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→FGM as a Rite of Passage
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Islam permits [[Women in Islamic Law|sex-slavery]], nor limits the number of sex-slaves a man can own. | Islam permits [[Women in Islamic Law|sex-slavery]], nor limits the number of sex-slaves a man can own. | ||
Gerry Mackie suggests that it is ''extreme polygyny'' that gives rise to chastity assurance measures such as FGM. In a closed system (where females are not imported), the extent of polygyny is limited by the number of females in the system and the number of of systemically agamous young men (which, being a cause of crime, conflict and unrest, is a destabilizing force).<ref name=":0" /> Extreme polygyny is therefore only possible if sex-slaves are introduced into the system. We can note that the famously large harems of the Sultans, Shahs and Sheiks scrupulously respected Islamic law (e.g. the Sultan Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif of Morocco<ref>'[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-075329/https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/locus-control/201008/all-my-888-children All my 888 children' by Nando Pelusi Ph.D. in Psychology Today] | Gerry Mackie suggests that it is ''extreme polygyny'' that gives rise to chastity assurance measures such as FGM. In a closed system (where females are not imported), the extent of polygyny is limited by the number of females in the system and the number of of systemically agamous young men (which, being a cause of crime, conflict and unrest, is a destabilizing force).<ref name=":0" /> Extreme polygyny is therefore only possible if sex-slaves are introduced into the system. We can note that the famously large harems of the Sultans, Shahs and Sheiks scrupulously respected Islamic law (e.g. the Sultan Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif of Morocco<ref>'[http://archive.today/2021.04.09-075329/https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/locus-control/201008/all-my-888-children All my 888 children' by Nando Pelusi Ph.D. in Psychology Today]</ref> had four wives and at least 500 'concubines', and Fat′h Ali Shah Qajar, the second Shah of Iran, also had 4 wives, but also a harem of 800-1000 'concubines'). Extreme polygyny without sex-slavery (i.e. females forcibly imported into the system) creates correspondingly extreme bride-famines at the bottom of society, and also deprives the affected men of a means whereby to relieve that famine. This makes for unstable societies - where the interdiction on capturing sex-slaves would not, anyway, be respected. [[File:Infibexzisionplus.jpg|thumb|Maps comparing distribution of FGM and Infibulation and main centes and routes of the Islamic Slave Trade]]Furthermore polygyny that is strictly restricted to a maximum of four wives (with no sex-slavery permitted) loses its power as a status symbol and becomes less desirable to elite men, and likewise diminishes the community's hypergynous drive. Thus in the absence of sex-slavery polygyny tends to diminish and die out. | ||
Historians estimate that two thirds of slaves under Islam were girls or women.<ref>'[http://archive.today/2020.08.25-213729/http://bernardlugan.blogspot.com/2020/08/nouveau-livre-de-bernard-lugan.html Esclavage, l’histoire à l’endroit'] by Bernard Lugan</ref> Whilst ''local'' raids on neighbors fuel ''tribal'' polygyny, Islamic polygyny (due to religious fervour, a preference for exotic women and a reluctance to take fellow Muslims as slaves) drew on sources of slaves from far afield - especially Africa. This involved captured women and children in long treks across the continent, often to Ethiopia or Zanzibar for transportation to Arabia. These treks were risky and took a heavy toll on the captives. After eunuchs, virgins (i.e. prepubescent or adolescent girls) were the most valuable commodity. Infibulation (the sealing up of the vagina) developed as a verifiable (by potential customers) protection and guarantee of the virginity of these girls over these long hazardous treks (four out of five slaves died during the forced march to the slave trading post at Zanzibar). There appears to be a correlation between the historical centres of the Islamic slave trade and the distribution of infibulation today, and the influence of the Islamic slave trade could explain the pervasiveness of FGM in Islamic Africa today. | Historians estimate that two thirds of slaves under Islam were girls or women.<ref>'[http://archive.today/2020.08.25-213729/http://bernardlugan.blogspot.com/2020/08/nouveau-livre-de-bernard-lugan.html Esclavage, l’histoire à l’endroit'] by Bernard Lugan</ref> Whilst ''local'' raids on neighbors fuel ''tribal'' polygyny, Islamic polygyny (due to religious fervour, a preference for exotic women and a reluctance to take fellow Muslims as slaves) drew on sources of slaves from far afield - especially Africa. This involved captured women and children in long treks across the continent, often to Ethiopia or Zanzibar for transportation to Arabia. These treks were risky and took a heavy toll on the captives. After eunuchs, virgins (i.e. prepubescent or adolescent girls) were the most valuable commodity. Infibulation (the sealing up of the vagina) developed as a verifiable (by potential customers) protection and guarantee of the virginity of these girls over these long hazardous treks (four out of five slaves died during the forced march to the slave trading post at Zanzibar). There appears to be a correlation between the historical centres of the Islamic slave trade and the distribution of infibulation today, and the influence of the Islamic slave trade could explain the pervasiveness of FGM in Islamic Africa today. | ||
