FGM: Additional Information and How You Can Help, US Cornell University Practicing FGM

Previous article HERE

From WHOA! Protect Girls from Genital Mutilation

One form of self-created harm that obstructs and hinders the society’s ability to develop is female genital mutilation (FGM) which aims to damage the genitalia of girls by cutting off their clitoris and labia. It aims to control girls and women and hinder them from developing a self-contained sexuality.

Female genital mutilation is not an “exotic issue”: Today, FGM is one of the most systematic and widespread mistreatment and violation of childrens’ rights worldwide. Every year, more than three million victims are submitted to this violence on the African continent alone. Those victims from Yemen, the united Arab Emirates, Iraq and Iran, Indonesia and Malaysia have even to be added.

The extent of FGM might be hard to believe: Up to 90 % of a country´s or a region´s female children (e.g., in Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Gambia, Sierra Leone, etc.) are victimized by genital mutilations. The vast majority of the victims is physically and mentally damaged and traumatised for life. We have to assume that today, more than 200 million victims exist worldwide.

As long as this violence is not stopped, as long as the deliberate damaging of whole female generations goes on, broad and lasting development in these countries or regions remains impossible. This means, that the end of female genital mutilation and the consequent protection of future generations is a very important key for lasting development.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Click HERE or visit http://www.patenmaedchen.de/en_wycd.php

Simply sign one, several or all of the following letters and send them to the board of PLAN International, World Vision, Kindernothilfe (Germany) and Children’s fund CCF / ChildFund Germany. By signing these letters you call for the stipulation of the safety and protection from FGM of the sponsored girls in the preconditions for support for the communities; you call for a careful selection of the project partners, means that only those communities are supported who respect the most fundamental children’s and human rights and and so proof their will to develop; you call for an investment of donations in the most economic and effective way.

*Please note that for each of these letters you need only enter your name and email address and hit “submit”, you are NOT required to enter the name or number of sponsored girl in order to send letters.

• Letter to PLAN International – click HERE

• Letter to World Vision – click HERE

• Letter to Kindernothilfe (Germany) – click HERE

• Letter to CCF Kinderhilfwerk/ChildFund Germany – HERE

FGM PERFORMED AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Immediate, please sign HERE

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has appeared in the form of “corrective surgery” at a premier American hospital. While we lambaste the practice abroad, some doctors are justifying its use and performing FGM in the United States.

In 1997, it was estimated that 168,000 women and girls had been or were at risk of undergoing FGM. This isn’t just immigrants bringing their cultural practice to the U.S.; as it turns out, FGM is being performed at an Ivy League university. This story demonstrates how our image-obsessed culture is encouraging the mutilation of young girls.

Dr. Dix P. Poppas, head of pediatric urology department at Cornell University’s New York Presbyterian Hospital, one of the premier hospitals in the nation, has been performing clitoral reductions — a.k.a. female genital mutilation — on young girls. The abhorrent practice, according to the good doctor, is humane because it spares girls from the humiliation of having an “oversized” clitoris. He claims the practice is “nerve-sparing” and that he runs tests by prodding and using a vibrator on the young girls after the surgery.

Surgeries, especially ones as delicate as this, can easily go awry, injuring young girls permanently, impeding their sexual lives, reproduction, relationships, and possibly other health complications. And prodding a six-year-old with a vibrator probably won’t tell you whether or not the thousands of nerves in the clitoris that lead to orgasms have really been spared. Not to mention that these follow-up “tests” sound a lot like traumatizing molestation to me.

OTHER ACTIONS:

• Help Stop Female Genital Mutilation Petition :

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/help-stop-female-genital-mutilation-petition

• STOP FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM):

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/stop-female-genital-mutilation-fgm

FACEBOOK:
If you have a Facebook account, please consider joining WHOA! for the latest information by clicking HERE

RECENT NEWS:
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Is Advocating for U.S. Pediatricians to Perform Certain Types of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Says Equality Now :
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-academy-of-pediatrics-aap-is-advocating-for-us-pediatricians-to-perform-certain-types-of-female-genital-mutilation-fgm-92871624.html

UPDATE:
United States – AAP withdraws statement on FGM :
http://www.wluml.org/node/6352

VIDEO FOOTAGE:
If you wish to view videos of FGM and learn more about the procedure, the victims, and other additional information, please click HERE

OTHER CAMPAIGN, INFO:
Stop FGM Now