Female circumcision is known to have no health benefit but practiced widely to “oppress a woman’s sexual desire, to make her look more beautiful in the eyes of her husband, and balance her psychology.” (duh!)
According to WHO, 96% of girls in Indonesia are circumcised. Worldwide, 140 million women and girls have experienced some sorts of genital cutting. Some endured the extreme versions of excising a large portion of vagina; most underwent the ritualistic ones. The tradition of circumcision was orginally associated with Sub-Saharan Africa but widely spread out in some parts of the Muslim world. There has been a dispute whether female circumcision - or female genital mutilation as opponents call - is a necessary part of the belief.
In 2007 summer, the controversy was heated when a girl died during the operation and the government closed the clinic involved. While conservatives wanted to keep the tradition, the government, non-governmental organizations, and religious leaders cooperated to bring an end to this abnormal custom.
NY Times article
A Cutting Tradition (January 20, 2008)
Voices Rise in Egypt to Shield Girls From an Old Tradition (September 20, 2007)
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Thank you for this post, Jooyeon, and thanks for the valuable links to resource material. It was especially important for you to point out the dispute over whether or not Islam is behind this tradition (I am among those who think the origins of this tradition are to be found in non-religious customs).
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