Debates Surrounding The Female Circumcision And Its Morality

“Under the gaze of international attention, the issue of female “circumcision” has come to constitute a site for a number of emotionally charged debates around cultural relativism, international human rights, racism and Western imperialism...” — Duncan and Hernlund.

In recent decades, the conversation has been raised that complicates narratives on female circumcision. Even the nomenclature itself of the practice has generated its fair share of controversy. The main consideration for this essay is to analytically examine primary and secondary sources regarding the practice of female initiation. This topic has garnered a great deal of international attention but we do not see a lot of first-hand accounts surrounding the controversy. There are multiple things that should be addressed when analyzing these texts including the person representing the opinion, regional context, time period, identity and the intersection of gender in individual everyday life.

Narratives about gendered practices such as performing clitoridectomies are subject to heightened scrutiny from scholars and international pressures but must be considered within the framework of regions and time periods. Specifically, Jomo Kenyatta should not be considered the sole voice of support for the practice and international human rights campaigns should not erase the merit that they held in society regardless of changing gender norms. There has been a reclassification of what has become a global issue versus a localized practice. The contestations will be addressed through selected primary sources and secondary sources and will be analyzed through a discussion of intended audiences, author’s status, situation, and voice, understandings of rites of passages, and regional differences.

One of the most important things to take into consideration is who the person is and their role whether it be in a primary or secondary source. Two primary sources that have been popularized for very different reasons are Jomo Kenyatta’s Facing Mount Kenya and a poem entitled “Feminine Pains” by a young Somali woman, Dahabo Ali Muse. Kenyatta’s reasoning for support of the practice was the role it played in traditional Kikuyu society (136). Kenyatta is seen as a representative and staunch defender of clitoridectomy for women in Kenya.

His position strikes a balance between being entrenched in one African culture in addition to his voice and influence being magnified due to European education and international public presence. Kenyatta’s Christian perspective contrasts with his narrative that supports Kikuyu practices which might necessarily align with traditional colonial missionary ideology. This has garnered a great deal of criticism both in terms of Christian theology and also from international concerns being raised about the practice as a human rights violation.it is important to problematize the issues that come with Kenyatta’s steadfast dedication to defending female initiation. Those criticisms will be addressed in the following paragraphs.

In contrast, Dahabo Ali Muse’s poem is nowhere near as popularized as Kenyatta’s narrative, yet she is a woman who has undergone the practice and offers a very different perspective. Muse asserts a very specific narrative that describes the lifelong pains that a woman who has been initiated experiences. Mues writes in detail about the trauma that she had been forced to internalize especially when it came to the initiation itself, the wedding night, and childbirth. Another thread in the poem is the emphasis on generational participation, sometimes sorrowful and sometimes celebratory. Muse alludes to her grandmother remembering the impact of what she called “the three feminine sorrows” (Muse and Momoh, 2000). As an elder, in her perspective, she is memorializing the practice as painful and long-lasting. On the converse, Muse portrays her mother as being an active and willing participant in her daughter’s initiation. It raises the question of female advocacy and cultural expectations for one’s own child. Was Muse’s grandmother celebrating her daughters (Muse’s mother) initiation? There seems to be a generational gap expressed and Muse sharing and relating to her grandmother’s sentiment.

The final stanza of the poem highlights a more modern narrative where girls should be initiated “into the world of love, not to the world of feminine sorrow.” (Muse and Momoh, 2000). The context of this piece should be analyzed because that reflects the intended purpose for the source. Muse wrote it for a health pamphlet that was compiled by Comfort Momoh, a Nigerian born and London based nurse who was famous for her discourse against the practice of female circumcision in Africa and in Europe.

The poem has also been cited in discussions from the UN surrounding anti-female circumcision campaigns. Those discussions were first brought to the forefront at the 1985 World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya where it was emphasized as a violation of women’s human and health rights (Thomas, 120). The context in which the poem was written points to the nature of anti-initiation international campaigns pushing for the abolition and resistance of the practice. It would be a very different primary source if it was written for a Somalian audience in Muse’s first language, which was most likely Somali or Arabic.

