Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery or White Female Privilege ?
By Fuambai Sia Ahmadu , PhD
Since I wrote my first article for Pride Magazine back in 1995 while in the UK , I never in my wildest imagination would have guessed that I would see the day white women and their daughters would freely choose and pay thousands of dollars for the same surgery I underwent in Bondo , the name of female circumcision in Sierra Leone . And what gets me is the absence of official condemnation of white women ’ s genital surgeries and the media ’ s refusal to label these procedures as Female Genital Mutilation ( FGM ).
The World Health Organization ( WHO ) defines Female Genital Mutilation or Cutting ( FGM / C ) as “ all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia , or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons ”.
WHO divides FGM / C into four broad categories . Type I involves partial or complete excision of the external clitoral hood or exposed glans . The clitoris is a much more extensive organ than most observers once thought and the bulk of the structure lies unseen within the female body . Type II involves some form of Type I and excision of the inner labia . Type III may or may not involve Type II but includes the trimming of the labia minora and stitching together the labia majora , leaving a small hole for the passage of urine and menses . Type IV includes other procedures such as nicking , pricking or lengthening of the labia . The most common procedures , over 90 % of all affected women , comprise Types I and II . Type III is rare , and accounts for less than 10 % of women who uphold these practices .
The term FGM / C in itself is problematic for the vast majority of women who support various forms of what we refer to as female circumcision . Most affected women prefer the term female circumcision because of either anatomical or ideological parallels with male circumcision and the rootedness of both practices in beliefs about human creation . Anti-FGM laws and policies effectively discriminate against local practitioners and supporters of female circumcision while permitting the flourishing of so-called female genital cosmetic surgeries or elective genitoplasty among white or western women .
As the founder of All Women Are Free to Choose , a movement that seeks equality among all practitioners of female genital surgeries irrespective of race , religion , culture , ethnicity , nationality , socioeconomic status and aesthetic preference , I think it is important that circumcised women around the world understand how we are being discriminated against . This SiA Magazine feature reveals how the very procedures that western doctors are now referring to as “ genitoplasty ” are nothing but medicalized versions of what our traditional circumcisers and midwives have been performing in our communities for thousands of years .
The reasons given for FGCS and female circumcision are the same – prevention or treatment of infections and other serious medical conditions due to poor foreskin hygiene ; prevention or treatment of clitoral and labial deformities or abnormalities ; feminizing of intersex or androgynous genitalia ; and improving the overall appearance and attractiveness of the vulva .
The ages at which FGCS and female circumcision are performed varies . Female circumcision practices are performed just before , during , or just after puberty or in adulthood and in some cases of WHO Type I just after birth ( in parallel with male circumcision ). FGCS is normally performed on adult women and in some cases on young girls and adolescents . In cases of intersex children , FGCS is usually performed during infancy . Female circumcision is performed in informal settings by traditional circumcisers or traditional birth attendants as well as in hospital settings by doctors , nurses or medically trained mid-wives while FGCS is primarily performed in hospital settings under trained medical doctors . In cases such as clitoral piercings or “ neotribal ” genital modifications , including labial trimmings , these are performed in informal settings by non-medical practitioners .
Whatever the reasons and variations between FGCS and female circumcision , all these bodily practices fit the WHO description of FGM . However , the term FGM was never created to refer to white , western women ’ s bodies . The language of FGM was invented by Franz Hosken in the early 1970s to describe the horror that she felt as a white , upper middle-class European-American feminist encountering the most extreme form of
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