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All these factors correlate with increased neglect of, and violence towards, children, either from the father or from step-mothers. Data from 22 sub-Saharan African countries finding that children of (rich) polygynous families were 24.4% more likely to die compared with children of (poor) monogamous families. Fathers have less involvement with their many wives, and even less involvement with their even more numerous children . Islam encourages parents, relatives and teachers to treat and discipline children in ways that are considered unnecessarily harsh in the non-Muslim world. All this and the physical violence and wife-beating that is common in polygynous/Islamic families normalises the cruelty of FGM. | All these factors correlate with increased neglect of, and violence towards, children, either from the father or from step-mothers. Data from 22 sub-Saharan African countries finding that children of (rich) polygynous families were 24.4% more likely to die compared with children of (poor) monogamous families. Fathers have less involvement with their many wives, and even less involvement with their even more numerous children . Islam encourages parents, relatives and teachers to treat and discipline children in ways that are considered unnecessarily harsh in the non-Muslim world. All this and the physical violence and wife-beating that is common in polygynous/Islamic families normalises the cruelty of FGM. | ||
==FGM as | ==FGM as a Rite of Passage== | ||
Islamic FGM is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a ' | Islamic FGM is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a 'Rite of Passage'. FGM is functional (as a chastity assurance measure) and technical (its performance is more in the nature of, for example, a visit to the dentist than a religious service) whereas Rites of Passage are essentially symbolic. The FGM practiced where Islamic influence is weakest (e.g. coastal West Africa) often takes on aspects of initiation ritual. The Islamic anxieties around 'purity' are, for example, entirely absent from the the FGM practiced by the Liberian Sandé. | ||
Rite of Passage are marked by three stages: '''Severance''' - where the initiand breaks with previous people, practices and routines; '''Transition''' - the creation of a ''tabula rasa'' through the removal of previously taken-for-granted forms and limits. The rite follows a strictly prescribed sequence, under the authority of a master of ceremonies. The destructive nature of this rite allows for considerable changes to be made to the identity of the initiand. And '''incorporation''' - the initiand is re-incorporated into society with a new identity, as a “new” being with a higher social status. <ref>[https://www.liquisearch.com/liminality/rites_of_passage/arnold_van_gennep Liminality - Rites of Passage - Arnold Van Gennep]</ref>'''<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.26-041314/https://courses.lumenlearning.com/culturalanthropology/chapter/rite-of-passage/ Rite of Passage]</ref>''' Islamic FGM lacks the element of Severance as it generally occurs at home or hospital<ref>'[http://archive.today/2021.04.26-080016/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/nov/18/female-genital-mutilation-circumcision-indonesia The day I saw 248 girls suffering genital mutilation' by Abigail Haworth, The Guardian (2012)]</ref> with family members present and often participating<ref>[http://archive.today/2021.04.26-080404/https://www.nowtolove.com.au/health/diet-nutrition/the-final-cut-can-we-end-female-genital-mutilation-12912 I was 7 when I was mutilated while my aunt held me down]</ref>; there is not the 'prescribed sequence' of the Transitional phase, not even prayers; and there is no Incorporation - status before and after FGM being largely the same ('uncut' girls are frequently bullied, shunned and stigmatized by their 'cut' peers<ref>[https://archive.ph/2021.04.26-080534/https://plan-international.org/case-studies/uncut-girls-club#50% THE UNCUT GIRLS’ CLUB]</ref>. The fact that this bullying stops after the girls have undergone FGM suggests the procedure does confer some increased status). | |||
