Rite of Passage

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By Christine May 12/02

How does one describe a “rite of passage”, what does that look like? For a young boy, it might be getting his first ‘real’ haircut as a two year old or for a Jewish youth at the age of thirteen having a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, to usher them into adulthood, may be their first rite of passage. For young girls, it is typically the purchase of her first bra, or the onset of her menstrual cycle. In the West at least, along with many other examples, all of these would be considered normal rites of passage. But in Africa and parts of Asia there is a ‘rite of passage’ that is greatly misunderstood, has been sensationalized by the media, and condemned by feminists around the world. It is called, female genital mutilation or FGM, and for most of the West, it defies comprehension.

How does one describe a “rite of passage”, what does that look like? For a young boy, it might be getting his first ‘real’ haircut as a two year old or for a Jewish youth at the age of thirteen having a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, to usher them into adulthood, may be their first rite of passage. For young girls, it is typically the purchase of her first bra, or the onset of her menstrual cycle. In the West at least, along with many other examples, all of these would be considered normal rites of passage. But in Africa and parts of Asia there is a ‘rite of passage’ that is greatly misunderstood, has been sensationalized by the media, and condemned by feminists around the world. It is called, female genital mutilation or FGM, and for most of the West, it defies comprehension. However, on the continent of Africa where family and tradition are strong, and connections within a social group are bound by years of history, heritage, and religious beliefs, it is a deeply held traditional ritual.

“A Rite of Passage “

How does one describe a “rite of passage”, what does that look like? For a young boy, it might be getting his first ‘real’ haircut as a two year old or for a Jewish youth at the age of thirteen having a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, to usher them into adulthood, may be their first rite of passage. For young girls, it is typically the purchase of her first bra, or the onset of her menstrual cycle. In the West at least, along with many other examples, all of these would be considered normal rites of passage. But in Africa and parts of Asia there is a ‘rite of passage’ that is greatly misunderstood, has been sensationalized by the media, and condemned by feminists around the world. It is called, female genital mutilation or FGM, and for most of the West, it defies comprehension. However, on the continent of Africa where family and tradition are strong, and connections within a social group are bound by years of history, heritage, and religious beliefs, it is a deeply held traditional ritual. It is part of the socialization of its young people into adulthood. Moreover, it is probably none of our business. Therefore, the question remains, can we justify the abolishment of a tradition here or in any part of the world, simply because it offends our sensibilities? As part of the global community, what exactly is our responsibility regarding another societies’ beliefs, values, and customs? With the growing number of immigrants that have sought asylum and refuge here in the United States, it does influence us. Therefore, a conflict arises, between cultural assimilation and adherence to important spiritual and cultural traditions, which does affect us and that is where the conflict begins, for they also bring with them – their traditions.

This paper will examine the issue of female genital mutilation as a religious/cultural tradition in Africa and the impact on women in the West and the ways in which perception plays a huge role in the acceptability of a rite of passage that seems foreign and even barbaric by our standards. When I first heard about this practice, I was mortified. I was outraged to the point of wanting to join whatever group would take action to have this practice abolished. I have since softened my stance on this subject. Why are we putting our western views to work on a centuries old tradition? As a group, Western women have entirely different perceptions of the female body than those of African or Asian descent. In fact, what we find offensive they regard as part of their initiation into their history and culture, a rite of passage.

According to an article published in Women’s Health Weekly (1/25/99)1, the World Health Organization estimates that “some 130 million women and girls, most of them in 28 African countries, have been subjected to circumcision. Leading with 75 percent of the cases, they include Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia and the Sudan” and is “practiced on girls to a lesser degree” in the predominately Moslem countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and India.” Statistics that are more current indicate that the percentage is closer to 80 percent and the leading country is Nigeria, in part, due to their overwhelming population. Additionally, from an article in Family Planning Perspectives (Nov/Dec97), it is reported that in 1990 an “estimated total of 48,000 girls younger than 18, roughly three-quarters of whom were born in the United States” have been subjected to female circumcision in communities where large concentrations of immigrants whom practice this traditional ritual reside. So no longer is it just in Africa that this practice continues, it is occurring right here in America. Even living in America, they continue to hold to their beliefs and customs and do so in secret, because of the negative attention that this custom receives.

"Use of the term 'female circumcision' could have unforeseen political repercussions. ‘Female genital mutilation’ is a descriptive and definitive term. 'Circumcision,' without the sex being specified is defined as removal of the penile foreskin. The term 'female circumcision' can denote various procedures, but generally refers to clitoridectomy with or without removal of the labia. The equivalent procedure in males is penile amputation and removal of the scrotum. The problem with describing female genital mutilation as female circumcision is that the latter can be confused with the circumcision of newborn boys, a low-risk procedure with medical benefits”, says Edgar J. Schoen, M.D., in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine. More recent efforts to change the terminology to ‘female genital cutting’ (FGC) is being considered in Uganda, according to REACH as a less value-laden term, (Duncan/Hernlund, p6).

