It was International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation recently, as set aside by the United Nations. Nigeria was not left out, even though activities were remarkably low. Gboyega Alaka takes a look at the practice, the campaign to end it and the level of success so far.
TO get respondents to talk about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), to say the least, could be likened to the proverbial needle passing through the eye of a needle. First, this reporter based in Lagos, having rummaged through his base in Lagos without success, had to travel to Nasarawa State, and then off to Kaduna, before coming down Southwest to Osun State, and then off to Kaduna again. Lagos with its potpourri of women’s rights NGOs was a brick wall. Nsini Udonta, a Senior Programmes Officer with Project Alert confessed that women don’t like taking about FGM; while another, a pro-women journalist, Yetunde Oladeinde, said lack of sponsorship and denial has meant many of the NGOs diverting into other more lucrative areas.
The choice of Nasarawa, North Central Nigeria, as the first port of call outside Lagos, was not unconnected with the bizarre stories that had emanated from that state, courtesy of The Nation’s versatile correspondent, Linus Oota. Surely if there was any state such practice would be easily traceable, it would be Nasarawa and Oota was sure to be able to help. But Oota, surprisingly, declared there were no such practices in the state. While his words are not sacrosanct, it could only mean that the people of that state have been very discreet about it. He suggested Kaduna. It was in the Kaduna horizon that the first ray of hope broke. Abdulgafar Alabelewe, The Nation’s correspondent in that state knew an activist. But even that activist had to refer this writer to Osun State, before another reference took him back to Kaduna.
Thanks to the telephony technology, this reporter didn’t have to travel the states physically.
Jacqueline Adebija, a health presenter and Programmes Director at Invicta 98.9FM Radio based in Kaduna, also met this same brick wall years back when she first had to foray into the practice.
“We were commemorating the campaign against Female Genital Mutilation and I didn’t even know that someone who worked with me in the office had been through it. Until then, it was something I knew was happening but which I still felt was far away from me because I had never met anyone who admitted to having been through it. So, this lady, while we kept complaining about the fact that people weren’t talking about it and I was beginning to even doubt if it was taking place in a place like Kaduna, called me aside and said she wanted to confide in me and that she would appreciate if I didn’t share it with another person.
“I am talking of a young lady with two kids. She told me how she had been cut as an eight-year-old and how the thing was affecting her and had even ended her marriage. She’s actually from Delta State, though lived in Kaduna. She was the first girl in her family and four of them were cut. Only the last girl was spared.
“Among other challenges her husband had to contend with, she told me, was the kind of time he had to spend trying to arouse her before sex. At a point, the man probably had enough and simply walked away. He supposedly went to visit his brother in Kano and never returned to her. After about a month, she had amassed debt over baby needs; he sent money, but still did not come home. When it got to two months, she called again to ask if he wasn’t coming home and it was at that point that he told her that he was done. He told her that she was sexually unresponsive and he could no longer contend with such frigidity.”
Is it then safe to say that Female Genital Mutilation jeopardises marriages and relationships?
Adebija’s answer was an empathic ‘YES!’
When asked how damaging the practice is, she gave a mechanical laugh and then said in a solemn voice: “Very damaging. The woman I am talking about has been unable to keep any relationship. I have watched her go through relationships in the time we have become close. Within the space of one year, she went through five relationships and every time, she would cry and cry and cry. Some didn’t even bother to tell her why they left. It is a very frustrating situation, damaging both physically and psychologically.”
What then is Female Genital Mutilation?
According to Ayo Bello Awodoyin, a 28-year-old survivor and advocate against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), there are of four types. There is Type 1, which is the partial cutting of the Clitoris; there is Type 2, which is excision; there is Type 3, which is infibulation, which is the stitching of the labial minora and labial majora, leaving a tiny opening for urine and menstruation; and there is Type 4, which has to do with all forms of pricking, piercing, incising and damaging of the vagina.
“The effects are numerous and it depends on the type, the age it was carried out and how it was carried out. It can be carried out locally, it can be carried out in the hospital medically, but they are all very wrong. There are some FGM that are carried out on pregnant women; there are some that are carried out during puberty as a form of transitioning into adulthood. In the Southwest, Nigeria, FGM is carried out on babies between ages 0 to 1; sometimes 1-3 years old. There are the short term implications; Long term implications; and there are Physical/Medical implications and Psychological implications.”
According to Tostan, a community empowerment organisation founded in Senegal by American graduate student, Molly Melching back in 1974, “The practice of Female Genital Cutting (also Female Genital Mutilation) has impacted an estimated 200 million girls and women worldwide, and it continues to affect at least three million girls annually in Africa.
FGC carries many immediate and long-term health risks and is recognised internationally as a clear violation of human rights. More than just a harmful practice, FGC is a deeply rooted social norm enforced by community expectations around marriageability. By having a daughter cut, the family ensures that she will be a desirable marriage prospect.
Compared to the health risks, the social consequences that uncut girls face are equally severe. A girl who is not cut is often ostracized by her community.”
