Indeed, the conclusion of the author of a 1991 study on motives behind circumcision was correct, that "[i]n order to tackle a problem which is deeply integrated in a socio-cultural network," such as FGR, "it is necessary to have better knowledge about individual experiences and attitudes to the practice." (137) Of the 290 respondents in this study, 88 percent had pharaonic circumcision or excision while the rest were circumcised with
clitoridectomy (6.5 percent) and sunna (5.5 percent).
hoodectomy, a distinct procedure from a "
clitoridectomy." FC
(55) The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified FGM into three basic types: Type I, called
clitoridectomy, involves partial or total removal of the clitoris; Type II, called excision, involves removal of the clitoris plus part or all of the labia minora; Type III, called infibulation, involves removal of the labia minora with the labia majora sewn together, covering the urethra and vagina.
The map of Africa showing the extent of the practice of FGM (Female genital mutilation) printed on the page preceding her own text, distinguishes clearly between the zones of Africa where
clitoridectomy is commonly practiced and the more limited areas of infibulations, by using different shades of grey.
(81) The four forms of genital cutting usually mentioned are: (1)
clitoridectomy (also known as "sunna"), whereby the clitoral prepuce is cut and all or part of the clitoris is removed; (2) excision, whereby the clitoris and all or parts of the inner labia are removed; (3) infibulation (also known as "pharaonic mutilation"), whereby the clitoris and most of the labia are removed and what remains is stitched so as to leave a small opening for urine; and (4) pricking the clitoris and/or labia, sometimes accompanied by stretching of the clitoris and/or labia (see Angela Wasunna, "Towards Redirecting the Female Circumcision Debate: Legal, Ethical and Cultural Considerations" (2000) 5 McGill J.
In "'Pomegranate-Flowers"'189-213 and "Critical
Clitoridectomy" 235-59, Paula Bennett shows that forms of sexuality were a constant in American poetry, though such sexual explicitness did not achieve mass cultural scandal status until Wilcox pushed the envelope.
El-Saadawi's indictment of
clitoridectomy is glaring in Woman at Point Zero (1983; Imra'a 'ind Nuqtat al-Safr, 1975) in which the main character, Firdaus, laments the loss of her ability to experience sexual pleasure later in life as a result of the forceful excision of her clitoris when she was young.
Focusing on cultural and institutional practices of
clitoridectomy, bridewealth, marriage, maternity, and education, Tabitha Kanogo addresses the way in which colonial and mission conceptions of a woman's identity and ethnicity contrasted with those of a woman's own and her communities' resistance to change.
In Cameroon, all forms of FGM are practised, the prevalent types being
Clitoridectomy and Infibulation.
The most radical treatment was, of course, the
clitoridectomy, a surgical procedure that we now know was undertaken with scandalous frequency by some Victorian surgeons (Showalter, pp.
How, for instance, do ancient tribal customs intersect with Islam in the scourge of
clitoridectomy? Can Hitlerism or Stalinism or Maoism be described, even remotely, as "religious"?