ending
of genital mutilation? Yes,
that's exactly what it is. I am so happy for those Nigerian
girls who will now be spared
this cruel and unnecessary invasive procedure. And God bless outgoing President
Goodluck Jonathan for this compassionate stance- even though it
should have
been done earlier in his term as president.
The
ending of genital mutilation was one of my daily prayer petitions. I simply
could not
wrap my head around anyone doing this to young, innocent girls. Sadly, though-this
petition will have to stay on my prayer list. There are other nations who will continue
to mutilate their girls with genital cutting.
I remember seeing a Nicholas Kistof video about this procedure and he
described for us on camera what was going on behind closed doors to one poor young
victim. We know that she was being held down while the cutting was done by a woman wielding
a knife. Who would ever be willing to perform this cruel "surgery?" Maybe those who
do feel it would be better done by a woman than a man.
I don't remember if we heard the victim's most certain painful screams, but
I knew that she certainly must have screamed at the top of her lungs since there was no
anesthesia or drugs being used to to help numb her from what must have been excruciating
pain. What amazes me most is that this is still happening in the 21st
century.
I never knew exactly why this horrible practice was being done in the first
place but TakePart's News Editor Shaya Tayefe Mohajer did and said that "Female
genital mutilation, ....is a difficult custom to curb in the communities where it still
flourishes. It's advocates believe the procedure helps future husbands control women, reducing their
sexual appetite
and makes them more docile and marriageable."
How terribly, terribly sad and unjust. It's all about the man's needs and
no concern whatever of the woman's. Even though the United Nations passed a resolution in
December 2012 for member nations to ban the practice, she notes that attitudes shift more
slowly than law.
In some states in Nigeria the UN estimates that about 25 percent of girls
and women between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone genital cutting. But Mohajer reports
that it is even more pervasive in Guinea, Egypt, and Somalia where more than 90 percent of
girls and women undergo genital cutting. For people of prayer, please join me in prayer
that one day this
horror will completely stop.
I've often wondered why Africa and some countries in the Middle East where
this patriarchal culture exists are so backward. And Mohajer points out that it is the
belief of activists that the FGM cutlure which oppresses women has kept economic growth back as
well. This makes sense to me. Only when education and freedom for women and girls in
developing societies are closely linked will there ever be growth and prosperity in the
countries which so long have denied women their rights.