The health complications of female genital mutilation are both immediate and delayed and are referred to as the "three feminine sorrows": the sorrows on the day of mutilation or circumcision, the wedding night when the opening must be cut and the birth of the baby when the opening must be enlarged." (Fourcroy)
Most Somali women suffer throughout their lives and they abstain from protesting against circumcision because they believe that it is a vital part of their lives and of Somali tradition.
The women that are circumcised from an early age don't go through physical pains only. One of the most horrible parts of the practice of circumcision is that their own families harm them. Across their lives the women are traumatized by the event and they feel that their relatives had deceived them.
Older Somalis believe that the practice is perfectly normal and they see no reason for why it should be stopped. It is usual in Somalia for a father to happily accept his daughter to be mutilated for her own presumed well-being. The general belief is that if the girl is not circumcised when the time comes the whole community would suffer as a result.
Somalis are regarded by the rest of the world as being a peace-loving community, where freedom reigns. Unlike the rest of the world, their people have not changed much across times. Thus, most cultural values and traditions have been kept. However, there are many Somalis that have left their usual traditions for more modern practices. One can often see a Somalis that owns a business or another that is highly literate and teaches at a university. (Mohamed Diriye 2001)
Yet, despite having evolved and adopted more contemporary habits, most Somalis have been firm on keeping the female circumcision tradition. Because female circumcision is prohibited in most countries, the people that want their daughters circumcised need to return to Somalia in order to do so.
Though the act is banned from being performed in most countries, there are some Somalis people that illegally perform it without...
The girls that dare to speak about their experiences are liable to receiving inhuman treatments as a result. Somalis communities prefer to keep the practice a secret when it is performed illegally, and, they can become very aggressive if someone decides to talk. (Jo-Ann Goodwin & David Jones)
Goodwin and Jones have met and interviewed a 15-year-old girl that has been circumcised by the members of her community. The girl has had the courage to speak of the horrors that happen because of people that are absurdly obsessed with tradition. The two reporters estimate that more than 60,000 women in Britain have been subjected to such forms of mutilation. African communities have decided that it would be easier for them to bring people that were professional cutters than to return home. (Goodwin & Jones)
Traditions are fundamental when considering the cultural unity of a certain community. However, the female circumcision is a tradition, which, apart from being unnecessary, is very dangerous and deadly in some circumstances. People should be alarmed by the fact that children are being mutilated in such away all over the globe. The female circumcision custom should definitely be banned and criminalized worldwide.
Works Cited
Diriye, Mohamed. "Culture and Customs of Somalia." Greenwood Press, 2001.
Fourcroy, L. Jean. (1999). "Curbside Consultation." Retrieved March 2, 2009 from American Academy of Family Physicians Web site: http://www.aafp.org/afp/990800ap/curbside.html
Goodwin, Jo-Ann & Jones, David. "Barbarity Y in Our Midst." The Daily Mail (London, England), January 3, 2008.
Pecot, Zipporah. (2008). "Female Circumcision Is NOT Islamic." Retrieved March 2, 2009, from Conversant Life Web site: http://www.conversantlife.com/social-issues/female-circumcision-is-not-islamic
Warsameh, Abdurrahman. (2008)." Female circumcision still alive in Somalia." Retrieved March 2, 2009, from China View Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/21/content_8221611.htm