Let us look at some of the history surrounding this rite of passage. Many believed that it was linked to the Islamic religion, but in fact was being performed long before the origins of that faith. The practice of circumcising young girls is believed to have begun some 4,000 years ago. While female circumcision was occurring in Africa, it was during the 1860’s, that “biomedical declitorization was becoming popular in England, due in part to a theory formed by observers of epileptics, which indicated masturbation led to progressive stages from “hysteria to epilepsy to idiocy or death”, (Greenbaum p11) . Also described as ‘feminine weaknesses’ the cure was to remove the clitoris. More recently, in the 1940’s, biomedical physicians in the US performed clitoridectomies for the treatment and prevention of masturbation and other “deviant” behaviors and psychological conditions such as “hysteria”, particularly in mental patients (Greenbaum p12) . While this particular practice had been suspended in the US for many years, the recent findings as noted in a Family Planning Perspectives Magazine article indicates that the surge of immigrants and refugees from Africa in recent years has established a growing trend for FGM right here in America.

The three different and most common procedures are defined as, “Sunna circumcision in which the tip of the clitoris and/or its covering (prepuce) are removed Clitoridectomy where the entire clitoris, the prepuce and adjacent labia are removed Infibulation (a.k.a. Pharaonic circumcision) which is a clitoridectomy followed by sewing up of the vulva. A small opening is left to allow urine and menstrual blood to pass. 1 A second operation is done later in life to reverse some of the damage. In some cultures, the woman is cut open by her husband on their wedding night with a double edged dagger. She may be sewn up again if her husband leaves on a long trip,” , as noted in a article by the Religious Tolerance Group. Numerous variations of these procedures can be found in each ethnic/cultural community within Africa. While we can be offended at the practice and have concerns for the health risks of these young girls, our perception and interpretation of another’s belief system is not widely accepted in these countries. Often even with education and health information parents continue to have they daughters circumcised, and do so in secret for fear of prejudice and misunderstanding. African women may not view this practice/ritual as being one of ‘mutilation’, it is the ‘outsiders’ whose revulsion may be influencing perceptions, here and abroad, therefore it continues.

According to another article, “Families believe circumcision will make their daughters more marriageable by certifying their virginity and protecting them from their sexuality, thereby ensuring marital fidelity”, and this belief also leads health experts to say “it drastically limits normal bodily functions while destroying sexual pleasure, causes scarring, infection, and long-term complications if the girl survives” 2,. This leads one to question why it continues to be practiced anywhere, given the globalization of the world, the advances in the medical arena, the importance of human rights, and specifically the rights of children around the world. Ethnic groups believe that this procedure is essential to their daughters being marriageable and of being held in high esteem. As a rite of passage, this custom encouraged chastity in a daughter, ensured group identity, holds to the family values of a community, decreases sexual desires, and is believed to deter women from committing adultery later in life. Failure to be circumcised is almost a guarantee of ridicule; harassment, abuse, and eventual ostracism from their communities, so many continue to have they daughters circumcised even when they no longer live within the society from which they originated. However, along with being marriageable and being highly regarded, FGM also brings depression, impotence, or loss of sexual desire, frustration, difficulty in childbirth, and death. Nevertheless, the truth may be closer to FGM/FGC is still embedded with a group’s social strata, value system, and generational belief that only a ‘proper marriage’ can be assured.

While the Africans were using this as a “rite of passage,” doctors in the West used female circumcision as a method to control mental behaviors that were then considered abnormal or deviant. Nowhere in my research did I find information regarding men being castrated for “masturbating” nor was it noted to be a ‘deviant’ behavior for men. Yet, as noted in an earlier paragraph, biomedical physicians were using clitoridectomy as a method of controlling this ‘imbalance’ in women. Considering that the majority of physicians, in the 1940’s, were male, it therefore appears that they may have used this as a method of control, oppression, or manipulation of women and their behavior. Women diagnosed with ‘hysteria’ frequently were institutionalized, and thus subjected to various methods that today would be considered a violation of their basic human rights.

Sudan, the first country in Africa to “have a record of legislating against the practice,” (Dorkenoo p84), and in 1946 established a law to imprison and fine the violators. Nevertheless “violent disturbances greeted the first arrests, the law was amended, and further arrests were few,” (Dorkenoo p 85) and yet the practice was still evident when this book was published in 1994. While many countries to date have initiated laws banning the practice, it is not enforced. Negative attention to this practice, generated by the Western belief that it is barbaric and dangerous to the young girls’ health, generates hostility from the ethnic groups to which they belong.

Ruambai Ahmadu wrote “My main quarrel with most studies on female initiation and the significance of genital cutting relates to the continued insistence that the latter is necessarily “harmful” or that there is an urgent need to stop female genital mutilation in communities where it is done. Both of these assertions are based on the alleged physical, psychological, and sexual effects of female genital cutting. I offer, however, that the aversion of some writers to the practice of female “circumcision” has more to do with deeply imbedded western cultural assumptions regarding women’s bodies and their sexuality than with disputable health effects of genital operations on African women”, (Duncan/Hernlund). (Ahmadu, herself raised in WDC, a Kono woman who was “initiated” during her “last year in university, 1991”, and is someone who has studied this issue extensively.)

