This incident involving a case Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) here in the states simply takes my breath away.
An Ethiopian immigrant was convicted Wednesday of the genital mutilation of his 2-year-old daughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in what was believed to be the first such criminal case in the United States.
Khalid Adem, 30, was found guilty of aggravated battery and cruelty to children. Prosecutors said he used scissors to remove his daughter’s clitoris in his family’s Atlanta-area apartment in 2001. The child’s mother, Fortunate Adem, said she did not discover it until more than a year later.
Adem, who had no criminal record, could have been sentenced to up to 40 years in prison. He held his face in his hands and wept loudly after the jury’s verdict was read.
During her father’s trial, the girl, now 7, clutched a teddy bear as she testified on videotape that her father “cut me on my private part.”
“This child has suffered, will suffer, the rest of her life,” Judge Richard Winegarden told Adem during sentencing.
[…]
It is unknown how many girls have died from the procedure, either during the cutting or from infections, or years later in childbirth. Nightmares, depression, shock and feelings of betrayal are common psychological side effects, according to a 2001 federal report.
Since 2001, the State Department estimates that up to 130 million women worldwide have undergone circumcision.
Just reading about this pierced my very soul. And the fact that the mother didn’t know it had happened until a year later? What must that poor little girl have gone through, having experienced that at her father’s hands and not knowing how (or unable because of whatever the circumstances were in that household) to tell her mother?
It’s so tragic how, even here in America, women are still treated like the chattel of the world.
USA Today: Man gets 10-year sentence for circumcision of 2-year-old daughter
Amnesty International: Stop Violence Against Women
Female Genital Mutilation
The Lo Zone 
>When I was in Hopkins I did a presentation on the writings of Arab women and there is one in particulr who has a haunting story about this. Her name is Alifa Rifaat. (If I have it in lose form I'll send it to you LO). I remember Alice Walker bringing this to light years ago but had no idea this was being done here in the States. But if this case has made it into the headlines you know there are others that have remained silent.As part of my presentation I rented a film from the New York Film Library where they interviewed many women and some young girls who talked about this procedure and some of them actually looked forward to the day when it would be done to them. Isn't it sad how the abused and oppressed are often convinced that what's being done to them is for their own good.
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>I just cringed when I read – he used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris. That is a horrible act of violence, I couldn't imagine anyone doing that to either of my girls. I'd want to kill them. For real.
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>Rich, I hate to break it to you but his method was probably better than most. In the documentary that I viewed they indicated it was sometimes done with broken glass.
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>Hmm… How much would a man pay, in this day and age, to know that the woman he is to wed is a virgin? It's a crazy extreme, but I understand. I don't agree, but I understand. I also don't agree that women should suffer during their PERIODS. That I don't totally understand. Men don't have to..ah.. suffer…um..well maybe that's why God created BLUE-BALLS. To even things up a bit. I guess what I am really trying to say is that I love the pussy. I am against anyone hurting any paaaaaaaart of the pussy.(- BIG BROTHA ALMIGHTY…School Daze)God is LO-ZONE
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>Running out of the room…..
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>What exactly is the source for outrage here? Is it the METHOD by which it is done? Or is it the REASON for doing it? Would it be ok to do if the complications were as mild as say circumcising a penis? I actually think pulling a tooth out of someones jawbone with glorified pliers is a little horrific. But know one is protesting.
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>Since I'm more than familiar with Ethiopian culture, I've heard this tale many times and know several girls from Addis who underwent this treatment, usually at the behest of their mother. It always made me sick. And although the call it circumcision Anonymous, it's much, much more than removing the hood. They take the entire clit out because why in God's name would you want your daughter or wife to ever, ever experience pleasure? Funny how this guy cried like a bitch in court but if you had met him before he was caught he would've certainly argued at length with you about "his culture". Yeah, beautiful culture. Why do these "cultures" usually wind up with the women paying some disgusting price?
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>wow, tough subject, but needs to be discussed….*for the ladies only*which is worse, clitoris removal or abortion?
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>I would have to say I have a problem with the method and the reason. The method is brutal and the reason is based totally on chauvinistic values. I guess they figure if women got pleasure out of it, some of the men would be left out in the cold, because it would be real obvious that there love game was weak!
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>Hey…I always visit and most times I have nothing to say that you guys haven't already said so I never post. But it's strange that just yesterday in one of my classes we had this very discussion, female organ mutilation. I knew that it happened but I never knew the real reasons behind their beliefs. My professor told us that most places it's done on a dirt floor with a sharpened rock. For them to go through that so young, just because sex isn't supposed to be enjoyable for a woman…it's crazy. It makes me sad for all of those little girls who believe that this is the norm.
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