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I'm at work reading a magazine, a pretty reputable one here in Canada. Anyway I come to an article about young girls in Senegal. Apparenty a Canadian woman has set up an organization to try to stop some of the atrocities going on there, namely female genital mutilation, and the practice of marrying off young school aged girls, many as young as 10 years old. So I'm reading the article which tells the individual stories of young girls aged 10-12 who have endured the mutilation procedure. Anyway tears are coming to my eyes while I'm reding this and then I start to think.

WERE WE THE LUCKY ONES ?????

By we I mean those who are decesendants of African slaves in the Americas. I mean had it not been for the Trans atlantic Slave trade it is possible that I could have endured the same torture that young girls in W. Africa are enduring. We've often spoken about the atrocities of slavery, but aren't the acts these children are suffering from just as atrocious? I'm wondering if our ancestors unknowingly sacrificed their own blood so we could forgo much of what those left behind are forced to endure in the year 2005. Just a thought. What do you guys think?

Ah tink you trowin off everybody wid dis topic dear. Ah doan tink dat all tribes and/or people in Africa self does indulge in dat ritual. It's somewhat isolated. Don't quote me on dis, but dats what I tink. I'm sure somebody on here knows a lot more on this subject dan men. Anyway, I just wanted to say something. I hate to see empty forums.

it is there culture that is difficult subject right there.. cause some people would say monogamous marriages promote male domination

No, your thinking sounds correct to me. Senegal is but one country (and it's not as if the entire country is witnessing these atrocities by any stretch); also, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and other countries have been found to have much higher percentages of people taken from them as a result of slavery than Senegal. It's just as possible that you could be worse off because of slavery, that for e.g. instead of being descended to a family that is now well-to-do in Nigeria, you and your family in the West are struggling in poverty. Too much conjecture.

Oprah did a show on this sometime ago. There are some celebrities who have gone to Africa and parts of India to get some of these girls out. They are big on awareness now because girls die by bleeding to death.
I remembered it when someone posted on the Semen Warriors of New Guinea last week.

Seriously, it's a cultural thing and they may not look at it as being "torturous" or else it wouldn't be as prevalent as it is within the said society.

Well first off Senegal is not the only African nation that pratices this ritual. I mentioned it because it was mentioned in the article. I think that it is practiced more in rural communities. As far as it being torture I don't think there is any doubt that it is. Yes it is part of their culture, but using blunt cutting tools with no anesthetic (sp) to remove the labia minora and majora along with the ################oris, just to be "sealed" up with thorns and left with an opening the size of the tip of you baby finger......I don't know I shudder at the thought. I have to say that I am grateful to not have to be subjected to something like that............

It is sick,...culture or not that shit needs to be stop. That is pure wickedness, not because something is practiced and has become tradition dosn't make it OK.

There are also lots of practices in Western culture that other people may deem as being "sick", "wicked" and not "ok". People are just by nature ethnocentric I guess.

yup..it's been an age old topic...

a war of beliefs basically...of how to bring reason and undrstanding of ancient beliefs, culture, religion vs sanitation and rights of human life..

the YMCA's been doing this research for years...in order to find amicable ways in which to stop it or at least educate the tribes/villages as to why not to do it...

__________________
****If you're over 10 And watch CNN and believe everything
You're in 2 deep, And your 35 And you still survive, idle pon corner side
You're in 2 deep (Damian Marley -In 2 Deep)****

http://sociweb.tamu.edu/Faculty/POST.../Lecture11.htm


Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is in many ways one of the most dramatic expressions of male control over the fundamental rights of women of which we are aware. FGM has been observed in many parts of the world, esp. in the Middle-East and in Africa. It is most prevalent in the Nile region of Africa


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Possessing the Secret of Joy - Alice Walker
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Do They Hear You When You Cry by FAUZIYA KASSINDJA
Aman : The Story of a Somali Girl by VIRGINIA LEE BARNES
Prisoners of Ritual: An Odyssey into Female Genital Circumcision in Africa by Hanny Lightfoot-Klein
Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women by Alice Walker
Slave by Mende Nazer

__________________
****If you're over 10 And watch CNN and believe everything
You're in 2 deep, And your 35 And you still survive, idle pon corner side
You're in 2 deep (Damian Marley -In 2 Deep)****

In a course that I had last year we actually watched a video that had very graphics scenes of the female circumscion (sp) in it. I will say this: it is not for the faint of heart. AT ALL! One girl in the class nearly passed out

We have to understand that it really is a matter of culture. I actually have to go to class but I will come back and talk about this somemore...

I've been reading about this for years and every time I read I'm still sickened by it. People argue "it's thier culture" but I read stories about girls who don't want this done, even a few run away to avoid it.

__________________
"If u put a small price on ur value.. rest assure that the world wont raise ur price! Love U 2day!" ~ Rev. Run

"If you keep believing in yourself and seek enthusiasm inside your soul, things will get simpler, more spontaneous." ~Paulo Coelho

"Knowledge is like the wind, once you obtain it, you can go anywhere." ~Yellow Hare(Native-American Chief)

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit
the floor each morning the devil says:
"Oh Crap, She's up!"

What about the MALE GENITAL MUTILATION, where is the OUTCRY????

Oh please, Laurena Bobbit doesn't require an outcry from the world community.

__________________
"If u put a small price on ur value.. rest assure that the world wont raise ur price! Love U 2day!" ~ Rev. Run

"If you keep believing in yourself and seek enthusiasm inside your soul, things will get simpler, more spontaneous." ~Paulo Coelho

"Knowledge is like the wind, once you obtain it, you can go anywhere." ~Yellow Hare(Native-American Chief)

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit
the floor each morning the devil says:
"Oh Crap, She's up!"