if genital mutilation were a problem affecting men the matter would long be settled

[tlh]

from the Waris Dirie website.

http://www.waris-dirie-foundation.com/web/e_index.htm

[Papai]

If it were only that simple.

[Arduinna]

It is. What a bizarre argument.

[LavenderMae]

How ignorant and incredibly dismissive of MGM!!!!!!!!:

[savienu]

Wow. I'm femle, and I'm offended at how sexist that is! :

[MommytoB]

I agree because circumcision does effect men so to say it doesn't his head been somewhere else .

[bluetoes]

That is incredibly dismissive and sexist. At first I was thinking, well if MGM was done crudely on an older child without pain relief then men would complain more. But the attitude those that have gone through it seem to have is that it's a rite of passage that boy's have to 'man up' and go through.

And I wonder what percentage of women who have it done to them think it's a bad thing? Or just a rite of passage a woman must go through.

The only difference is a cultural one. Western society thinks we're more civilised so what we do must be ok.

[Tinker]

Originally Posted by Arduinna

It is. What a bizarre argument.

Exactly what I was thinking.

[wannabe]

This is the current tpic of conversation in our house - how MGM ever got started in a patriachy. I don't understand it, unless it was a cult thing with the hold those leaders have over their people. But how would it spread after that?

[the_lissa]

Because no man would want to admit that something done to him might be wrong so he then perpetuates circumcision.

[Quirky]

Her information is what the recent Mothering magazine article on circumcision was based on. Totally biased and non-scientifically justified -- claimed female circ (removing clitoris) is the same as removing the entire glans of the penis.

C'mon, I am 100% opposed to FGM in any form, but the sexism totally rubs me the wrong way. ALL genital mutilation on EITHER gender is ALWAYS wrong for ANY reason.

[rambunctiouscurls]

I don't get it. As a victim of FGM, she, of ALL ppl should know it affects men.
I see that she is also a muslim. I wonder if she circumcized her own kids.

[Papai]

Originally Posted by Mommy2Amira

I don't get it. As a victim of FGM, she, of ALL ppl should know it affects men.
I see that she is also a muslim. I wonder if she circumcized her own kids.

I bet you she circumcised her son without blinking twice.

[Stardust27]

As far as I know, she says in one of her books that she had him circumcised and goes on about how clean and neat it is. : Not that I've read them - I refuse to do anything to support her.

I once wrote to her organization about male circumcision and also posted something on her guest book - the entries were deleted and I never got any reply to my e-mail.

So it's not just that she's innocently ignorant, but willfully blocking off this issue. She's definitely in my top ten persons.

Stardust

[tlh]

maybe she isn't aware of MGM.she lived in Africa.here is what she has said about her son and FGM.

By now my career had taken off. I was appearing in commercials, music videos, and worked with the biggest photographers in the fashion business. My life was heavenly.
I had told Mama that I had not found the right man for me. But then one night in the fall of 1995 I discovered him in a tiny jazz club in New York. He was a shy drummer with a '70s Afro and a funky style. His name was Dana Murray, and I knew from that moment he was my man.

At dinner the next night I laughed and told him that someday I was going to have his baby. For the first time in my life I wanted a man. Soon we realized we were in love and wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. My crazy prediction came true with the birth of our son on June 13, 1997; He was beautiful, with silky black hair and long feet and fingers.

I named him Aleeke. With his tiny mouth, chubby cheeks and halo of curls, he looks like a little black cupid.

From the day he was born, my life changed. The happiness I get from him is everything to me now. Life--the gift of life-is what matters, and that's what giving birth to my son made me remember.

After going through the cycle of womanhood that began prematurely with my circumcision at age five and came full circle with my baby's birth when I was about 30, I had even more respect for my own mother. I understood what incredible strength the women in Somalia possess.


When Waris was five, her mother held her down on a rock while another woman cut off parts of her genitals with a razor blade.

[LavenderMae]

I would be pretty shocked if she wasn't aware of MGM (I doubt she calls it that though). If she did infact circumcise her son she is the worst kind of hyprocrite.

It is awful what was done to her , just thinking about it is making me cry.:

[wannabe]

Originally Posted by Quirky

Totally biased and non-scientifically justified -- claimed female circ (removing clitoris) is the same as removing the entire glans of the penis.

But that's correct - the clitoris is analogous to the glans, the prepuce to the foreskin, the labia to the scrotum.

[Quirky]

Originally Posted by wannabe

But that's correct - the clitoris is analogous to the glans, the prepuce to the foreskin, the labia to the scrotum.

Not entirely. See, the clitoris that you see on the outside is the tip of the iceberg, literally -- far more of the structure of the clitoris is on the inside than is on the outside. There are also sexual structures (g-spot) on the inside of the vagina. So a clitoridectomy may be equivalent to the partial amputation of the glans, but it is not equivalent to a full amputation of the glans. There are many women who report still being able to orgasm and have satisfying sex lives after Type I/II FGM, but if you were to remove the entire glans from a man -- I doubt you'd get the same reports.

Great video explanation here:

http://susiebright.blogs.com/susie_b...he_said_b.html

[AntoninBeGonin]

Originally Posted by Sheacoby

How ignorant and incredibly dismissive of MGM!!!!!!!!:

I know, right? How blind can people be? If I wanted, I could take my perfectly healthy three year old, who has never had the slightest problem with his foreskin, and schedule a doctor to amputate it. If I so much as mention the idea of removing any tissue from my daughter's vulva I would go to jail. This is incredibily sexist and wrong.

[AntoninBeGonin]

I wrote this but haven't hit submit. Unfortunately there's a word limit so I can't write all I wanted. How does it sound before I send it to her?

Ms. Dirie,

I whole heartedly support any efforts in ending female genital mutilation, but I can't donate to a site that downplays the terrible cruelty of routine infant male circumcision by saying that "if genital mutilation were a problem affecting men the matter would long be settled." This is entirely untrue. Thousands of boys born in the US each year greet the world by having part of their penis amputated. A baby boy strapped down, with his genitals crushed and cut by a surgeon bleeds just as red as the little girl held by relatives and cut by the local midwife.

Please remove that sexist quote and speak out against the genital cutting of all helpless, unconsenting children and babies. Even if you can't make male circumcision your fight, at least don't belittle our efforts to end such barbarism.

Thank you!
Renee