For Kurdish Girls, a Painful Ancient Ritual

[RamboLiberal]

TUZ KHURMATU, Iraq -- Sheelan Anwar Omer, a shy 7-year-old Kurdish girl, bounded into her neighbor's house with an ear-to-ear smile, looking for the party her mother had promised.

There was no celebration. Instead, a local woman quickly locked a rusty red door behind Sheelan, who looked bewildered when her mother ordered the girl to remove her underpants. Sheelan began to whimper, then tremble, while the women pushed apart her legs and a midwife raised a stainless-steel razor blade in the air. "I do this in the name of Allah!" she intoned.

As the midwife sliced off part of Sheelan's genitals, the girl let out a high-pitched wail heard throughout the neighborhood. As she carried the sobbing child back home, Sheelan's mother smiled with pride.

"This is the practice of the Kurdish people for as long as anyone can remember," said the mother, Aisha Hameed, 30, a housewife in this ethnically mixed town 150 miles north of Baghdad. "We don't know why we do it, but we will never stop because Islam and our elders require it."

Kurdistan is the only known part of Iraq --and one of the few places in the world--where female circumcision is widespread. More than 60 percent of women in Kurdish areas of northern Iraq have been circumcised, according to a study conducted this year. In at least one Kurdish territory, 95 percent of women have undergone the practice, which human rights groups call female genital mutilation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122802005.html?hpid=topnews

This sick practice needs to be stopped! I wish I knew how the hell to stop it. This sure needs to be a world wide effort!

[mrreowwr_kittty]

1. But...but...but...it's their CUUUUUUULTURE!!

We mustn't judge. :puke:

[silverojo]

11. "Culture" is an excuse to do horrible things

Slavery used to be part of American "culture", and that was wrong, too.

What makes me sick is that, if you ARE going to do something that insane for "religious reasons", is it really going to kill them to give the poor kids a fucking anesthetic?

Sick, sick, SICK!!!!

[Schema Thing]

2. Sometimes I just have to turn my mind off.

[Warpy]

3. Calling it "circumcision" is minimizing it

An equivalent operation in males would be to remove half the penis, leaving a stump with few nerve endings.

It might work, but it wouldn't be any fun and there would be a lot more physical problems down the road from infection and other complications.

It's a barabaric practice and Muslims aren't the only ones who have done it, although they're the majority now.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Whilei ts not PC to tie this barbaric practice to Islam, but are there

any non-Islamic countries where it is common practice? Why aren't the mullahs and muftis taking a strong public stand against this. Its clearly not inline with Islamic teaching.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

19. this is not an islamic practice. this practice used to be in the region much before islam

and there is no justification for it in islam.

[Warpy]

26. It predates Islam and is not part of the written law

It's a hideously barbaric tribal practice as old as Satan.

[Chulanowa]

27. I'd first wonder what counts as "Islamic country"

after all, there's lots of Muslims everywhere, and lots of non-Muslims everywhere, so the definition gets a little vague. But yes, this sort of practice happens over a broad swath of Africa - primarily among Christians and people practicing regional religions, with Somalia being the main area of African Muslim FGM. It's not unknown in Hindu India, and a few Chinese ethnic groups have similar practices. Clitoral circumcision (that is, removal of the clitoral hood, rather than total mutilation) was practiced in many Australian aboriginal cultures as a rite of passage for women, just as male circumcision was - And I can't imagine either procedure is fun for an adult in a culture where the blade is made out of a n oyster shell...

In Islamic countries, FGM is generally a "backwater" practice. Oddball tribes, rural bumpkins, or social outcasts. Most middle eastern governments treat it as a crime like any other child abuse - but due to the nature of it along with the decency laws most of these nations have, it's very hard to enforce.

One of the weirdest things is that in nearly every culture, it's the mothers and grandmothers and aunts who insist on and perform the act. Now I can't speak for most guys, but I imagine the overwhelming majority of people with the Y chromosome on this planet appreciate the clitoris. Some of us may need a roadmap and a Sherpa to find it, but we like that it's there and what it does. So why do the women in these cultures insist on it? I have no frigging idea. In my mind it seems like a petty perpetuation - "I had to undergo this shit so I'm not letting my daughter off the hook" or something.