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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 a Rite of Passage== | ==The Uses of Trauma== | ||
=== FGM as a Rite of Passage === | |||
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. | 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. | ||
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| date = 2021-04-27 | | date = 2021-04-27 | ||
| archiveurl = http://archive.today/U2kUP | | archiveurl = http://archive.today/U2kUP | ||
| archivedate = 2021-04-27 }}|The room where a doctor, his wife and an assistant were waiting; her legs spread and held down as the doctor approached with a blade, '''inflicting agonizing pain with no anesthetic'''.}}{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.27-043109/https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a19042103/female-genital-mutilation-survivor/ 'My Clitoris Was Cut Off When I Was 11' (2018)]|The pain was excruciating, and it's difficult to compare it to anything, even to the pain of rape, which I suffered later in life. The physical pain, sharp, cutting, but never ending, was only made worse by the emotional pain. What was happening? Why had our parents allowed this to happen? What should we fear next? I didn’t talk to my sister, and she didn’t talk to me.}}{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.27-045044/https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/fgm-survivor-speaks-horrific-experience-9518964 FGM survivor speaks of her horrific experience (2015)]|I heard my two sisters screaming and then saw an old woman coming to get me and I started running but there was nowhere to go and no-one to run to [...] As soon as I got in the backyard I saw my two sisters lying on the floor bleeding excessively whilst the cutter had covered their faces with scarves. Then one of them held me down on the floor, others tied by eyes, covered my mouth and stretched my legs apart and then I felt a sharp cut in between my legs. '''It was the worst pain of my life''' and I screamed for help but no-one came to help me.}} | | archivedate = 2021-04-27 }}|The room where a doctor, his wife and an assistant were waiting; her legs spread and held down as the doctor approached with a blade, '''inflicting agonizing pain with no anesthetic'''.}}{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.27-043109/https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a19042103/female-genital-mutilation-survivor/ 'My Clitoris Was Cut Off When I Was 11' (2018)]|The pain was excruciating, and it's difficult to compare it to anything, even to the pain of rape, which I suffered later in life. The physical pain, sharp, cutting, but never ending, was only made worse by the emotional pain. What was happening? Why had our parents allowed this to happen? What should we fear next? I didn’t talk to my sister, and she didn’t talk to me.}}{{Quote|[http://archive.today/2021.04.27-045044/https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/fgm-survivor-speaks-horrific-experience-9518964 FGM survivor speaks of her horrific experience (2015)]|I heard my two sisters screaming and then saw an old woman coming to get me and I started running but there was nowhere to go and no-one to run to [...] As soon as I got in the backyard I saw my two sisters lying on the floor bleeding excessively whilst the cutter had covered their faces with scarves. Then one of them held me down on the floor, others tied by eyes, covered my mouth and stretched my legs apart and then I felt a sharp cut in between my legs. '''It was the worst pain of my life''' and I screamed for help but no-one came to help 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'''.}}{{Quote|{{cite web | {{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|{{cite web | ||
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|Remember, '''there were no anesthetics''' because for we you have to walk the walk, you have to dance the dance. It's what makes you a woman. When you feel that pain it shows you that pain is all you know as a woman.}} | |Remember, '''there were no anesthetics''' because for we you have to walk the walk, you have to dance the dance. It's what makes you a woman. When you feel that pain it shows you that pain is all you know as a woman.}} | ||
=== The Psychology of FGM === | |||
FGM | |||
increased visibility of initiation rits and victims skews narrative | increased visibility of initiation rits and victims skews narrative | ||
quotes from 'Infidel' | |||
- break down personality | - break down personality | ||
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- chastiry assurance | - chastiry assurance | ||
==Arguments de-linking FGM and Islam== | ==Arguments de-linking FGM and Islam== | ||