FGM and Religion: A False Connection -- FGM, or female circumcision as it is also - but incorrectly - known, is practiced by Muslims, Christians, animists, and nonbelievers in a range of communities, often under the mistaken belief that it is a religious dictate. - U.S. Fund for UNICEF 1998

Historical articles in U.S. medicine.

Lists similarities between male and female circumcision.

In 1985, a group of 350 urban Egyptian women were selected to self-report on their recall of their female sexual castration (FSC) which they experienced as children.

Hanny Lightfoot-Klein. Presented at The Third International Symposium on Circumcision, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland May 22-25, 1994.

by Linda Burstyn - Atlantic Monthly, Oct 1995 - Performed by new immigrants, veiled in deference to a cultural tradition of the developing world, female circumcision is becoming an American problem.

The World Health Organization had a conference in February 1979 in Khartoum, Sudan, and unanimously condemned the mutilations as disastrous to womens health and as indefensible on medical as well as humane grounds. In the United States, Rep. Pat Schroeder has written a bill to prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM), H.R. 3247.

This 1959 medical journal article reveals how American medicine condoned female circumcision with arguments similar to those still used today to justify male circumcision. Offers this article for historical reference only, as well as to emphasize these similarities and expose medical arrogance.

Articles at ReligiousTolerance.org, about the practice in some African and Muslim communities, and in North America and Europe.

from Amnesty International

by Fran P. Hosken - Female genital mutilation - the descriptive term for the different types of operations are "excision" and "infibulation" - continues to be practiced in large regions of Africa, from the Red Sea Coast to the shores of the Atlantic. In Indonesia and Malaysia, less drastic forms of "female circumcision" are practiced by some of the Moslem populations of this region and sporadic occurrences have been registered among other mainly Moslem groups.

News Star Online - Apr 2, 1998 - Hillary Rodham Clinton, meeting with villagers who have ended the practice of female circumcision in their community, praised the village for having started "a great movement."

by Anastasios Zavales - The world community is increasingly educated on crimes against humanity, in particular, about individuals practicing genital mutilation, commonly termed circumcision. Genital mutilation affects more than 2 million girl­child victims and more than 13.5 million boy­child victims annually throughout the world.

Specializing in female circumcision, genital mutilation, and alternative ritual of passage information.

"In the same manner as male circumcision, of course!" - Read an extensive list of medical and lay comments about female circumcision.

United Nations humanitarian report from Kenya explains how a series of seminars resulted in the resignation two hundred practitioners of female genital mutilation. Includes outline of the cultural aspects.

By Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D. - Minaret of Freedom Institute. Brief article discussing religion and female genital mutilation.

An angry commentary.

Anatomy and Function - Commentary - Ethics, Law, Human Rights - Religion - Science and Sociology - Statistics

by Ashley Montagu - The story of bodily mutilations would occupy a large volume in the story of humankind, and few would be more strange and interesting than those relating to male and female circumcision.

A Nigerian woman is fighting deportation, saying she needs to stay because of her 10-year-old daughter, who is an American citizen. The mother has overstayed her visa by more than a decade. She says she can't leave her daughter in the US, but she says in Nigeria, the girl would be subject to a painful procedure known as female genital mutilation. NPR's Barbara Bradley reports. [4:47 minute Realaudio segment]

The arrest of an Ethiopian citizen in Atlanta, Ga., raises concerns that female circumcision -- a form of genital mutilation common in some African nations -- is being performed on young women in the United States. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports. 5.5 minutes radio segment via Realplayer.

NPR's Libby Lewis reports on a Nigerian woman who is trying to have the practice of female genital mutilation accepted as a violation of the anti-torture convention, which the United States has signed. The woman lives in Dallas, but is here illegally and fighting deportation. The woman's claim is that she and her 3-year-old daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, would likely be subjected to the mutilation ritual which is practiced in some African cultures. If her argument is accepted, it could open the United States to many African women who otherwise could not move here. [4.5 minute Realaudio segment]

BBC News Online - Dec 23, 1998 - Senegal has banned female circumcision on cultural or religious grounds. Anybody found practising circumcision on girls now faces up to five years in prison.

Ethnic NewsWatch - "No one should live in fear of having parts of her genitals sliced off against her will."

A video about female circumcision and the effort to stop the practice. - 14 minutes, Grades 10-Adult, Directed by Charlotte Metcalf, Produced by TVE and BBC, 1998, VHS ISBN: 1-56029-755-7