As for Islamic leaders speaking out against it...
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/sudan_29886.html - Sheikh Ali Hashim Al Siraj of Sudan
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=qw1164191580485B221 - assorted African and Egyptian muslim scholars
http://fgmnetwork.org/news/show_news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1197837918&archive=&template= - Dutch Imams
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HXI/is_/ai_n25077292 - a Swedish Imam
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=77396 - Dr Ahmend Talib

Generally, whenever you start speaking the phrase "Why don't Muslims speaks up..." you should stop, close your mouth, and hit the google. You'll always find that Islamic leaders, scholars, and laity have spoken up about the concern you have, and most are going to be in agreement with you. There's just no money in Western Media to portray Muslims as having any sense of ethics.

[awoke_in_2003]

33. I can speak for this guy...

I didn't let them circumcise my son, I would rather have my head cut off than let that happen to my baby girl.

[Chulanowa]

36. Definitely

But let's not turn this into a male circumcision thing. Those things always turn into massive flame wars for some reason.

[awoke_in_2003]

37. Yeah, makes you wonder why.

I guess when one desert dogma does it, it is okay.

[Crunchy Frog]

42. As someone who is pregnant with twin boys

If it happens to either of them, the perp will be recieving a bullet in the crotch.

[awoke_in_2003]

44. Congrats on the twins....

but wow, that is going to be fun. One boy at a time is tough, but two? :)

[Crunchy Frog]

46. Thank you. I have no idea how I'm going to manage it.

:)

[lala_rawraw]

17. right... i fully agree

there is also the variation in several countries where the female child's outer area is sewn shut until her marriage... it is absolutely vile.

[fudge stripe cookays]

28. Sewn shut...with thorns...

{{{shudder}}}

I read this in Geraldine Brooks' amazing book "The Nine Parts of Desire."

[lala_rawraw]

38. Alice Walker has done loads on this topic

she has a foundation as well... the name escapes me at the moment, but google it.

[fudge stripe cookays]

39. Thanks for the tip.

I'll check it out.

[Aristus]

51. I don't know the name of the foundation, but her book on the subject is called

"Warrior Marks".

Co-written with Prahtiba Parmar.

[Mad_Dem_X]

23. Exactly. n/t

[DavidMS]

29. The two things that amaze me about this barbarism..

is that our domestic christian right doesn't think its a good idea, and that its taken so long to stamp out.

400 CE wants their barbarism back...

On the bright side, the article did note that some religious authorities in Kurdistan are starting to question the Islamic correctness of the practice. My hope is that an increasing number of religious leaders will declare it conflicts with their religion.

[awoke_in_2003]

32. If you have seen the online

vids of circumcisions done by licensed doctors, it is every bit as barbaric. Ah, the glories of desert dogmas from the bronze age :sarcasm:

[Warpy]

40. Oh, please, there is no comparison

and to suggest there is a comparison is insulting.

The equivalent to male infant circumcision would be hymenotomy in girls.

[Crunchy Frog]

43. The anatomies are very different, and there really is no analogous procedure.

However, a circ on a newborn boy can easily remove over half of the skin on his penis, including the area with the highest concentration of nerve endings. Very invasive surgery in its own right, and in no way comparable to slitting a girls hymen. That would probably be more comparable to a frenulotomy in a male.

[awoke_in_2003]

45. They are both barbaric acts...

derived from bronze age beliefs. Neither should be done.

[Muttocracy]

4. that's not a midwife, that's a violent attacker. nt

[glowing]

5. I bitch a lot about the awful country and mess we are in.. but really, in

perspective, I'm lucky to live in a much more tolerant country.. my god, that description hurt me.. how can you be a reporter and sit there and watch that... I'd be grabbing that child and running with her until they killed me.

