Ahliyah Williams

6/ 7/ 19

Dr. Hinks

Help Received: References Ahliyah Williams 

Everyone has heard of male circumcision. Done at birth and believed to not be painful for the child, and definitely not remembered when an adult, about 80% of males in America are circumcised. This is almost all of the males, an incredible amount. Female circumcision or female genital mutilation (FGM) on the other hand is done on girls as young as infancy and old as fifteen. Imagine being age fifteen and have gone through puberty and being told as such an old age that you have to get your clitoris or labia cut off, nicked, or even sewn together. There are four different types of female circumcision, all of them resulting in utter pain and disgrace for the female. Not only is the female’s parts mutilated, but unlike the benefits of male circumcision, females have horrible disadvantages.

What are the disadvantages and advantages of female and male circumcision? They both are very different in many ways. Why do males favor circumcision, well in this case the parent favors it. Because the parents decide for the male at birth if they want the child to be circumcised, it’s not really up to the child to decide this. When a female is circumcised many of them are not circumcised during birth, but sometimes as a teenager. What costs do females have to pay when getting circumcised, Are there any benefits of female circumcision? Females that circumcised get complications such as hemorrhage (excessive bleeding), urinary problems, discomfort or even no pleasure during sex, and sometimes death. There are absolutely no benefits to female circumcision. It only causes harm to the female. Even in some cases, the vagina has to be ripped apart for a woman to have children or prevent infections. Imagine having a vagina that is sewn together and eventually, it grows together. Then imagine having a child and having to break open that grown together skin. Something uncircumcised females cannot even think about

When and where is female and male circumcision performed? What countries perform these acts? Does circumcision have anything to do with culture or religion? Female circumcision is known to be practiced in 30 countries. Some of those countries, including Egypt, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Kongo. Male circumcision is practiced in Australia, Canada, Pakistan, and the United States. Obviously, these countries have a huge difference in cultures and religion. In African countries, much of the reason that female circumcision is practiced is for economic reasons. Already in poverty, women in these countries are doing this mutilation on women for money. They are paid a decent amount of money for these tasks, so this is a practice that if taken away can take away money from many people. In countries that practice male circumcision, a lot in Asian countries, there is a high prevalence of male circumcision. In a 2001 study, the author stated that “South Korea has possibly the largest absolute number of teenage or adult circumcisions anywhere in the world. Because circumcision started through contact with the American military during the Korean War, South Korea has an unusual history of circumcision.”

The practice of circumcision is still ongoing in many countries, traumatizing millions of women all over the world. It is being slowed down by many people that try to prevent the culture of female genital mutilation from continuing. An advocate of female circumcision, Leyla Hussein is speaking out on the subject of female circumcision. Talking on huge shows such as BBC News Africa. The issue of FGM is not spoken of by many people, I think because male circumcision is so normal and common that many people are not educated enough to see the difference between FGM and male circumcision.

In conclusion, there is a distinct difference between male and female circumcision. FGM is likely to never stop because it is the main source of income for many people in many countries. Male circumcision is thought of as normal, especially in the United States of America. Because of advocates for FGM, it is slowly progressing and making a change. Because the culture is so prevalent, it is very difficult to stop the culture because it is FGM, something that has happened for so long. When things are continued for so long, it is very difficult to stop because of the belief that if it is stopped it will mess up the whole religion of a society.

References

Leyla Hussein, (2018), The trauma constantly Kept Coming Back, BBC News Africa

Wikipedia, Prevalence of Circumcision. 

Taiwo Lawal, (2017), Circumcision and Its Effects in Africa, NCBI.