statement titled "Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors," the Academy suggests that allowing such a ritual could serve as a way to "build trust" with immigrant families and prevent parents from sending their girls overseas for far more extensive, and potentially life-threatening, procedures. It's a "possible compromise to avoid greater harm," the statement says."
I always thought this was a commonsense solution to the problem. An Egyptian ex-gf of mine had been circumcised by having the clitoral hood removed (as an adult). Most women in Egypt get this done for hygienic reasons as much as anything - the clitoral hood secretes smegma in much the same way was the male foreskin does. It certainly didnt impair her in any way sexually, quite the opposite in fact.