Hello lovely hivers, I must take time to appreciate hive community for the warm welcome and love I received after introducing myself to this lovely community. I was overwhelmed with the comments and guidance. Indeed I feel loved and this confirms what I was told prior to my joining. As I promised, I will keep to all the rules that govern the activities here.
This will be my very first post to discuss some heinous and barbaric practices that is common in some countries. Speaking of practices, I will be narrowing my discussion to the ill practices on young females in Africa, to be specific, I will writing with respect to some practices that are common to some communities in Nigeria.
This article will be in two parts - the ill practices and the good one. Today I will buttress more on the ill practice. Speaking of practice, I am referring to circumcision. The word circumcision depending on the intent can be advantageous or disadvantageous and this is directly dependent on the gender in question. When it is associated with males, most times, it is good but on females, it is Ill.
Like I earlier mentioned, I will start with the ill practices. In the meantime, let's get to understand the actual meaning of circumcision in a layman's terms. We will begin with basic introduction to what circumcision is and then go deeper.
Circumcision
Circumcision as we commonly know involves the removal of the foreskin of the penis of a male child surgically, so as to expose the the smooth tip which is known as the glans penis. This process is commonly carried out on males and is known to have great benefits for both the circumcised male gender as well as their partners on the long run.
On the other hand, in some places like Somalia, Guinea etc, females are also seen to be circumcised even though they don't have penis like males, and so we will be discussing basically female circumcision as well as it's consequences in this post while male circumcision will be handled in our next post.
Female circumcision
Campaign against female genital mutilation
Female circumcision which is also known as female genital mutilation or female genital cutting, is an intentional act of cutting or injuring of some parts or all the parts of the external genitals of a girl child as a form of ritual, without any medical benefits.
This act most times is usually carried when the baby is still a neonate ( within the first 28days of life), although it is also done for those who have become of age especially during early adolescent age without any anaesthesia and at this time it's usually forcefully and traumatic to the victims.
Although most countries in Africa like Nigeria have instituted laws which prohibits this inhumane act, some individuals still hold unto this practice till today due to their cultural and religious beliefs.
Most times, the circumcision is usually carried out by a traditional circumciser who usually has the responsibility of carrying it out in the community and because these set of people are not well trained on good hygiene and practice, they often use unhygienic tools and methods, there by exposing the individual to infections.
Tools used for female genital mutilation by traditional circumcisiers
Some parents also believe that by circumcising their female children, it will help in curtailing their sexual urge their by preventing them from being promiscuous as well as becoming pregnant at their young age.
Classification of female genital mutilation
This practice have different degrees or types which can be carried out on the child. Before we go on to knowing the different types of genital mutilation for females, below is the normal external genital before the process of circumcision.
Normal female external genital
The normal external female genital has important structures which are majorly involved during mutilation and these structures includes: the clitoris(erectile organ), labia minora, labia majora, the urethral and vaginal orifices.
Type 1
this type can also be called clitoridectomy and this involves partial or total removal of the clitoris which is an erectile organ in females that helps in attaining orgasm, but has no reproductive function.
It is the most sensitive part of the female external genital because it has so much nerves supply and it's capable of erection just like the penis in males which makes it the center of pleasure during sexual intercourse and removing it involves pinching the glans of the clitoris or the hood and cutting it off. This type is a mild form of the circumcision because only the clitoris is involved.
What could be the implication of removing the clitoris to the individual?
The absence of this highly innervated, sensitive organ of pleasure will result in the female not enjoying or attaining orgasm during love making in most cases as I earlier mentioned in it's function and so the major reason for these victims to have sex is just to procreate and not to enjoy themselves, this could result to a boring sex life.
Type 1 female genital mutilation
Type 2
This involves the removal of the labia minora which is the inner lip like structure that surrounds the vaginal orifice, it's contains little fatty tissues and is smooth and hairless in appearance.
It plays important role in protecting or cushioning the clitoris as well as the vaginal and urethral orifices from both trauma and infections.
The labia majora a larger version of the labia minora which encloses all the inner structures including the labia minora, only remains in this type of circumcision. Imagine the kind of trauma a female child has to experience seeing her flesh being cut off not even under any anaesthesia or pain killer. The picture below throws more light to this type of mutilation.
Type 2 female genital mutilation
Imagining this pain, what do you think can happen to a victim of this type of mutilation?
In addition to their inability to attain orgasm because of absence of the clitoris, they are also majorly exposed to different forms of infections ranging from urinary tract infections as well as other pelvic inflammatory diseases and physical trauma, due to the absence of that protective lip like structure the labia minora which encloses these orifices.
Before I continue with our discussion, I would love it if you can go and get a glass of water, to calm your nerves.
Type 3
This involves the complete removal of the clitoris, the labia minora and then the cutting or suturing together of the labia majora.
The labia majora is also seen to have similar structure with the labia minora but it's a bigger lip like structure, with more fatty tissues and muscles, unlike the the labia minora, the majora is covered with hairs as soon as puberty is attained and in addition, this bigger lip contains oil and sweat secreting glands.
Least I forget, Just like the the scrotum in males which has a protective function, the labia majora also protects and insulates all the other inner genital structures in females. In this type of circumcision, it is cut off or sutured together inorder to seal off the area with just a small opening through which urine and menstrual fluid can flow out.
This type of mutilation imposes serious health complications to the victims ranging from
infections and this could be gotten through the tools they use, the unhygienic processes involved as well as the remnant of urine that gathers underneath the sealed up labia majora which serves as a breeding spot for microorganisms that causes infections like HIV, TETANUS ETC.
Do you also know that this particular type of circumcision can lead to difficulty in getting pregnant? Ok lemme tell you how, most times because the area is now sealed up, with just little opening for urine,when the lady gets married, the spouse usually experience difficulty in opening it up, there by not being able to penetrate her preventing sexual intercourse which could have led to pregnancy.
That is why inorder to have sex the woman will be given another cut inorder to open up the area for intercourse and passage of the baby when the time for delivery comes. One can only imagine the pain. By so doing, another complication of severe pain and bleeding occurs which in some cases when not properly managed claims the life of the victim.
Type 3 female genital mutilation
This practice in general, imposes a great deal of negative impact to the society ranging from *a rise in mortality rate of these young females due to the complications, to the economic effect due to the amount of fund the government utilizes inorder to discourage or stop this practice through sensitization of different forms to create awareness etc.
Wow! So now from all these things discussed here, I Know you all now understand what female genital mutilation is all about as well as how horrible it is and it's impact to both people and the society as a whole and also why it was very vital that government should institute laws against it.
So I think I will draw the curtain here and I hope I didn't bore you all. Take care of yourselves and anticipate my next post on the process of male circumcision.
References
•WHO- Female genital mutilation
•Unicef- Female genital mutilation
•Female genital mutilation or cutting
•Health consequences of female genital mutilation/cutting in the Gambia, evidence into action
•An Overview of Female Genital Mutilation in Nigeria