In some societies, Female Genital Mutilation is referred to as circumcision. Most societies who carry out circumcision on babies under eight days while some carry out circumcision on girls who are about to get married. Those who prefer to carry out circumcision on babies do so because the child, they believe, will not have so much pains as when they are done when they are older in ages. Simple treatments like the use of engine oil, prescribed by a Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) who happens to be the surgeon, is used for treatment which will take about eight days to heal. The question here is that "are they sure about the cleanliness of the engine oil not to infect the child?"
For the girl who is about to get married, it is quite evident that she feels all the pains in all the processes of the cutting.
Comparing the circumcision o the baby child and the grown girl, it can be said that the eight days child, though she feels the pains, cannot explain what she is feeling, except through her cries and yearnings, but the older girls can feel every pain as well as explain her experience.
Those who carry out circumcision on their children say they do so so that the child will not have to go into sex work or be found in adultery when married, for short, she should not have a course to feel for sex as much as she should...
The similiarities in the two parties remain that
- Since the surgery was carried out by a TBA, there is likely to be in an improper care, which may lead to profuse bleeding and mortality.
- The insturments or sharp objects used for the surgery or cutting may not have been sterilized before use which can transmit diseases into the patients.
- The TBA is not an expert, he/she does not know much or knows nothing about HIV, and may not be able to spell out how it is gotten or how it could be prevented, so he/she could use sharp objects already used on an HIV patient on another person, thereby tranfering the disease to that person.
Tell me, if a man finds out that the woman he has married rarely has sexual urge and does not enjoy sex with him, will he not find solace outside his wife?
So, to answer the question of what Female Genital Mutilation is, it simply means that the process of circumcision gives way to Female Genital Mutilation. Please send your comments and suggestions.