Two additional secondary sources that characterize different opinions on the practice of female circumcision are pieces by John Lonsdale and Lynn Thomas. In an article entitled “Kikuyu Christianities,” Lonsdale analyzed a few of Kenyatta’s individualizations and reflections on the impact of Christianity in Kenya. Lonsdale emphasizes the interpretations of the Bible that many Kikuyu Christians shared, but also the many variations that the religion was practiced.

What can be taken from Lonsdale’s analysis is Kenyatta’s personal incorporation in asserting new colonial forms of traditions in the form of spiritual practices that very much differed from what could be considered “traditional” Kikuyu ideologies but not attributing those differences to gaps in culture but quarrels within Kikuyu society (Lonsdale, 217). Lonsdale does not specifically address female circumcision but his critical analysis of Kenyatta’s attitudes towards local versus globalized cultures exemplifies how Kenyatta situated himself — as one who took colonially imposed ideologies and applied them to Kikuyu society but not the reverse of that. This synthesizes the importance of how one’s position of an opinionated delivery can impact a source’s influence. In the case of Kenyatta, he appreciated some of the cooperation with European powers but ultimately concerned himself with Kenyan-centered policies and notions, including a very strong defense of clitorectomies.

Lynn Thomas writes in her book, Politics of the Womb, about the perception of Mau Mau women and girls who “circumcised themselves.” Thomas works to make a case for female initiations as a rite of passage used for women to establish themselves and their credibility in Kikuyu society (Thomas, 86). She offers a very different perspective that does not wrestle so strongly against the practice because she understands it to be something that women were a part of because that was the cultural tradition at the time. In her piece, “Imperial Concerns and 'Women's Affairs': State Efforts to Regulate Clitoridectomy and Eradicate Abortion in Meru, Kenya,” she draws the focus to imperial powers and how they used the practice to push ultimately harmful colonial agendas and these campaigns “became potent realms of state intervention in the 1930s because various Africans and Europeans viewed them as foundations of broader political concern” (Thomas, 145).

She argues that colonial power was contradictory on this issue, specifically that Britain wanted to reduce the prevalence of initiation practices, but also encouraged it to happen at a younger age to reduce the number of abortions and promote healthy reproduction. Many of the articles that she wrote or contributed to on female circumcision problematize the role that colonialist forces played in restricting the practice due to Protestant ideologies or altering it in such a way that was increasingly more harmful. Therefore, Thomas situates herself and her analysis as one who understands the concerns and criticisms of the practice but is not negligent of the fact that Kikuyu men and women could appreciate and continue the practice because of the significance it held in Kenya.

She also joined the conversation in an anthology Female“Circumcision” in Africa: Culture, Controversy, and Change. In Thomas’ chapter “Lessons from Colonial Campaigns”, she addresses the practice specifically in Meru, Kenya again. Thomas notes that the patriarchy “cleared structure familiar and community relations in 1950s Meru. Yet to reduce adolescent girls’ belief that excisions would transform them into adult women to a patriarchal conspiracy would be to ignore how the institution of female initiation regulates relations among women” (Thomas, 131). Both Muse and Thomas discuss the role of generational impact and how that affects the tradition. In addition, she noted that women used it as a tool for bargaining among their female communities and with men also.

Thomas said that in 1950s Meru, “most people believed that excisions, as a part of female initiation, remade girls into women” (Thomas, 146). Protestant Christianity and education were emphasized as having the biggest impact for cultural shifts in opposing the practice, which counters Kenyatta’s stark support of Kikuyu initiations (Thomas, 146). Initiation was a way for mothers and grandmothers to increase their social status and increase authority in their communities (Thomas, 148). Her nuanced pieces differ from Kenyatta’s African and male perspective and from a Somali female perspective, which Muse represents. However, both Kenyatta and Muse are influenced by European discourse in terms of female circumcision as well. This shapes how audiences come across and circulate the sources.

