User:Flynnjed/Sandbox3: Difference between revisions

('''NB''' {{Quran|2|195}} - referenced in the quote at the start of this section - forbids suicide and ''self''-mutilation, and is therefore does not apply to FGM)  

The term ''<nowiki/>'Female Circumcision''' is sometimes used by those who consider certain practices as insufficiently harmful or intrusive to merit the epithet 'mutilation' (as in 'Female Genital ''Mutilation').''  

One such practice is the ''"removal of the clitoral hood or a ritual nick on the external female genitalia"''<ref>[https://femalecircumcision.org/a-problem-of-definition-female-circumcision-vs-fgm/ A Problem of Definition: Female Circumcision vs FGM]</ref>. This is sometimes called 'Sunnah Circumcision' (though this term can be used to denote any form of FGM other than infibulation<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233100651_Somali_Women_in_Western_Exile_Reassessing_Female_Circumcision_in_the_Light_of_Islamic_Teachings Somali Women in Western Exile: Reassessing Female Circumcision in the Light of Islamic Teachings] Sara Johnsdotter</ref>). It is mostly practiced by South Asian Muslims, who belong to the Shafi'i school, which makes FGM obligatory and is associated with the most severe form of FGM, infibulation. Sunnah circumcision may have been a way of fulfilling this obligation whilst sparing girls the extremities of infibulation. Infibulation would have been a practice alien to South Asian Muslims, since it is arose with the Islamic slave trade, which largely spared South Asia.<ref>[https://www.librairie-de-flore.fr/produit/esclavage-lhistoire-a-lendroit/ l'Esclavage: l'Histoire à l'Endroit' by Bernard Lugan (2020)]</ref><ref>[https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Forgotten-Slave-Trade-Hardback/p/18473 The Forgotten Slave Trade - the White European Slaves of Islam] by Simon Webb</ref>  

Granted that 'Sunnah Circumcision' is a ''lesser'' mutilation than full clitoridectomy (or excision or infibulation) it nevertheless remains a mutilation because:

*it serves no medical or prophylactic purpose

*it damages the functioning of an important body part (amongst other things, permanent exposure reduces the sensitivity of the clitoris)

*it unnecessarily exposes the child to  health risks, both short-term and long-term<ref>[https://www.who.int/teams/sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-research/areas-of-work/female-genital-mutilation/health-risks-of-female-genital-mutilation Health risks of female genital mutilation (FGM)] WHO</ref>

*it is generally done in needlessly traumatic manner - anaesthetics are generally eschewed<!-- link to FGM as initiation rite -->

*it is practiced on children, who can not give informed consent to such a procedure

*though children can not consent to this procedure, they can ''refuse'' consent or ''withdraw'' it (this is signaled by the child struggling to escape the procedure or begging for it to stop). However this refusal/withdrawal of consent is generally not respected by those carrying out the procedure

If one accepts that ritual male circumcision is not mutilation then their position seems coherent. However, the above-listed characteristics apply equally to male circumcision, and thus male circumcision is a mutilation. The failure of such bodies to classify male circumcision as a mutilation is a political and pragmatic decision, not one based on ethics or an objective evaluation of the practice - the practice is simply too widespread and too accepted for a body such as the WHO to condemn (it is estimated that 38.7% of males are circumcises, with 68% of that figure being Muslim men<ref>[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4772313/ Estimation of country-specific and global prevalence of male circumcision - Brian J Morris et al.] (2016)</ref>).     

The argument that 'Sunnah Circumcision' should be allowed because Male Circumcision is allowed is to argue that because Evil X is tolerated Evil Y should therefore also be tolerated'. The WHO etc should aspire to be consistent by condemning ''both'' practices, not by condoning both.   

'<nowiki/>''NB''' - no-one who practices, or defends, FGM refers to what they do as 'mutilation', not even those who infibulate. This is especially so for Muslims, since the Qur'an appears to forbid mutilation ({{Quran|30|30}}, {{Quran|2|195}} - but see [[User:Flynnjed/Sandbox#The Qur.27an Forbids Mutilation|previous section]]). The line which separates '''''<nowiki/>'''<nowiki/>'justified intervention'<nowiki/>'' and ''<nowiki/>'mutilation''' is therefore always set somewhere beyond the practice being defended. The fact that a Muslim condemns 'Female Genital Mutilation' but on further discussion, reveal themselves to support 'Female ''circumcision'.''