[rockymountaindem]

6. Well, that's something I didn't know before

I had a floormate in my college dorm who was an Iraqi of Assyrian heritage. He told me that the Assyrians and Kurds have a long-running feud and told everybody that the western media largely ignores anything that the Kurds do wrong just because they were against the Hussein regime (for the record, my acquaintance hated Saddam with a passion). Maybe he was on to something. I had no idea that the Kurds did FGM as regular practice.

[hyphenate]

7. And just remember:

No local or general anesthesia, either. The pain would be enough to send more into complete shock for quite a while. And in addition, when the child reaches menses, the additional pain from that is not going to help these girls enjoy sex down the line. In fact, I have heard that the many of the sick bastards they marry have a sadistic joy of ripping the woman's genitalia apart to prove that they're virgins when they get married. If that doesn't place women far down on the list of "chattel" of the male of the species, than nothing else will. Bastards who allow this to continue are the scum of the earth.

[Chulanowa]

8. "We don't know why we do it, but we will never stop because Islam and our elders require it."

Bitch might want to take another look at her religion before she goes making nutbar claims about it. Also the whole "We don't know why we do it" would, to me, imply a perfectly damn good reason for not doing it.

[sui generis]

21. just because it's always been done that way

doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid.

Unfortunately, conservative traditionalist cultures always opt in favor of the incredibly stupid, which is why they remain marginal economic and social backwaters.

[awoke_in_2003]

35. Self delete: possibly inflammatory. nt

[hyphenate]

10. Some articles I found that talk about the practice

I first read an article from Reader's Digest about it quite some time ago. It was an account of a Somali woman who had had it done when she was young. Even Iman, the model, had it done to her.

Anyway, here are a few articles at the free Google article repository:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Female+sexuality+today%3a+challenging+cultural+repression-a0125886438

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Testimony+of+a+lifetime+volunteer%3a+%22these+have+been+30+years+of+...-a0157361596

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ugandan+community+outlaws+female+circumcision-a01611209331

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Iraq's+Kurdish+areas+prepare+to+ban+female+circumcision-a01611224849 (this one is specifically about the Kurd women)

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Grass-roots+effort+fights+'cutting'+girls-a01611130032

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Female+genital+mutilation%3a+exploring+strategies+for+ending+ritualized...-a0180028784

[Solly Mack]

12. FGM predates Islam so linking it to her religion (Islam) shows ignorance

and that ignorance is necessary for control..and FGM is about the control of women

Whether cloaked in religion or culture...it's nothing but the control of women


http://www.un.org/geninfo/faq/factsheets/FS3.HTM
http://www.munfw.org/archive/50th/who2.htm

[Duppers]

24. yes, but you read what the MOTHER said

she feels this is her religious duty! It's always cloaked in religion and they buy it!


"God Hates Women"
http://www.buffalobeast.com/121/godhateswomen.htm

[acmavm]

13. Here's a project for that worthless tit Laura bush**. She can spend her

remaining time on the national scene talking about barbaric behavior like this.

Nah! Why would she do something worthwhile this late in the game.

[Rebubula]

14. To be fair...

...The entire world has turned a blind eye to this barbaric practice. For reasons of not wanting to 'offend someone else's culture' - no politician of note has ever stood up (as far as I know) and condemned this practice and the culture of female oppression behind it.

Anyway...please let us try to get through the next month without either of the Bush morans saying or doing anything else...

[snot]

15. If there were ever a just reason for invading a country

this would be it; and you can bet that if there were a country/culture that routinely castrated its boys, we'd have come to their rescue long ago.

I'm not saying I want us to invade; I'm just appalled at the disinterest.

[mt13]

20. hear hear!

i couldn't agree more!

[HillWilliam]

16. This practice is also prevalent in Africa

and the other thread posters are correct: it's largely about controlling and oppressing women. The conditions under which these attacks occur are appalling. The "instruments" can be as little as pieces of glass or tin-can lids. There is no anaesthesia and girls have no say or no recourse.