Narratives about such contested practices like female initiation are complex and should ultimately be considered within the framework of regions and time period. What must be remembered is that the practice is intrinsically involved in complex social concerns but that the societal conditions make the practice subject to nuances and shifts. To ignore the weight that it held in society is to associate a specific value-laden definition of what womanhood should be definitively for one gender. There are many case studies that have been done delving into the complexities of specific regions and how traditional rites of passage are practiced differently with variations and stark contrasts.

Kenyatta argues in support of the way that male and female initiations offer a transition to adulthood that is historically supported through generations of both men and women. One case study done by Eddah Gachukia, a member of parliament and part of the National Council of Women of Kenya had supported research and campaigns from UNICEF and the WHO. She reported that in Kenya, clitoridectomies were “accepted voluntarily” (111). Gachukia also believed that the campaigns were not effective in Kenya because it they were often colonized by international biases and that global organizations should support local movements instead (111). In Somalia, upwards of 80% of women have gone through the most intense form of female circumcision, infibulation.

According to Efua Dorkenoo, author of Cutting the Rose, many women have become supportive of reducing the severity of female circumcision or eliminating the practice altogether. A number of local campaigns have been created to produce materials and seminars in regional languages (120). In addition, poetry is noted as one of the tactics used to promote the end of infibulation. Muse might have used this to her advantage when writing “Feminine Pains” because she knew it would gain attention as a Somalian poem because of the country’s reputation for being a “nation of poets” (All Africa). The influences of region and language are integral to understanding cultural practices and motivations. In many areas, not participating meant that a woman was not eligible for marriage. This kind of isolation would have been unimaginable for a young woman where marriage was a very foundational construct of gender identity all over the world.

Another consideration that should be included is remembering that every society is capable of dynamic change from the inside and extending beyond a specific region. What makes gender is utterly dependent on the constructions that are upheld by a community When thinking about female circumcision as a rite of passage, there are hundreds of other ways that society has traditionally celebrated an adolescent’s coming of age. No matter what culture you are raised in, there are certain birthdays, life events, ceremonies, and celebrations that signify one coming into the next phase of their life. With this specific rite of passage, the focus has been on what the practical implications of it are without identifying the significance that can be drawn from it in the region and culture the tradition stems from. Jomo Kenyatta’s defense of the traditions for the Kikuyu in Kenya points to his understanding of what individuals participated in to mature and have a role in society. In today’s world, Thomas’ research and conclusions that she draws would likely be met with a great deal of criticism and opposition. The overwhelming narrative now has shifted to determine the correct terminology and best practices for confronting female circumcision. Some historians, anthologists, and medical professionals call it female genital mutilation or female genital cutting to emphasize the health and erosion of human rights that is constructed by implementing the practice (The Atlantic).

The complicated nuances of female circumcision certainly remain to be seen as anything definite. The sources dedicated to discussing the topic are subject to biases and agendas that may serve individualized priorities that might not consider alternatives. Evaluating sources that discuss rites of passage as gendered practices should understand that they are indeed practices, subject to change and not without value within the context they are implemented. With that said, there is a common understanding in the case of female circumcision that acknowledges the health and psychological risks but those efforts should shift to reflect localized movements and not be overwhelmed by international powerhouse organizations.

Regional differences and fluidity of gendered practices must be taken into account when thinking about these sources. Kenyatta’s position as a Kikuyu Christian and male offers a different perspective which Lonsdale analytically complicates his role and purpose in opposing female circumcision. Muse’s poem Feminine Pains offers a perspective that is influenced by European ideologies as well but is channeled through a local and personalized perspective. It is difficult to make generalized claims about one culture let alone the diverse cultures of an entire continent.