I think someone is telling porkies

Firstly let me profess I am not an expert on this procedure, however it is my understanding that if this procedure was to be performed, it would have been performed on these women before they reached puberty.

This is not the first time that claims using the emotive term of ‘genital mutilation’ have been made. Such claims carry an enormous amount of emotive power.

Ever heard of Adelaide Abankwah? Well neither did I, until I began researching Marie Claire.

A woman calling herself Adelaide Abankwah entered the US illegally in 1997. She claimed she would be involuntarily subjected to a clitoridectomy if tribal members discovered she wasn’t a virgin.

“Marie Claire is most famous for championing the cause of "Adelaide Abankwah" a purported tribal princess who allegedly left her homeland of Ghana to "escape genital mutilation." Although immigration didn't buy "Adelaide's" story and kept her in detention, Marie Claire did believe it, telling her tale under a headline that shrieked, "Why Are Women Who Escaped Genital Mutilation Being Jailed in This Country?"
http://www.nationalreview.com/blyth/blyth200407290001.asp
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"Adelaide Abankwah" was actually Regina Norman Danson, a Ghanaian hotel worker. http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=1878 <a href="replace with http address" target="_blank"> your text </a>

Jean Allman a Professor of African History wrote a letter to Marie Claire
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=8748
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“Surely a magazine of your stature employs investigative reporters capable of fleshing out the facts of a story.”

“That said, I am disgusted that your magazine has made Adelaide into a cause celebre when there is every indication that her story is contrived. Female genital mutilation is not only NOT practised in the area of Ghana from which Adelaide claims to come, but NEVER has been.”

I do not know if female circumcision is practised in Sierra Leone, but I bet you my bottom dollar that Australia’s women’s magazine editors will not pass up this opportunity to increase the sales of their magazines.

I think Liz Connor begins by being unduly reticent in condemning infibulation. Catherine Annas surely nails the issue: “When the effects of female genital mutilation are honestly faced, nothing can justify it. Not culture. Not tradition. Not parental rights. Nothing.” Liz clinches with another argument: that children are entitled to protection from the physical pain, trauma, medical harm and suffering caused by female genital mutilation. This argument turns on the existence of rights of children who require protection from harmful actions whether those actions are by parents, religious leaders or the state and whether the justifcation given is cultural, religious or pseudo-scientific.

If the above is right, the question then becomes what process is best when the need for intervention against the process becomes necessary, and who decides? We in Australia don't have a great track record when protection of children's rights are concerned (witness stolen generations, abuse of state wards, incarcerartion of refugee children). Perhaps we should look more closely at the international models of child protection (the Norwegian model comes to mind with its Children's Ombudsman and children's rights enshrined in constitutions).

The work of UNICEF offers some hope but that organisation is hopelessly under-resourced and inadequately supported by the wealthier nations like Australia which is happy enough to be in clear breach of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child when it pleases our government.

There is no ‘ideological quagmire’ regarding female circumcision. The confusion Liz Connor refers to results from the clash of reality with all too popular anti-Western apologist ideology which holds every culture to be ‘equal.’

How confusing to weigh Western cultures against the cultures of people who customarily mutilate their own children. Gee, maybe all cultures aren’t equal after all! Shock horror - perhaps all those victims of Western Imperialism – aren’t such victims after all. Maybe there was a reason our Western forebears considered so many other peoples barbaric - maybe some of them were!

Then again, female circumcision isn’t such a big deal, compared to the horrors of fast food, capitalism and democracy?

Enough sarcasm.

While there is much merit in cultural diversity, customs which have the effect of subjugating or controlling people should always be rejected. Tolerating female circumcision for the sake of ‘respecting’ other cultures is a plain and simple abomination. For the same reasons our ‘evil’ Imperialist ancestors suppressed cannibalism, and we today should reject the Burka.

How sad that some people are so ashamed of their own culture’s moral superiority, that they’d even contemplate ignoring another culture’s mutilation of children. All cultures are not equal

runner, You are right. Multiculturalism was implemented by Whitlam and Grassby. Then followed up by Fraser. So both major parties are to blame for the divisive policies.

FGM is but one of the nasty cultural practices that came with MC.

No one has yet stated if FGM is against the law here. If not it should be and mandatory notifacation by medical staff also, so the parents of the girls can be dealt with.

I am given to understand that evidence exists that FGM has/is carried out here and further at least one Sydney hospital has a department set up specifically to deal with post FGM problems. There is other evidence that suggests that Aussie born girls have been sent overseas, to have the job done. Some bloody "holiday"!

Before we get carried away with happenings in other countries, we should clean up our own backyard first.

FGM is barbaric. We do not allow bullfights. revenge killing or a host of other cultural practices so why not outlaw FGM?

Firstly I would like to say that it is good to know that people have not forgotten about the issue of female genital mutilation. With more than 2 million females at risk each year globally it is definitely an issue that we cannot afford to brush under the carpet.

There are a few points I would like to clear up. James H mentioned that he doubted it was practiced in Sierra Leone. Yes, genital mutilation is practiced in Sierra Leone along with almost all of the countries stretching west to east in a band along the top of Africa. It is also practiced in the Middle East, Asia and North America. Quite alarmingly it is common among most Muslim women in Indonesia and Malaysia; however type three infibulation is not always the case.

Also, the comment was made doubting the truth of the Sierra Leone stories based on "porky- pies" they were telling about the age of genital mutilation. While female genital mutilation is most common between the ages of three and ten years, the procedure can be performed any time between three and the first pregnancy. What an aweful experience having known sex and life previous to mutilation to then go through a pregnancy with it.

Perhaps next time we decide to be so judging of another's story, especially from our comfortable and comparatively safe and stable first world position, we might take a few more moments researching so as to at least give informed opinions.

Some more information on how to go about making a difference would have been appreciated. Having said that an organisation called Tostan that are working with UNICEF currently in different African countries have already successfully helped over 28 communities abandon FGM uniformly. They did not approach the villages on a moral pedestal with the motive of converting those to their own superior way of life. By being open to discussion and without judgment, the villages chose of their own accord to empower themselves and abandon the tradition and also to help neighbouring villages to do the same

Some facts and resources on FGM/FGC in order to guide the discussion:

According to the report on FGM or FGC released by the Office of Senior Coordinator for International Women's Issues (2001), “Type II (commonly referred to as excision) is the form of female genital mutilation (FGM) or female genital cutting (FGC) widely practiced on women and girls in Sierra Leone. It is generally practiced by all classes, including the educated elite. Sierra Leoneans who live abroad sometimes bring their daughters back to Sierra Leone to participate in initiation rites that include this procedure. Type II is usually carried out within a ritual context. It is part of the passage from childhood to womanhood. Some estimates place the percentage of women and girls in Sierra Leone who undergo this procedure at 80 percent. Others put the percentage higher at 90 percent. All ethnic groups practice it except Krios who are located primarily in the western region and in the capital, Freetown.” For more information visit: http://www.state.gov/g/wi/rls/rep/crfgm/10108.htm

Additional resources: BITONG, Liliane. Fighting genital mutilation in Sierra Leone. Bull World Health Organ. [online]. Nov. 2005, vol.83, no.11 [cited 01 August 2006], p.806-807. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862005001100005&lng=en&nrm=iso

For information on rape and other forms of sexual violence against women in Sierre Leone visit: www.svri.org/sle.htm

For more information on FGM or FGC more generally visit: http://www.svri.org/female.htm

Just one last comment, FGM/FGC does occur in Ghana, in 2004 the national prevalence rate was estimated at 5% (ref: www.measuredhs.com/topics/gender/FGC-CD/start.cfm)