Having a CLITORIS: A Sin Or a Crime ....

Is Female Circumcision still practiced in this age and time? Despite cries and agitations for its abolishment, it is quite unfortunate that this babaric act is still practised by some communities in Nigeria.

Female Circumcision also known as Female Genital Cutting(FGC) or Female Genital Mutilation is the partial or total cutting away of the external female genitalia or the removal of the clitoris which is the most sensitive part of a woman's orifice. Female circumcision has been practised for centuries in parts of Africa generally as one of the element of a rite or passage preparing young girls for womanhood and often marriage.

There are so many superstitions surrounding the need for young girls to be circumcised. According to these communities where female circumcision is practised, it is done to arrest the interest and arousal  for sex by the women folk, some say an uncircumcised girl is not fertile
and wont produce children, others say the clitoris will continue to grow as a girl gets older and so it has to be removed, other views are that the external genitalia are unclean and can actually cause the death of an infant  during delivery. While some communities carry out this act just because they have gone through the same rite and want their daughter to experience it. (name other beliefs surrounding circumcision).

Female Circumcision causes a range of health problem. In most countries, female circumcision is performed in unclean conditions by mainly traditional practitioners who may use scissors, razor blades or knives on all of the available girls. Almost every woman or girl who gets circumcised experience bleeding with a lot of health complications.

• Bleeding if the the cut is severe and can lead to death
• infection. Transmission of STIs and HIV because one tool may be used for several procedures without sterilization
• Urinary and reproductive tract infection caused by obstructed flow of urine and menstrual blood
• Trauma - The procedure can be physically and psychologically traumatic because girls are held down during the procedure

Female circumcision i believe is a form of women marginalization, subjugation, extreme form of discrimination  and outright denial of a lady's sexual satisfaction. This practise also violates a persons right to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and the right to life when the procedure results in death. In communities where circumcision is mandatory, those who are not circumcised art treated as social misfit and outcast.Their disassociation from basic communal activities could lead to psychological problems. It is a form of victimization on those who do not wish to be circumcised.

Now i ask, is it a crime to be born a girl with clitoris? is it a sin that i am being created with something that would yield maximum sexual satisfaction to me and my husband? Am i just seen differently just because of some myth and ancient practise surrounding my sex?

Imagine yourself  being tied down, gagged or tied with a rope and your clitoris goes flying off with one slash of a razor. Gosh! i cant even begin to imagine it.Or imagine a girl going through the 3rd type of circumcision where her entire vagina is being scrapped off, i mean SCRAPPED OFF ENTIRELY. After being scrapped off, the vagina is sewed back and a tiny hole is being left for urination, menstruation and sex. HORRIBLE!!!
When such ladies get married they are taken to secluded part where their shouts wont be heard by the communities because the husband will have to create a space in the already SEWED UP vagina to have sex with his wife. Thats not the end, if she gets pregnant, her vagina has to be torn open again for delivery and sewed back after delivery.

Really, Female Circumcison is inhumane, barbaric, wicked, bizarre, cruel and uncalled for. It should be stopped. We would save some lives if we stand and resist this very act.

SHARE YOUR VIEWS ON FEMALE CIRCUMCISION AND EXPERIENCE IF YOU HAVE EVER GONE THROUGH IT..