The day shit like this stops, the human race will take a giant step toward humanity. Otherwise, our species will probably be stuck on this mudball, sitting in our own shit and flinging it at one another until we extinguish ourselves as a Bad Idea™.

Read Alice Walker's Temple of My Familiar if you want an eye-opener. I'm a Walker fan and had been reading the succession of works from Color Purple on that continue and expand on that particular work. Read the works in succession -- it'll blow your ever-loving mind.

[LeftishBrit]

18. Amnesty International campaign against this horrible practice

www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against-women/female-genital-mutilation--fgm/page.do?id=110843... ·

[Mad_Dem_X]

22. Jesus...I can't even begin to imagine

someone doing that, especially to a little girl. This is sick and disgusting! Just reading about it makes me want to scream.

[Jester Messiah]

25. Fucking barbarians.

[Baby Snooks]

30. But they have all that oil!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is all that matters. The oil. If the Kurds are a little brutal, well, you know, gotta keep the price at the pump as low as possible. And it's our oil now. Not theirs. So who cares? As long as we have the oil.

Now what were we saying about Saddam Hussein gassing all the innocent Kurds? Who really are not so innocent. Any more than the Taliban is.

And of course who put the Taliban in power? The Taliban wasn't really so bad. They gave Ken Lay the rights to that oil and gas pipeline to transport all the oil and gas from Russia to India in so we could bypass the Persian Gulf when the Persian Gulf countries called for another embargo after we invaded Iraq and Iran until we could extend the pipeline through Iran and Iraq and then, after we invaded them as well, either Syria or Jordan and refine it all at Haifa. In Israel. The pipeline that someone put Enron out of business to get. The pipeline no one talks about. But is still planned.

Everyone in this country really is a little slow. Or just a little stupid. And I bet you think Barack Obama will stop this.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. And these are the Iraqis who are "our allies"

:eyes:

The ones who have established "democracy."

[awoke_in_2003]

34. "We don't know why we do it"

this is why religion still exists in this world. Willful ignorance.

[Crunchy Frog]

41. I wonder if it's any less painful when they do it to the boys.

I know I'm going to get flamed for saying it, but I really don't care. I'm just curious to know if anyone has looked at the actual pain differential involved (for Kurdish children, male and female).

[Recursion]

47. I don't want to open that can of worms, but some crucial differences

1) It's done to boys way, way, way earlier than to girls. When you do it to girls who are starting or about to start puberty it is a very direct and explicit sexual violence that is meant to make them threatened by their own sexuality. It's done to boys before memories even start forming in most places. Now, in a few places it's done at the beginning of puberty for boys, but that still leaves the following differences even there:

2) A man's pleasure in sex is not decreased (and is arguably slightly increased; hard to objectively measure, though) by circumcision; a woman's pleasure in sex is definitely decreased by genital mutilation.

3) There is arguably an hygienic element to male circumcision, which is absent in FGM.

[Crunchy Frog]

48. Not in Muslim countries.

Boys and girls are done at pretty much the same ages, with pretty much the same instruments, and with pretty much the same painkillers, or lack thereoff. In many cultures it's treated as a puberty ritual for both sexes.

There is a lot of diversity in types of female mutilation, and in the reasons given. Many of these cultures believe that they are doing it for hygeinic purposes. In Indonesia and Malaysia, it's often no more than a tiny slit on the clitoral hood which has almost no long term effect on the womens' sexuality long term. Actually, in those particular countries it's often done to girls only a few weeks old, while the boys are done at around 7 or 8 years.

It's very hard to generalize about any of these practices.

[Recursion]

49. Well, I'm not up in arms against Indonesia

The Indonesian female circumcision is, as far as I know, as harmless as the male circumcision.

[Crunchy Frog]

50. So you are up in arms about countries where they do it to older boys

without anesthesia or sterile instruments? That would be quite a lot of the Muslim world, and much of Africa. And actually, what they do in Indonesia is probably less harmful than the male version, as no actual tissue is removed.