Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the name commonly used for an ensemble of ritual practices affecting the sexual organs of girls ranging in ages from a few weeks old to puberty. FGM is practiced in twenty-eight countries of sub-Saharan Africa: its incidence varies widely, from 98 percent of women in Somalia and Egypt, to 50 percent in Benin and Kenya, and 5 percent in Congo and Uganda, according to the Female Genital Cutting Education and Networking Project.

Though commonly used, the label FGM is nevertheless disputed because it implies a negative evaluation of the practice. From the point of view of some people who use these practices, they do not consist of mutilation. For many, this label is an expression of Western prejudice and its lack of respect for and paternalism toward other cultures. Among African populations, the most common term is female circumcision; in the international literature, the term female cutting is gaining wider currency.

This terminological question clearly shows how FGM represents one of the most complex cases of normative pluralism (norms of custom versus norms of law) in contemporary society, which highlights the problems faced by universalist models of law and society and the tensions between feminism and multiculturalism.

FGM consists of many practices that vary by their procedures, physical and psychological consequences, social meaning, and so forth. These practices range from [Page 578]purely symbolic ones (for example, piercing the clitoris), to removal of the clitoris or other external parts of the female genitalia, to the most harmful (infibulation, which, in addition to removing the labia and the clitoris, the vaginal opening is stitched together).

Muslims practice FGM as do some Animists and Christians. Contrary to popular belief, it is not an Islamic precept, but derives from a tradition preceding Mohammed and later adopted by Islam in a form (sunna) that is not considered obligatory, as shown by the absence of the practice in Maghreb countries. In recent years, different Islamic authorities have expressed public opposition to FGM.

The traditional meaning of FGM varies between a rite of passage from childhood to puberty, to a rite of sexual differentiation. In either case, it corresponds to a central moment in the woman's life, celebrated with important ceremonies. According to the myths of various populations, the uncircumcised individual is neither male nor female. Those societies that practice female excision typically practice male circumcision as well, and according to many, these practices should be treated together. The belief is that the original, undifferentiated state of nature is overcome through the intervention of culture, without which human beings cannot join together and hence procreate.

Gender differentiation, which in the West usually occurs through education, here is marked on the body. One could state that FGM represents a “total social fact” whose symbolic meanings can only be understood from within. It is nevertheless clear that it involves several dimensions of difference between Western and African cultures: the position of women with respect to men, of parents with respect to children, of the individual with respect to the group and his or her own body.

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