Anti-genital mutilation activists getting bumped off?

[Nouroog]

Second model-spokeswoman against genital mutilation disappears.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/07/belgium.model.ap/index.html

[bubba zanetti]

What a disgusting and hideous practice.

[Real Bad Attitude]

+1

[traveler]

I saw that in the news. More than a coincidence? Don't claim to know much about it, but was wondering if there are political and/or religious factors involved.

A seriously disturbing practice for sure, and I am wondering why, in this day and age, it continues to persist. More male dominance of the fairer sex, and reminds me of the way many moslems treat women as less than second class citizens.

Circumcision is a similar practice, imo, and is also widely accepted in many cultures.

[scott-sts]

It's just a cultural thing-like hunting whales.  Nothing wrong with that!

[Nouroog]

I
Circumcision is a similar practice, imo, and is also widely accepted in many cultures.

There's rather a large difference in health consequences in the two practices.

[shah269]

Freaking religious nut jobs! All of them! Should be rounded up and shot!....no that's too good burned alive those little shits!
And why? Simple SPD! Small Penis Disease! These losers are afraid that their girlfriends will find out that they have small wangs and will leave their sorry asses!

[traveler]

There's rather a large difference in health consequences in the two practices.

I think I'll wait for a woman's perspective. But thanks anyway.

[Nouroog]

Easy to find a woman's perspective. It's called Google.

[Open Sore]

It has been reported that she was found alive, and is currently being questioned by the authorities.

[Hardware]

From the article, it sounds more like she went a bit loopy and wandered off - even after interacting with police.

[highside]

I saw that in the news. More than a coincidence? Don't claim to know much about it, but was wondering if there are political and/or religious factors involved.

A seriously disturbing practice for sure, and I am wondering why, in this day and age, it continues to persist. More male dominance of the fairer sex, and reminds me of the way many moslems treat women as less than second class citizens.

Circumcision is a similar practice, imo, and is also widely accepted in many cultures.

This practice does not have a basis in Islam. So you might want to keep the charges of ignorance at bay by checking facts before making such claims.

[redember]

There is a wide range of what counts as FGM (female genital mutilation). Everything from a tiny, ceremonial nick in the clitoris which heals on its own accord to absolutely ALL external genitalia being removed and the vaginal opening sewn up to the diameter of a piece of straw. Obviously, the problems increase the more intensive you get. We have a pretty good African immigrant population here- the most severe FGM tends to be found in Africa- and most OB nurses I've spoken to have had at least one delivery where everyone was trying to figure out how to get the baby out from all the scar tissue, and then how to sew it up when it was done. I've worked with a couple of pregnant women who'd had FGM, but they just delivered via C-section because it was too hard vaginally.

The lightest forms, where there is a ceremonial cut or a small part of the hood is removed, can be analogous to male circumcision. The male equivalent of the worst forms is tantamount to having your penis cut off.

Things ARE improving, as least technically, as more and more countries outlaw the practice. However, it usually occurs in rural, isolated cultures and so is almost impossible to regulate. The "tools" used are glass shards or tin can lids, and the rate of tetanus and infection are huge. A lot of health care workers in the area find themselves with the dilemma of either providing sterile equipment and saving a girl's life but contributing to the process, or divorcing themselves from it completely and having the same complication rates.

It is most common in Africa, with the next most common area being the Middle East. It has nothing to do with Islam itself, although in the areas where it is practiced, the religious leaders are usually encouraging it- this is the case in Africa as well. The reasons for the procedure are often to prevent the girl from being adulterous when she grows up, or a belief that an intact girl can't successfully have sex with her husband. Women are often the ones who push their daughters to have it done, because they fear that without it she won't marry, and in those sorts of societies that is a truly terrible fate for a girl to deal with.

Besides causing a lot of pain and complications for the girls, and completely denying them of any sexual pleasure, it's hell on babies. Babies just cannot be born healthily through that opening. It usually either tears or is cut, leaving the mom with some bad problems, but the opening is so stiff and tight it can cause brain damage. This is the argument that can get through to people who don't really care what the woman suffers.

So that's FGM.

[traveler]

This practice does not have a basis in Islam. So you might want to keep the charges of ignorance at bay by checking facts before making such claims.

Where in my post did I infer or claim that the practice in question had any basis in Islam? Please reread my post, and try using some semblance of comprehension.

[highside]

Where in my post did I infer or claim that the practice in question had any basis in Islam? Please reread my post, and try using some semblance of comprehension.

I saw that in the news. More than a coincidence? Don't claim to know much about it, but was wondering if there are political and/or religious factors involved.

A seriously disturbing practice for sure, and I am wondering why, in this day and age, it continues to persist. More male dominance of the fairer sex, and reminds me of the way many moslems treat women as less than second class citizens.

Circumcision is a similar practice, imo, and is also widely accepted in many cultures.

 

[traveler]

 

You still don't get it. Good luck with the rest of your reading exercises.