The Cruelest Cut of All

An estimated 135 million women and children have undergone female genital mutilation or FGM, and approximately 6,000 girls go under a penknife, broken glass, tin lid, razor or scissors A DAY.

Did you know that? I didn't. Not very many people do and that is why Alice Walker wrote Possessing The Secret of Joy.

The story revolves around an African girl named Tashi who decides to go ahead with the female initiation ceremony to keep her culture alive. It's a controversial story, yes but perhaps one that will open the rest of the world's eyes to this practice and why its practitioners are fiercely fanning its flames.

FGM is inhumane. That is irrefutable. But FGM is also performed as a cultural or religious ritual or to gain acceptance within society. All those reasons make it almost impossible to completely and permanently eradicate. How do you pit medical facts against ancient customs? How do you challenge matters of the heart with musings of the mind? How do you convince people who have never even taken cough syrup that their ancestors' beliefs are evil bullshit because some other people living somewhere they can't even pronounce have conducted something called medical research that says so? It's tough.

On one hand, I'm hesitant about beginning Possessing The Secret of Joy simply because of the images that will no doubt creep into my dreams at night. On the other, I can't wait to start because I'm dying to find out why an African woman who is about to leave for America would willingly subject herself to this gruesome process beforehand, despite watching her sister die from its consequences.

We have heard the voice of crusaders against FGM, the voice of supporters and the voice of the victims. Perhaps it's time we hear the voice of a volunteer. Perhaps it's the most important voice we'll hear.

Note:
Here are some other reasons behind FGM:
- if the clitoris touches the penis, the man will die. if a baby's head touches the clitoris, the baby will die or the breast milk will be poisoned.
- removing the clitoris will eliminate bad genital odours
- an unmodified clitoris can lead to masturbation or lesbianism
- prevents nervousness from developing in women and girls
- prevents the face from turning yellow
- so older men will be able to match their younger wives' sex drive