Sunday, February 04, 2007

Female circumcision in Igboland

This article (published two days ago in the Nigerian Tribune) makes the following claims:

1. "Though considered as barbaric, the hygienic potentials of female circumcision commend it to successive generations of Igbo families."

2. "Circumcision is done to arrest the interest and arousal for sex by the womenfolk and to avoid giving birth to children who would live for short periods of time, die and come back to their mothers’ womb only to be born and continue the cycle, bringing grief and pain to the family."

3. "Most of the women who undergo female circumcision are said to have easy passage during delivery. They are also adjudged to be hardworking and productive in the farms."

4. "Women who are circumcised are known to find it hard to experience orgasm during sexual intercourse, a situation that leads to marital disharmony and frustration. The practice has been seen as a source of a lot of health hazards."

Thank you for all this wisdom and insight, Mr. Clement Oko Nnachi. There are some troubling potential contradictions between your claim about the hygenic benefits of lopping off the clitoris in point 1 and the health hazards you refer to in point 4, but should we really attend to such trifling details? The point is, thanks to your valiant efforts, we are now all agreed that Igbo women should continue to cut off their daughters clitorises, aren't we?

15 comments:

Patrice,  7:01 am  

It seemed to me that the author was describing the superstitious rationale for, and virtues of, female circumcision, not personally condoning it.

uknaija 1:47 pm  

Yes, the article is poorly written and incoherent and so easily misunderstod, but I think I agree with Patrice

Bitchy 1:59 pm  

Is that all there is to the article? Surely there must be more to it than that..

Bitchy 2:00 pm  

Oops didn't realise you'd left a link to it. Will go read xxx

Anonymous,  3:22 pm  

this is a case of bad journalism. I don't think he was personally condoning the practice, he was just stating, without any analysis. You wonder what is the point of writing the piece. But if we have come to expect the worse from the Nigerian press. Maybe all you bloggers out there who write so brilliantly will providing online writing courses for journalists.

LM,  4:33 pm  

My thought, after reading the points you listed was the same as that of Patrice and Uknaija - I did not think that the article was the author's personal opinion, especially the explanation about reincarnation - that obviously is the beliefs of the locals.

The practics of female mutilation (or circumcision if one prefers) is simply barbaric in my opinion...

omohemi Benson 6:29 pm  

*loud hiss*
Health hazards? What does that mean?
Does the Newspaper have an editor? Can he/she read?
He even put the pictures of Okojo,Dora,Oby and Kema,meaning?

If this is the calibre of journalist we have,what hope is there for our print media?
Hmm....

Akin 6:55 pm  

Detached as the writer might seem, it does look very much like an opinion piece to me such that there are some who would read this and take succour from it.

The way the first paragraph is written as "female circumcision is seen as a sure cure for sexual promiscuity among women" is as close to condoning it as you will find, he probably would have written that with a smile on his face and considered administering the same on relations.

The emphasis in that lays in the phrase "sure cure" it cannot be stated in a non-committal way, especially when he did not go on to give an alternative opinion against the practice.

There is no room for fence-sitting on the matter of FGM, you have to come down on a side.

In the end, I am amused about the excitement in stopping sexual promiscuity amongst women whilst castration is not suggested for men who condone and endure this barbaric practice on the one hand and probably it would be a sure cure for promiscuity amongst men.

Fred 7:09 pm  

Agreed, this is a badly-written piece that's basically aimless. Terrible.

And FGM is, as well!

Confessions of a moody crab 9:47 pm  

To me, it looks like the writer was condoning the barbaric act of FGM! The fact that he did not go into detailed analysis and consequences of FGM just screams 'bad journalism' to me. No matter what, FGM should be not be condoned in anyway or form esp in the media cos believe me, some pple will take this poorly writtten piece of work as the gospel!

Lola 4:41 pm  

wow, there are just some quotes by jeremy that are timeless!!! lol. i'm just immune to the stupidity of articles like this and people like this. I was just reading in Punch newspaper yesterday an interview with the Minister of Women Affairs, and it was crap like this one.

Anonymous,  7:52 am  

lola, I beg share the interview about the minister with us. I beg O.

Waffarian 2:34 am  

The best part was "yanking off of the clitoris", yanking?heheheheheh! Chineke!There is really no excuse for this article. It is stupid and ridiculous!He should go and write about the annual "yam festival", that seems to be up his alley!

Isioma 8:33 am  

what the fuck????? i'm igbo...thank god for enlightenment in my family. see me see trouuble. who is this FOOL????

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