CLITORIDECTOMY

also called Female Circumcision, or Excision, ritual surgical procedure that may range in degree from the drawing of blood to infibulation (also called Pharoanic circumcision), which consists in removal of the clitoris, the labia minora, and the anterior two-thirds of the labia majora, the sides of which are joined leaving a small posterior opening. The practice of female circumcision dates to ancient times and was traditionally performed to guard virginity and to reduce sexual desire. Though statistics are generally unavailable because the operation is rarely performed by the medical community, it is widely practiced in such places as New Guinea; Australia; the Malay Archipelago; Ethiopia, Egypt, and other parts of Africa; Brazil; Mexico; Peru; and by various Islamic peoples of the Middle East, Africa, western Asia, and India. Infibulation is common particularly in The Sudan, Somalia, and Nigeria. The operation is usually performed by a midwife, often under less than hygienic conditions. Especially with the more radical excision, consequences sometimes include severe bleeding, tetanus and other infections, exquisite pain, and death. Even with normal healing, urination and sexual intercourse can be quite painful and menstrual blood can back up. Where the practice of infibulation is common, women are reinfibulated after the birth of each child. Groups in which clitoridectomy is practiced also usually practice male circumcision and view the ritual as part of a religious or ethnic tradition and as a necessary stage for passage into responsible adulthood.