"The Personal is Political" African diaspora political commentary, life-love-and music.
Thursday 21 May 2015
Bondo
Being a woman is confusing these days.
I read an article which talked about the joy in which many women felt with regards to FGM. The article went on the state that for many women it was a sign of maturity and an entrance ( for want of a better word) into womanhood
The author stated
'we are proud of our vaginas thank you'...
In other words... butt out [click]
There are those who may argue that the campaigns levied against FGM are driven by western values, and have no place in the cultures in which they are performed.
Recently there have been articles available on-line which state that the Ebola outbreak has stemmed the tide of the number of procedures carried out.. [click]
Yet ironically .. there are also articles which will state that there has been an increase in rape and sexual violence
Apparently Sierra Leone has temporarily banned the practice of FGM [click]
Only temporarily?
Why?
I honestly believe it's an outdated practice that should end now
I fail to see how the procedure benefits( or is good for) a woman
Many will argue differently
Unsuccessfully... but differently
The thing is, I think it's important that women who have undergone the procedure are not made to feel bad about it in any way.
So I try to be compassionate in what I say
Often they had no choice but to go along with it
Most were very young girls at the time
Uneducated, they may believe whatever their elders advise them to do, is in their best interests. Elders who themselves would have befallen the same fate in thier own youth
So, who does it benefit?.. really
If the practice is carried out purely to assure the man that his wife is a virgin, or to grant him sexual dominance one sided pleasure, or control... then it's a sad indictment on the male species
Surely we have evolved more than that by now
Yesterday I said that governments could not easily stop people from doing what they have always done. Well with regards to this practice.. they should definitely try.
Those I have spoken to who have had the procedure wish they had not
I have not met one woman who remains happy that she has been cut
You cut the clitoris off and how then does a husband fully please his wife?...
I don't understand it
Surely a man wants to please his wife? no?
Yet the bottom line is that it's women who are 'cutting' women
I think we are approaching a tipping point with regards to women and women's sexuality.
an increasing number of young female will now happily tell you they are either bi sexual or lesbian
Some music artists are behaving more like porn stars than artists ( despite for this particular artist, the threat of a lengthy prison term)
Sort it out girl.. your manager has let you down [click]
You can see the video [here]
Others are covered from head to toe seemingly unwilling or unable to show even a slither of flesh
So women...where are we at?..
No...really...
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I wasn't aware of FGM until I was an adult and read some of what Alice Walker wrote about it. When I lived near Washington, D.C., I recall a case involving a diplomat who wanted to "circumcise" his daughter. He had diplomatic immunity. I don't know if anyone was able to help the girl or if they sent her home for the cutting. In my college class about Women's Literature, the professor said that women do such things to themselves and each other because of self-hatred. Of course, fear of men plays a part, too.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
In some societies men will not ( or are reluctant) to marry an uncut woman. So it becomes a matter of economics/survival as well
DeleteI wonder of its origins. No one can tell me yet.
For some women, I'm told they prefer it that way. I met a nurse who assists circumcised women during childbirth. Often she is called to cut open sown women. Some women want to be re-sown afterwards and feel a sense of trauma of being 'open'.
She works with them ( and the husbands) to adapt
No one wants to be shunned by thier family/community. Sort the men out, and sort the 'cutter's out. Perhaps encourage them to get a new profession. perhaps sewing.. clothes.
i dont know what to say. im speechless
ReplyDeleteI thought about this last night Alieux. I thought. Am I overemphasizing the importance of the clitoris?
DeleteAfter all making love begins in the mind, and there are so many other erogenous zones, each of us is different.
Then i thought.. making love and having sex differ also. ( a bit)
and then i thought nope... I'm still not for it.
Then I went to sleep
The way I see it right now is that one can't have a serious conversation about empowering women when this is still going on .. can you?