Why I am against female circumcision
I would first like to say, that even though there have been other opinion pieces written either anonymously or with pseudonyms that have appeared in the media that many people have mistakenly attributed to me, I do not want to take credit where it is not due. This is the only piece I have written on female circumcision so far.
I was 24 years old when I first heard that female circumcision was practised in Sri Lanka by my community, the Muslims. After my shock and horror at the news, I wondered why I had never known this before.
The answer is simple. In Islam, it is common knowledge that young boys and male infants are circumcised, similar to Jewish infants. When a Muslim boy is circumcised at seven years old – though increasingly, many parents are opting to circumcise them at infancy-there would be a large celebration with parties lasting for a week. The boy would receive gifts and be the centre of attention during that time. But a Muslim baby girl or girl child is always circumcised in secret. That is why it took so long for me to discover that such a practice existed in my own community.
Often, even the parents of the child are not involved in the decision-making concerning circumcision, nor are they present in the room. A grandmother, mother-in-law or older family female member would be in charge of overseeing the procedure. An old woman who generally also shaved the baby’s hair would carry out the procedure. And I believe it was done on the 40th day after birth for infants. I am still in the dark about what exactly the procedure is. What is taken off, what is kept back, what instrument is used, how long it takes, where it is done, etc etc. To tell you the truth, I still don’t know. But doesn’t the secrecy point to the dark truth? And the reasons behind this shroud of secrecy are why I am against female circumcision.
I believe it is a woman’s right to control her body. This means that should any permanent change be enacted on her physical person, it should be done with her consent. But what if, as the community tells us, circumcision is a religious obligation? What if they tell you that you are not a Muslim if you are not circumcised? Those are two frightening threats for a Muslim woman to face. She surely wouldn’t want to condemn her daughters to that fate. If it is surely true, that it is a religious obligation, then let us look at the reasons for that belief.
Female circumcision is not in the Holy Quran. Supporters of female circumcision relate Hadiths or sayings of the Holy Prophet that support female circumcision. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the way hadiths came about, they were collected orally and written down some 200 years after the Holy Prophet’s death. Hadiths are divided into ‘weak’ hadiths and ‘strong’ hadiths and there is also a list of fabricated hadiths. There are three or four hadiths related to female circumcision – they are all weak hadiths. If it is obligatory in Islam, why is it that there are many Muslim countries that do not practise female circumcision? And why are there non-Muslim African countries that practise it, as a tribal custom. Given the lack of documentation and knowledge regarding this, we have no idea when female circumcision came to Sri Lanka, nor what is done when it happens.
There is another reason for female circumcision being practised by the Muslims of Sri Lanka. Early on, as soon as I discovered this practice existed, I was told by my grand-aunt and older aunts that it was done to curb a woman’s sexuality. So that she would be satisfied by only her husband and not want sex too much and stray. It was apparent that female circumcision was a blatant attempt to control a woman’s sexuality.
Today however, the story seems to have changed. We are in an age of open access to information where equality is quickly becoming a universal byword and now the pro-circumcision lobby has awoken to a new public relations persona. It is no longer politically correct to say that female circumcision is done to curb a woman’s sexuality. Instead, the story has done a 180 degree turn. They now say it is healthier and sexually beneficial to a woman.
If indeed it is healthier, I wonder why only Muslim women are subject to the practice? If it is healthier, I wonder why it is done in secret. If it does enhance sexual pleasure, why are Muslim women not even told they have been circumcised when they are ready to be given in marriage? (I use the phrase ‘given in marriage’ deliberately). Isn’t it ironic, that for much of their life Muslim women are policed in every form, be it dress, behaviour or movement and brainwashed to be chaste virgins before marriage, and yet be given an incongruous advantage at birth or a very young age, that will make them sexual vixens once they get their first taste of sexual pleasure!
In addition, no one really knows whether sex is better after circumcision because there is no-one to confirm this fact. Unless you know what sex is like before circumcision and then you know what sex is like after circumcision you will never know the difference. And, if this is really so, I wonder why there aren’t hordes of women – instead of men – encouraging us all to be circumcised because the sex is just mind blowingly good! What anyone can find out instead is that circumcised women feel more sensitive during sex, that because they don’t have a protective covering over their clitoris, it might even be painful to have direct stimulation.
Moreover, removal of the clitoral hood can cause permanent injury to the dorsal nerves of the clitoris. The World Health Organisation classifies hoodectomy (which is what the public relations bureau of the pro-female circumcision lobby in Sri Lanka call it to deflect criticism) as Female Genital mutilation Type 1 A. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommends that women seeking such types of surgeries be fully informed of the potential health risks of infection, pudendal nerve damage, resulting in an over-sensitive or insensitive vulva, painful coitus, and of adhesions and scars.
A Sri Lankan infant or little girl of 7-8 cannot be fully informed of what is going to happen to her and its consequences. If all the reasons they cite are true, why is the pro-female circumcision body resistant to raising the age of performing these procedures to 18 and above? It is very likely they resist, because they know that once an 18-year-old girl starts reading up on religious literature and medical literature, she is not going to want to do it. So then, how different is this from child abuse?
One might ask why Muslim women are suddenly vocal on this issue. Female circumcision is not an easy topic to talk about. Even if many Muslim women knew about it earlier, they would not have been keen to reveal it because there is, to be honest, an element of shame surrounding the topic. Something was done to us without our knowledge and we certainly don’t feel comfortable talking about it. But if we don’t, it will continue to be done to other little girls and baby girls and it will perpetuate a disgraceful practice.
Secondly, I have personally heard criticism that this change towards prohibiting female circumcision can only come from within the Muslim community where women are traditionally silent. It is a criticism that applies to the reforms of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act as well. So this is a direct plea to my Muslim sisters and brothers. Wake up! This deals with you. This change should come from us. We cannot act like passive victims. We cannot expect non-Muslim civil society to support us actively, even though, thankfully, they may very well support us in other ways. We cannot expect anything from our successive governments who are frightened of the possibility of losing votes and being charged with communal discrimination. We have to rely on ourselves.
Right thinking Muslim women and men need to get together and make ourselves heard. Stop listening to half-baked pundits and start learning about your own rights within Islam. History has proven that the extremists are convinced enough to make their twisted points of view regarding life, faith, politics, women, and numerous other topics, heard. But the moderates are silent. If we are silent, nothing will change. If nothing will change, we are condemning another generation of unwitting children to female circumcision. And if they are condemned, of what use are we?