Female Circumcision (Female Genital Mutilation)

by Cathleen Mitchell

Female circumcision is practiced in the Sudan, and it has been since the time of the Ancient Nilotic communities in the Sudan and Egypt.

Female circumcision can take many forms, ranging from the removal of a small portion of the clitoris to removing the labia minora and majora, leaving a small opening for urination. The type of circumcision practiced varies according to geographic region and family.

There are many arguments against female circumcision. Criticisms of the practice come from both within the communities in which it is practiced and from the international community at large. Arguments against it include the fact that women often suffer medical problems as a result of circumcision and that it is a violation of human rights to take an aspect of female sexuality away from a woman.

There have been extensive attempts to eradicate female circumcision. The government of the Sudan has banned the most extreme forms of circumcision in an attempt to force people to use the most harmless form if they are going to perform the practice anyway. The government has also encouraged individuals to have circumcision performed in hospitals under the supervision of physicians to avoid the sometimes crude and unsterile methods used by midwives. There have also been extensive educational campaigns, supported both by Sudanese individuals themselves and international women's and human rights groups. These individuals are instructing the Sudanese that the practice is not Islamic and that there are other methods of preserving honor and fidelity. So far, these attempts have been somewhat successful, but female circumcision is still widely practiced in the Sudan.

Female circumcision is a practice which is widely misunderstood. This is not to say that it is a positive practice (although this point is also debated), but only to suggest that it is not a simple custom and must be examined in its complicated entirety. It is a practice which has cultural ties and a discussion of female circumcision is not useful or just without knowlege of the forces which encourage the practice. It is a sensitive issue for many reasons and must be approached as such.

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