Posted on 11/26/2004 6:06:52 PM PST by ChristianDefender
Young girls born in Europe to immigrant families from Africa are being subjected to ritual genital mutilation, and authorities are doing little to discourage it, a leading women’s rights activist warned.
Somalia-born supermodel and best-selling author Waris Dirie, who has campaigned to end the disfiguring practice she suffered at age five in her homeland, said yesterday that she estimates one in every three African families living in Europe is secretly carrying out the ritual on their daughters. No official figures exist.
The procedure – illegal in most European countries – is especially prevalent in Germany and the Netherlands, as well as in Austria, where an estimated 8,000 girls born into immigrant families have been affected, Dirie said.
“We don’t know who’s doing it and where,” because there are few initiatives to prevent it or to encourage doctors, nurses, social workers, teachers and others to report suspected cases, Dirie said. An exception is France, where there is strong awareness and education, she said.
“What good is a law if no one is paying attention?” Dirie told reporters in Austria, where she was being honoured yesterday by a Roman Catholic men’s movement for her efforts to stop the practice.
Islamic religious leaders are telling Europe’s Muslim Africans that the prophets recommend the ancient ritual, which involves the removal of the clitoris, often with a dull blade and no anaesthesia, Dirie said.
“That is a catastrophe,” she said. “Every imam who is not actively against genital mutilation is guilty. Mutilation is not a tradition – it’s a crime that must be abolished.”
Although women generally perform the procedure, sometimes called female circumcision, men are ultimately responsible because “untrimmed” young women “face great difficulties in African societies in finding a husband,” Dirie said.
Between 100 million and 140 million women have undergone genital mutilation worldwide, and two million girls are at risk each year, according to the World Health Organisation, which says the practice can lead to infection, the spread of Aids and crippling physical, psychological and sexual problems.
The practice has been on the rise not only among immigrants in Europe but also in Australia, Canada and the US, Who says.
Petra Bayr, an official with Austria’s Socialist Party, said the bloc’s women would press the government to consider genital mutilation an “act of violence” and legitimate grounds for women fleeing it to be granted asylum in Austria.
“Women who are threatened with genital mutilation or have already suffered it should not have to wait for months for an open door,” added Raimund Loeffelmann, a spokesman for the Catholic men’s organisation honouring Dirie yesterday.
hmmm... your pic is nice but those women's experience is far worst than that... your's maybe called piercing, theirs is called mutilation or "beheading"...
"Sorry, but female genital mutilation isn't equivalent to male circumcision. That is unless you think they cut off the entire penis when they circumcise males"
Exactly!
***They are removing the component responsible for the female orgasm. The cannot satisfy their women.***
...that's why non can convince me to become a muslim because i'm deeply troubled with this things and a lot more...
...how can u please God with such things?... removing a clitoris is like beheading a woman...
Oh Boy... THAT'S ONE OF THE MOST BLASPHEMOUS PIC I'VE EVER SEEN...
... MY GOD IS A MERCIFUL GOD, BUT DONT DO SUCH THING -- YOU DONT KNOW HOW TERRIBLE HE CAN BE ANGRY... i pitty that gal...
Hey, look, I report and you decide. Them is the facts.
Not valueless, but in BIG trouble. Wake up Dude!
Now there's a thought. Make genital mutilation (and/or sterilization) the admission price for all of the above.
AWESOME DUDE!
Umm...a warning would have been nice. Yuck. Thanks a lot.
***Oh Boy... THAT'S ONE OF THE MOST BLASPHEMOUS PIC I'VE EVER SEEN...
... MY GOD IS A MERCIFUL GOD, BUT DONT DO SUCH THING -- YOU DONT KNOW HOW TERRIBLE HE CAN BE ANGRY... i pitty that gal...***
... the statement is against the group or individuals who dared to do such immoral act...
...never thought some people would dare do that...
thanks for the info...
It would appear that the jury is still out on that.
For one thing uncircumcised men are known to be at much greater risk of becoming infected with HIV than circumcised men. Over 40 studies have found that men who are circumcised have a lower risk of becoming infected with HIV from an infected sexual partner than uncircumcised men. Circumcised men are two to eight times less likely to contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases than uncircumcised men.
The explanation for this seems logical. The HIV virus targets certain cells called Langerhans cells that are present in abundance on the inner surface of the foreskin. These cells are likely the primary point of viral entry into the penis of an uncircumcised man. Langerhans cells possess HIV receptors, making them particularly susceptible to infection. Male circumcision may act to provide significant protection against HIV infection by removing most of the receptors.
Cervical cancer has been related to the presence of human papillomavirus infection. On this basis, an alternative hypothesis for the reduction of cervical cancer through circumcision has been proposed; namely, that there is a higher HPV infection rate among uncircumcised men. An international group of researchers conducted a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that concluded that male circumcision is associated with a reduced risk of penile HPV infection and, in the case of men with a history of multiple sexual partners, a reduced risk of cervical cancer in their current female partners.
And then there is the matter of increased urinary tract infections (UTI's) etc., etc.
thanks a lot...
Look over the entire site. What you see is the worst of it. What you will see is cutting edge work that aids the cause.
The problem is: who is in charge?
I still wonder what it would be like if I still had my forecastle, LOL.
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