Female circumcision

[Cloud]

or; a major human rights violation most people don't know about. It's now banned in Eritrea. This is good news. Too bad Eritrea is such a tiny country; but at least it's a step in the right direction.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070405/...ircumcision_dc

This is of importance to me because it is often associated with body piercing. You may recall a few years ago when Georgia tried to pass a bill against this practice which was so broad it would also ban female genital piercing.

If you are not up on the topic, let me describe: Female circumcision is also called Female Genital Mutilation (there's that M word again, Wolf); female genital cutting, etc. It encompasses a range of acts up to and including removal of the entire external genitals and infibulation (sewing up the entrance to the vagina), and is widely practiced throughout Africa, in certain Muslim communities, and around the world where immigrants have moved.

This practice has been condemned as a human rights violation, in that it often is performed on children unable to give their consent (as with male circumcision); and also frequently performed with crude, non-sterile implements.

Now before you say, OMG, it's horrible, we should stamp it out (and I kinda feel the same)--the situation is far more complex than that. In most places practicing this custom, a woman is not considered human or eligible for marriage if she is not circumcised according to custom. It's been going on for thousands of years, and it's going to be hard to stamp out.

If you want further info, try this fact sheet from the WHO:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/