...improving a girl's marriage prospects.
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Sorry, but this logic escapes me. |
Posted on 01/15/2004 7:20:35 AM PST by Prodigal Son
PARIS, Jan 13 (AFP) - A woman from Mali was handed down a five-year suspended jail sentence in a French court on Tuesday for the genital mutilation of her three French-born daughters.
Defence lawyers for Aminata Sall, 42, had argued that she had been unaware that excision, or genital mutilation, was illegal in France, and was only "respecting Malian custom".
Sall had denied in court on Monday that her daughters, now aged 10, 14, and 15, had been excised. However, on Tuesday she confessed to having "been present" during their excisions.
The mother maintained that she had not assisted in the procedure, a painful operation which typically involves cutting off the clitoris and other parts of genitalia in pre-pubescent and teenage girls.
Prosecuting lawyer Philippe Bilger had not sought to have Sall given a prison sentence.
An estimated 130 million women have been subjected to female genital mutilation, and two million undergo the procedure each year, according to officials at a conference on excision held last November in Sweden.
Widely practiced in many African countries, despite laws that outlaw it, excision impairs a woman's ability to enjoy sexual relations, and is traditionally seen as controlling female sexuality and improving a girl's marriage prospects.
...improving a girl's marriage prospects.
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Sorry, but this logic escapes me. |
So, what was his intention? Maybe to wag his finger and get some press? 3 children have been molested, and parts of their body have been amputated with the mother's consent or active participation; this makes rape seem like a stolen kiss.
Female circumcision is a cultural thing, not a Muslim thing. The reason it appears so much in Muslims is that the Muslims converted most of the cultures that practice it, and like with Christianity many of the local customs continued after conversion.
And the medical community too. There is no medical reason to mutilate these babies, only religious practices and Western ritual.
Reported complications: acute obstructive uropathy and acute renal failure, penile ischemia, necrosis, buried penis, penile and glans amputation, iatrogenic hypospadias, severe hemorrhage, total denudation of the penis, infections including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, meningitis, staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome, Group B bhemolytic Streptococcus sepsis, erysipelas, impetigo, neonatal septicemia, tuberculosis, scrotal abscess, death, meatal stenosis, abdominal distension, adhesions and preputial skin-bridging, penile tourniquet syndrome, methemoglobinemia, gangrene of the penis and scrotum (Fournier's syndrome), pneumothorax, Plastibell retention, urethral fistula, meatal ulceration, keloid formation, ruptured bladder, gastric rupture, urethral strictures and stenosis, tachycardia and heart failure, myocardial injury, acute urinary retention, iatrogenic burns, pulmonary embolism, impotence (in adult men), chilling, phimosis, unilateral leg cyanosis
Plus sexual dysfunction associated with the loss of the skin that is naturally there for various reasons.
The few claimed benefits have also been debunked, but even if they were correct, are they worth the possible complications?
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