Journal of Medical Ethics

Aber ich hoffe, dass wir uns in weiten Teilen des Hauses einig sind, dass die Beschneidung, die seit Jahrtausenden praktiziert ... wird, schwerlich unter das Verdikt der Sittenwidrigkeit zu fassen ist.

It involves removing and damaging healthy
and normal female genital tissue, and interferes with the natural
functions of girls' and women's bodies.'

It involves removing and damaging healthy
and normal male genital tissue, and interferes with the natural
functions of boys' and men's bodies.'

'FGM has no health benefits, and it harms girls and women in many ways.

'MGM has no health benefits, and it harms boys and men in many ways.

There is no doubt that in whatever form, FGA has its origin and purpose in controlling women.'

In Sierra Leone, Bondo is a society for the women by the women. It is much less about the cutting and much more about larger social notions of womanhood and strength. It is space where women exercise power, exchange deep traditional knowledge of child bearing, and institute community support.

Und ebenso hat, wie ich glaube, die Beschneidung nebst anderen
Gründen auch noch den, die geschlechtliche Lust zu verringern und
dieses Organ möglichst zu schwächen, so dass es diese Handlung
selten vollziehe und möglichst ruhen lasse.
..
Denn ohne
Zweifel wird das Organ schwächer, wenn sofort im Beginne seiner
Erschaffung das zu ihm gehörende Blut vergossen und seine Hülle
weggenommen wird.

Ruth Macklin schrieb:

'That may be true regarding the degree of harm the procedure causes, but it is not true of the origins or the continued symbolic meaning of FGA as a necessity for being an 'acceptable woman,'

Nelson Mandela schrieb:

„In meiner Tradition kann ein Unbeschnittener nicht die Güter
seines Vaters erben, er kann nicht heiraten, er kann keine
Stammesrituale leiten. ... ein nichtbeschnittener Mann gilt
überhaupt nicht als Mann, sondern als ein Knabe.“

Rather than using male circumcision as a benchmark, it might be time to take a less-tolerant stance towards both procedures, the expert argues.

The paper is accompanied by a series of responses, all of them highly critical of the proposal. Two of those commentaries take issue with the original paper’s use of male circumcision as an ethical yardstick, arguing that it too should be either done away with or minimized. “I suggest that children of whatever sex or gender should be free from having healthy parts of their most intimate sexual organs either damaged or removed, before they can understand what is at stake in such an intervention and agree to it themselves,” writes Brian D Earp, a visiting scholar at The Hastings Center Bioethics Research Institute.

When I was six months old, the old folk in my family invited a ‘mak bidan’ to slit my clitoral hood. I was circumcised and wasn’t even aware of it.
When I was nine years old, I witnessed my brother’s circumcision and began asking questions. That was when I found out that Muslim girls were circumcised too, just like the boys.

Muslim girls are cut to make sure they don’t grow up ‘wild’,” I nodded, not understanding the reply.
Someone in the family later explained to me that a female’s clitoral hood when rubbed against her inner garments could bring about sensual feelings that could lead to wild behaviour.
“Why then did God create us with ‘that thing’ if feeling ‘good’ is wrong?” I asked.
No one answered.

“It lowers the sex drive, and protects young girls from committing sin,” they said. “All of us went through it – you, your mom, your grandmother, your aunties, your cousins, everyone!”

Any form of FGM is a violation of a child's rights

They also predicted that legalizing more minimal procedures would generate a litany of legal, regulatory and medical problems.
Global campaigners against FGM said doctors should challenge harmful social norms, not condone them.

"Why would you put a little girl through that? There should be no medicalization of FGM. They (the gynecologists) are completely behind the times.

But experts on medical ethics, commenting on the proposal, said procedures to modify girls' genitals could not be compared to male circumcision

Rights group Equality Now said the "medicalization" of FGM remained one of the biggest threats to its elimination.

"This is very different to male circumcision.

Further discussion of the ethics of male circumcision is beyond the scope of this discussion.

Ruth Macklin schrieb:

Not all cultural traditions deserve respect