Rites of passage are public or semi-public, with either the whole community as witnesses or initiates. Islamic FGM is generally a private and secretive affair. Rites of Passage occur at important transitional life events (such as birth, puberty, marriage, death); Islamic FGM can occur any time between birth and puberty, and its timing may depend on quite practical factors: for example, families and isolated villages, rather than having to pay for a ‘cutter’ to visit as each daughter reaches a certain age, will have ''all'' their daughters cut during a single visit of the ‘cutter’, girls from a wide range of ages therefore being cut at the same time. | |||
However, FGM ''does'' share one characteristic with Rites of Passage - they both involve a deliberate ordeal, a 'destructive nature', which brings about permanent physical and psychological changes. | |||
This is most clearly reflected in the fact that anaesthetics are generally not used, even when available. [[File:Indonesia - susanfemalecircumcision-1.jpg|thumb|Medicalised FGM in Indonesia - note the apparent lack of anaesthesia (see also [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/nov/18/female-genital-mutilation-circumcision-indonesia The day I saw 248 girls suffering genital mutilation] The Guardian 2012) |alt=]] | |||
[[File:Indonesia - susanfemalecircumcision-1.jpg|thumb|Medicalised FGM in Indonesia - note the apparent lack of anaesthesia (see also [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/nov/18/female-genital-mutilation-circumcision-indonesia The day I saw 248 girls suffering genital mutilation] The Guardian 2012) |alt=]] | |||
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[[File:Fgm-in-the-middle-east.jpg|thumb|Iraqi Kurdish four-year-old Shwen screams during her circumcision in Suleimaniyah on April 14, 2009]] | [[File:Fgm-in-the-middle-east.jpg|thumb|Iraqi Kurdish four-year-old Shwen screams during her circumcision in Suleimaniyah on April 14, 2009]] | ||
[[File:Endfgm-campaign-video-016.jpg|thumb|TUZ KHURMATU, IRAQ - AUGUST 25: In northern Iraq, a midwife slices part of seven year-old Sheelan Anwar Omer's genitals while performing a female circumcision. Female circumcision is a rite of passage for most girls in Kurdistan. It is meant to "cleanse" them of improper or sexual thoughts and actions. A woman who served as an escort for The Washington Post via Getty Images, left, rushed in to comfort the child. Maharoub Juwad Nawchas, the 40-year-old midwife back to camera, also delivered Omer and is a trusted and valued member of the neighborhood. Sheelan's mother, right, holds her. Photographed August, 25, 2008 in Tuz Khurmatu, Iraq. (Photo by Andrea Bruce/The Washington Post via Getty Images)<ref>Image cropped from larger photo - for original see http://archive.today/2021.04.26-065336/https://i0.wp.com/freethoughtblogs.com/taslima/files/2012/06/Kurdish-girl.jpg?ssl=1</ref>]] | [[File:Endfgm-campaign-video-016.jpg|thumb|TUZ KHURMATU, IRAQ - AUGUST 25: In northern Iraq, a midwife slices part of seven year-old Sheelan Anwar Omer's genitals while performing a female circumcision. Female circumcision is a rite of passage for most girls in Kurdistan. It is meant to "cleanse" them of improper or sexual thoughts and actions. A woman who served as an escort for The Washington Post via Getty Images, left, rushed in to comfort the child. Maharoub Juwad Nawchas, the 40-year-old midwife back to camera, also delivered Omer and is a trusted and valued member of the neighborhood. Sheelan's mother, right, holds her. Photographed August, 25, 2008 in Tuz Khurmatu, Iraq. (Photo by Andrea Bruce/The Washington Post via Getty Images)<ref>Image cropped from larger photo - for original see http://archive.today/2021.04.26-065336/https://i0.wp.com/freethoughtblogs.com/taslima/files/2012/06/Kurdish-girl.jpg?ssl=1</ref>]] | ||
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{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.26-081530/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/female-genital-mutilation-no-anaesthetic-before-she-cut-me-1.2093014 Mehret Yemane describing how, as a nine or 10-year-old in Sudan, she underwent FGM for the fourth time in her short life. Irish Times (2015)]|“My brothers held my legs, the elder held the blade. There was no anaesthetic before she cut me.”}} | {{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.26-081530/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/female-genital-mutilation-no-anaesthetic-before-she-cut-me-1.2093014 Mehret Yemane describing how, as a nine or 10-year-old in Sudan, she underwent FGM for the fourth time in her short life. Irish Times (2015)]|“My brothers held my legs, the elder held the blade. There was no anaesthetic before she cut me.”}} | ||