1. Egypt's fight against female circumcision clashes with tradition

Comment #81092 by narco on October 24, 2007 at 3:58 am

I get frustrated by articles that make big claims yet cite no source.

so I found some:

An older meta-study on "female sexual castration" presented in 1989-MAR showed that five surveys conducted between 1977 and 1985 estimated that 80.5% of Egyptian women in Cairo and Alexandria had undergone FGM. (Mohamed Badawi, "Epidemiology of Female Sexual Castration in Cairo, Egypt," Paper delivered at the First International Symposium on Circumcision, Anaheim, California,1989-MAR-1 &. Online at: http://www.nocirc.org/)

During 2007-JUN, Ahmad 'Aliwa, a women's rights activist, described one finding that shows the near universal practice of FGM in Egypt, noting: "The Center for Social Studies conducted a survey which showed that 85% of the prostitutes in Egypt were circumcised. There is no relation between female circumcision and the girls' behavior." (Death of Girl During Circumcision Stirs Debate in Egypt and Prompts a Fatwa by Mufti of Egypt Banning this Practice," Transcript of program on Al-Mihwar TV, 2007-JUN-24, at: http://www.memritv.org/)

A 2005 report by UNICEF suggested that 97% of Egyptian women between the ages of 15 and 49 who have never been married have undergone some form of FGM or circumcision. (according to the guardian.co.uk)

A more recent study by the Egyptian government found that 50.3% of girls aged 10 to 18 have been circumcised. (according to the guardian.co.uk)

Apparently the definition of "female circumcision" varies from (relatively) minor cuts, to removal of all exterior parts of the female genitals.

As per usual I found the best information at

http://www.religioustolerance.org

which I find to be the most informative website on religion

narco