Feminists and human rights activists have been clamoring for its cessation here and abroad because they believe, it oppresses women and that the young girls are being denied their freedom to choose this procedure, thereby being abused. What we fail to recognize and accept is that this is a common custom for the indigenous tribes of Africa. For males and females, the “ritual of circumcision is an initiation into adulthood” for many of these groups. Due to generations of intramarrying families within a community, the belief around ‘proper marriages’ is still a strong one, and only one which with a concerted effort will change occur. According to researcher Geri Mackie, “changing just one families belief or attitude about this practice will not work; it will take changing the attitude of many within a community, beginning with the women before any effective change occurs”. Steeped in tradition and myths, it continues to hold value to even members of ethnic groups living here in the US and other Western industrialized countries. So strong is this tie to their homelands that they often take daughters ‘home’ for this initiation ritual as a way of connecting and bonding with family and relatives and of passing along a tradition to the next generation. The practices, ceremonies, and beliefs are as diverse as the tribes are in each area of the continent where this practice continues as part of their culture.

In conclusion, circumcision continues, due largely in part to the traditional beliefs of the women (and men). Because it has been passed down through their family, as part of their history, it will be part of their future even in spite of activists groups who wish to enforce the bans established within some of the countries where this ritual has been practiced. We, as Westerners, need to remember that until the women in each community decide for themselves that they no longer wish to employ this rite of passage it is just our opinion that this is oppressive, abusive, and/or barbaric. What I find obscene and barbaric, my peer in Nigeria finds purity and hope for her daughters’ future. In the meantime, activists can continue to educate both women and men to the health risks that are real concerns due to the lack of proper sanitary conditions in many parts of Third World nations. Changing perceptions of a ‘rite of passage’ ritual will be challenging for the activists, internally and externally. In the last five years, major organizations such as WHO and UNICEF have been leading the effort to educate and eradicate this practice throughout Africa, but it will take a concerted effort to accomplish.

Researching this subject afforded me the opportunity to look at this with a more open mind, compassion for the young girls who are ‘initiated’ into adulthood, and a deeper understanding of how a societies’ belief and value system is structured and maintained. I personally would not choose to have this procedure done, but I also was born and raised in America and can now understand and appreciate that women who are raised in Africa, are also raised with entirely different ideals. Specifically, they have a much broader belief system about their bodies than those of us, particularly women in the US, do. While we do have the ability to influence immigrants here to our values and beliefs, insuring the safety of children is part of our values and beliefs. Therefore, we can argue the case for sanitary conditions and we can educate to the belief of sexual identity, desire, and function. However, I do not believe we can be successful arguing tradition, history and deep-seeded beliefs on what constitutes ‘proper marriages and virtue’ for another culture. Additionally, we cannot enforce our beliefs should they decide to circumcise their youth by taking them ‘home’ for a traditional family event after the fact. Being a part of the larger global community is also accepting others views, lifestyles, and yes, their particular ‘rites of passage’ as part of their cultural history. Which maybe is the indication that our perceptions appear to have had little affect on the actual practice, which in this instance, is possibility the best news after all.

Bibliography

WORKS CITED

Articles

Schoen, Edgar J M.D., Kaiser Permanente, Medical Center, Oakland, California, , Letter .The New England Journal of Medicine 19 Jan 1995

Women's Health Weekly, 01/25/99, p7, 1/2p Abstract1
Women's Health Weekly, 01/25/99, p7, 1/2p Abstract2

Books

Gruenbaum, Ruth & Luther, The Female Circumcision Controversy .Philadelphia UP 2002

Shell-Duncan, Bettina and Ylva Hernlund. Female “Circumcision in Africa”, Culture, Controversy, and Change. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc 2000

Mackie, Geri. Female Genital Cutting: The Beginning of the End. Shell-Duncan/Hernlund. 253-281

Ahmadu, Ruambai. Rites and Wrongs. Shell-Duncan and Hernlund 283-312

Dorkenoo Efua, Cutting The Rose . London Minority Rights Group 19947.

Article Source :Family Planning Perspectives, Nov/Dec97, Vol. 29 Issue 6, p246, 1/4p

Internet : “FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION. In Africa, The Middle East & Far East”

http://www.religioustolerance.org

Works Consulted

Manresa, Kim. The Day Kadi Lost Part of Her Life. Spencer Press 1998.

Internet Articles:

Iweriebor, Ifeyinwa. “Brief Reflections on Clitorodectomy”. Black Women in Publishing, NY. (Original work appeared in AFRICA UPDATE, Spring 1996)
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~africa/sources/clitorodectomy.html

Thiem, Annika. “The Question of Justice and Women’s Rights-Opening the Field”. (Original work thirdspace July2001)

Posted by rowan at December 27, 2002 09:48 PM | TrackBack | Printable Version | [eMail this article!] |