Egypt outlaws all female circumcision

[Eugene]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Egypt outlaws all female circumcision

Thu Jun 28, 10:27 AM ET

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt on Thursday finally banned all female
circumcision, the widely-practised removal of the clitoris which
just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl.

Officially the practice, which affects both Muslim and Christian
women in Egypt and goes back to the time of the pharoahs, was
banned in 1997 but doctors were allowed to operate "in exceptional
cases".

On Thursday, Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali decided to ban every
doctor and member of the medical profession, in public or private
establishments, from carrying out a clitoridectomy, a ministry press
official told AFP.

Any circumcision "will be viewed as a violation of the law and all
contraventions will be punished," said the official, adding that it
was a "permanent ban".

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070628/wl_africa_afp/egyptwomencircumcision

[uppityperson]

1. Good. k&r

[derby378]

2. That term still sticks in my craw

It's more properly called "female genital mutilation," or FGM.

Many men are fully capable of performing sexually after circumcision. Victims of FGM, however, cannot.

[pnwmom]

9. Not just "many men." Almost all men,

except in the rare case of a botched procedure.

Otherwise the practice would have ended thousands of years ago.

But you're right, the purpose of FGM is to PREVENT women's sexual response.

[YDogg]

15. good point

[mainer]

17. Equivalent = cutting off a man's dick

The more radical forms of female circumcision not only remove the clitoris (the anatomical equivalent of taking off the penis) but also removing the labia and even sewing the vagina partially closed until marriage. How is this in any way equivalent to snipping off penile foreskin?

A true female circumcision would be the removal of the hood over the clitoris -- and nothing else.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

23. But the male has many more square inches of nerve endings removed.

I cannot condone removing ANY of the sensitive skin of a boy's penis. That foreskin is there for a reason: To protect the penis from urine and other irritants, and to make intercourse much easier for him and his partner when he is grown. It's a simple mechanical thing. Two bare pieces of skin rubbing against each other is a lot tougher on the vagina than the man sliding inside his own foreskin. I know, I'm a grown woman who has experienced both kinds of penes.

The foreskin is there to make sex easier, thus with less friction, and more pleasurable. The sex drive is extremely powerful as we all know. The foreskin makes sex easier, since the goal is reproduction. However the anti-sex, anti-pleasure crowd rationalizes cutting off the most sensitive skin on a man's body, in a misguided attempt to make it less pleasurable, toughening the skin on the glans due to constant friction on clothing, and less desirable. I don't know of any men who, on the record, when circumcized as an adult, thought it helped their sexual functioning.

That being said, I think Egypt is going in the right direction, although who knows how they can enforce it.

[burrowowl]

24. Yes! It is the equivalent of

removing the male Glans and a little more of the penis!
Good for Egypt, may the law be enforced!

[dflprincess]

22. Thank you, that's just what I was going to say.

And I'll add, that in some extreme cases the labia is also removed or sewn shut.

[Scout]

3. good news for Egyptian women and girls! n/t

[donsu]

28. agree and thank you Egyptian govt.

nt

[stellanoir]

4. about time & phew

These practices are so unbelievably barbaric.

[MindPilot]

5. About frickin' time!! Welcome to the 21st century.

It's a very sad commentary that there actually have to be laws to prevent people from mutilating their children.

I'm hard pressed to imagine what "exceptional cases" the '97 law refers to might be.

[Coventina]

32. Actually, it's more like "Welcome to the 17th century"

But any progress is good!

:thumbsup:

[silverojo]

6. THANK GOD ALMIGHTY!!!!! n/t

[Bridget Burke]

7. Good for Egypt.

An ancient land is still capable of growth & change.

[David__77]

10. Unfortunately, the people I'm pretty sure don't approve of this.

I'm sure if there were a plebiscite, more than 80% would vote against banning the procedure, and I'm being generous. Feudal thinking is hard to purge whether in Egypt, China, or even rural America. Only large-scale economic development can sweep away these evil vestiges. "Democracy" in cases like these can only mean a dictatorship of the backward.

[Vidar]

12. Good point, & another reason we shouldn't be spreading "democracy"

in the Middle East.

[Sirveri]

27. It's not economic development or education pushing this.

It is pure cultural inertia. And it is very hard to fight against that. Some of it is education, but even the most educated can be brought down by the wheels of tradition.

[bleedingheart]

8. I had a friend in college whose mother has brought her and her sisters

from Egypt to prevent them from being mutilated...

I think that this is something to celebrate!

[Vidar]

11. Bravo Egypt!

[superconnected]

13. KUDOS FOR EGYPT!!!!

[Chulanowa]

14. Nice gesture

But I'll bet enforcement is going to be lax at best. Even if they're on the ball about it, this is one of those thinbgs that can slip under police radar.

[Nimrod2005]

16. About damn time............nt

[yasmina27]

18. About time!

Welcome to the 21st century

[DarkTirade]

19. Let's just hope they actually enforce it.

[tammywammy]

20. Good News

I hope it's enforced and that there's a good punishment for "doctors" still doing it.

[pitohui]

21. hey good news for a change EOM

,

[quiet.american]

25. Excellent news. n/t

[LibertyorDeath]

26. Egypt Welcome out of the stone age you fuck-wits.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

29. Bout fuckin time

[barb162]

30. This is very good news for all Egyptian females.

Now, if it spreads to other countries still practicing this barbarism, that will be better news.

[knight_of_the_star]

31. Good luck enforcing it

Odds are this will be used (successfully) by the Muslim Brotherhood for political hay.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

34. female circumcision/mutilation existed long before islam

and is not a requirement of islam

[knight_of_the_star]

36. Yeah I know that

You know that, doesn't stop the Muslim Brotherhood from trying to take advantage of it.

[Centered]

33. it's sad

it took the death of a young girl to bring this into the light.

[bleedingheart]

35. it wasn't just the death of one girl...but hundreds and thousands before her

and sadly her own mother is the one that took her to a female doctor who ended up botching the procedure...

I hope that it becomes illegal throughout Africa and the Middle East where it is practiced.