Eritrea bans Female Circumcision, Anthropologists say...?

[entropy_rising]

Guardian Unlimited's Breaking News section informs us that Eritrea has banned female circumcision. The process of female circumcision, for those of you who may not be familiar, comes in many different forms, ranging from the removal of the clitoris to sewing the labia majora together, only leaving a small opening for urination and menstrauation,

Comments

[sophiedb]

Interesting question. I helped in a Kenyan school for a summer during uni (undergrad), but the trip was all about the school, not anthropology - I was concentrating on bio anth rather than social anyway :)

One day we - along with the rest of the village - were invited to a FM ceremony/party, and suddenly I was transported back to my interview.. the tutor had asked what I would do if put in exactly that position, not that I can remember the answer. Either way we went and discovered that our main purpose (from the mother's POV) was to take photos - of the party, not the procedure itself, though I was asked inside. Couldn't face it myself, and I'd already spent half the morning explaining that no I hadn't gone through any such thing because it wasn't our tradition, yadda yadda (while my Jewish teammate relaxed in the knowledge that he was considered a real man *lol*). Whether any of this was the best thing to do, I have no idea, but it was the best I could come up with at the time - we were guests after all.

I also remember there being one girl who was very jealous of the two under the knife, because her dad (the local pastor) didn't believe in FM and wouldn't condone it.. as far as she was concerned this meant that she wasn't a woman and would have a very hard time finding a husband in the local area. From her point of view, the pain was temporary while the stigma would last forever.