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11 Wash. & Lee Race & Ethnic Anc. L.J. 133 (2005)
Female Circumcision in Africa: Procedures, Rationales, Solutions, and the Road to Recovery

handle is hein.journals/walee11 and id is 139 raw text is: FEMALE CIRCUMCISION IN AFRICA: PROCEDURES, RATIONALES, SOLUTIONS, AND THE ROAD TO RECOVERY Shayla McGee * A Note to the Reader Female circumcision and female genital mutilation represent the spectrum of surgical operations performed on the genitalia of young girls and women in more than twenty countries in east, west, and central Africa.1 Female genital surgeries also occur in Indonesia and Malaysia and are practiced by Bohra Muslims in India, Pakistan, and South Yemen.2 I chose to focus on the practices as they occur in Africa, not only due to the wealth of information I was able to find on the topic, but also because of my sincere interest and heartfelt connection to the continent. As I examine female genital surgeries, I will utilize terminology associated with the practice. The three main terms used in describing the practice are as follows: 1) female circumcision (FC)-a term preferred by African coalitions3 that connotes the full spectrum of the practices; 2) female genital mutilation (FGM)-a value-loaded term purposely used to connote horror and disgust;4 and 3) female genital surgeries-the most neutral term of the three.5 The term female genital surgeries will be used broadly throughout this article to refer to the full range of surgical operations. The works of different African feminists reveal that some prefer the term female circumcision, while others use female genital mutilation terminology. I began writing this paper under the preconception (and misconception) that all female genital surgeries were female genital mutilation. However, my study of Western, African American, and African feminist theories have J.D. Candidate, May 2005, Washington and Lee University School of Law. I would like to thank Mantai and Motilisu for their open, honest, and engaging interviews. I am grateful to the guidance and helpful comments of Professor Quince Hopkins who served as my sponsoring professor for this project, and who first encouraged me to turn this class paper into an article. I would also like to thank F. Paul Pittman for his support and the valuable research assistance he provided me with when I was short on time. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Anthony and Novena McGee, for the support and resources that they gave me that were so necessary in the completion of this article. I EFUA DORKENOO & SCILLA ELWORTHY, FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION: PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE 11 (Judith Kendra ed., Minority Rights Group 1992) (1980). 2 Id. 3 Leslye Amede Obiora, Bridges and Barricades: Rethinking Polemics and Intransigence in the Campaign against Female Circumcision, in GLOBAL CRITICAL RACE FEMINISM: AN INTERNATIONAL READER (Adrien Katherine Wing ed., 2000). 4 Jo BRIDGEMAN & SUSAN MILLINS, LAW AND BODY POLITICS FEMALE CIRCUMCISION: MUTILATION OR MODIFICATION? 151 (Lois S. Bibbings ed., Dartmouth Publishing Company 1995). 5 Christine J. Walley, Feminism, Anthropology, and Global Debate, in GENITAL CUTrING AND TRANSNATIONAL SISTERHOOD (Stanlie James & Clair Robertson eds., 2002).

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