Female Circumcision in Egypt
Falon Perez
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: Impact Staff Blogs
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(SEPT 20) In America circumcision of infant boys is normal however the idea of circumcising a female is horrendous and perverse. In Egypt female circumcision is preformed on most women from the ages 7 to 13. To the Egyptians it is the only way to prevent the women from straying from the marriage bed. This is a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation even though some girls do not survive the surgery. A 13-year-old girl recently died during her circumcision - also called Female Genital Mutilation - so the government shut down the clinic that usually handles these kinds of surgeries.
The closing of the clinic stirred a commotion by the Egyptian men. The death of the child was not the concern, but rather the closing of the clinic due to it. With the clinic shut down the girls would be forced to go to the local barber or any other person available to do the surgery.
In 1996 Egypt's Health Ministry put a ban on female circumcision to end the practice. The ban was meaningless because it had too many loopholes in it. In essence it was as if it had never been placed
Women have no power over whether or not they have the surgery because if the don't they will dishonor their family. Sometimes the women are not even told that they are going for the surgery but are told that they are just going for a check up. When they get to the clinic they are put under and when they wake up they can hardly move their legs and some times don't stop bleeding until long after the surgery. The women cannot object to the procedure for fear of punishment. In a Government health survey done in 2005 96 percent of Egyptian women responded that they were circumcised
Today the media covers all aspect of the world and thus more light is being shed on this horrendous act. More people are coming forward and trying to end circumcision of women. Egypt is a place of tradition and changing those tradition takes more time than the women of the country have.
The closing of the clinic stirred a commotion by the Egyptian men. The death of the child was not the concern, but rather the closing of the clinic due to it. With the clinic shut down the girls would be forced to go to the local barber or any other person available to do the surgery.
In 1996 Egypt's Health Ministry put a ban on female circumcision to end the practice. The ban was meaningless because it had too many loopholes in it. In essence it was as if it had never been placed
Women have no power over whether or not they have the surgery because if the don't they will dishonor their family. Sometimes the women are not even told that they are going for the surgery but are told that they are just going for a check up. When they get to the clinic they are put under and when they wake up they can hardly move their legs and some times don't stop bleeding until long after the surgery. The women cannot object to the procedure for fear of punishment. In a Government health survey done in 2005 96 percent of Egyptian women responded that they were circumcised
Today the media covers all aspect of the world and thus more light is being shed on this horrendous act. More people are coming forward and trying to end circumcision of women. Egypt is a place of tradition and changing those tradition takes more time than the women of the country have.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Burnsie
Erin
posted 9/22/07 @ 10:55 PM EST
That is ridiculous and gross.
Tanisha
posted 9/25/07 @ 2:35 AM EST
That is crazy....and unfortunate, because these females can't even speak up for themselves and fight against that. They are basically forced to ruin their bodies. (Continued…)
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