by Jason Stotts
In a welcome move, Uganda has passed a new law to ban Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
The World Health Organization estimates that over 3,000,000 women throughout the world are forced to undergo Female Genital Mutilation every year, or roughly 342 women every hour of every day. For those who don’t know, FGM ranges from the removal of the clitoral hood, to the removal of the clitoris, to the removal of the outer and inner labia, to effectively sowing the vagina closed (infibulation). This is frequently done with whatever implements are at hand, including rusty pieces of metal, scissors, pieces of glass, etc, and rarely with the use of anesthesia. It is done for various reasons, depending on the locality, but the unifying element in the “inherent dirtiness” of the female body and to “help” women conform to cultural expectations of chastity.
The practice is primarily located in Africa and some Asian countries, although it has strong ties to Islam and is therefore not tied exclusively to any location. FGM is a sobering reminder that our ideas about sex matter and that the consequences of bad ideas about sex are not limited to an unsatisfying sex life. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that bad ideas about sex can kill. It is for this reason that Sexual Ethics is vital.
I want to applaud Uganda for their move to ban FGM and I urge other countries who don’t have such laws in place to make passing them a priority.
I also want to point out an interesting paradox. While all reasonable people agree that mutilating a woman’s vagina is unethical and should be banned, not many people seem to have a problem with mutilating penises. They are the same in all respects and just because we are better at mutilating penises and men do not usually die from this, does not make it right.