Adebija corroborated this, when she said, “You have to realise that this is a cultural problem. If your daughter does not get cut at the right time with her mates, she will not have certified age-mates in the village. And except that daughter is going to completely cut ties with her father’s place or the village, you will have to submit her for the process. If she is not cut, she stands the risk of being ostracised.”
Expatiating more on FGM and its damages on the individual, Awodoyin, who has over ten years experience in the campaign against the habit, running Initiative for Girls Right and Health Development (IGRHD), a grassroots NGO in Osun State, said, “I experienced Type 1 and I was cut when I was a child. My experience with FGM was more of a psychological one when I discovered I’d been mutilated. So it’s more like discovering that you are experiencing a disability, because FGM is a form of disability, just that people don’t see it because it is hidden in the private part. Imagine that they cut off your ears or nose and there is a scar there. It will make you feel different and inadequate, right? It is the same feeling when you know that you have a scar down there that some women don’t have or that could have been avoided. It messes with your senses.
“And of course and it is true that FGM reduces sexual pleasure in women because the clitoris is the most sensitive part of a woman’s private part. When it is cut off, there is no way a woman can enjoy sexual pleasure. And that is more of Type 2, which is the Excision. It’s a very terrible experience that should not be condoned.”
Does it then mean that those who go through Type 1, which is the partial cutting can still enjoy a bit of sexual pleasure?
“Well, sex is a practice that begins from the brain. It is a mental activity before it becomes a physical activity; so there are some women who have not been cut that have phobia for sex. The kind of information people receive about sex also matter a lot. So I think if you have a good partner whom you feel safe with, he can help you navigate your fears when it comes to FGM. I also work with other survivors and I have some who at some point had issues concerning sex, and after a lot of social support, there have been a lot of improvement. The bottom-line and why we are campaigning against it, however, is because nobody is supposed to go through such therapeutic session because they want to have sex. Sex is a natural feeling that should be enjoyed by both man and woman. So nobody should be denied the pleasure. Instead of a parent cutting off the clitoris of their daughters and mutilating them, they should rather teach them sex education.
Other effects of FGM
Aside the loss of sexual pleasure, Awodoyin said: “The Short-term implication is fever, excessive bleeding, shock, constant pain, inability to walk well. Some of the Long-term effects are hemorrhage, excessive bleeding during childbirth, urinary tract infection, constant urination, pain during sex; the psychological effects include feeling disabled, feeling different, feeling disabled and unclean among other women; like you’ve been tampered with. There are also many medical conditions, depending on what was used. In fact it could lead to spread of HIV, if one blade is used to cut different babies. There are communities where they use different concoctions to stop bleeding, such as palm oil, excrete from cows, and all sorts of dirty concoctions.
“Personally, it was when I grew up and found out that I had been mutilated that I began to experience the psychological effects. The heartbreak of why? Why would you do something like that to me? You know that feeling of betrayal. I kept asking: ‘Why would you allow such act to be carried out on me?’”
Did she have to battle her parents?
“Yes of course. But they said it was pressure from my grandmother. However, my younger sister was not cut. My mum was also cut by the way.”
Too much price for promiscuity
Has the practice been effective in curbing promiscuity or is that just a myth?
“Of course, it is a myth.” Awodoyin replied without hesitation. “FGM is practised to mark passage into adulthood; it is practised to make woman feel clean and decent but let me hammer on the promiscuity part. Yes, they believe if you cut of a woman’s clitoris, she would not be stimulated to have sex. But in the process of reducing promiscuity, you are damaging the woman’s future. That damage in the name of curbing promiscuity is a permanent one rather than temporary because it cannot be reversed. FGM as a means of reducing promiscuity is not a sustainable solution; that is why we are introducing education instead. The Yoruba have a saying that ‘You don’t cut off the head because you have a headache,’ therefore you don’t cut off your daughter’s clitoris because you don’t want her to come home with unwanted pregnancy. FGM makes sex painful because there is no stimulation. The job of the clitoris is to increase arousal; so if that is not there, the woman is not going to derive any pleasure from the act.
“I say it is a myth because there are women who have been cut and who are into prostitution. Besides, it is not legal. The Violence Against Persons Protection (VAPP) Act criminalises it. I know that it is a cultural practice but I also know that culture is not static. There was a time we used to kill twins; there was a time we were doing tribal marking; but all of that have gone into extinction. So FGM can also go into extinction if we can work together and speak in one voice. Men should also push against it because it does not make sense when you marry a woman who does not enjoy sex with you. Sex is meant to be mutually enjoyed and is not food that is just meant to be served to the man. I think because of patriarchy, some men like the practice because they feel their wives would be incapable of cheating on them
Awodoyin also concedes that the quest for the pleasure in sex can even push a woman who has been cut into promiscuity; thereby defeating the whole purpose.
“Yes, some women are pushed into it because they are not enjoying sex at home with their partners, yet they keep hearing stories of how others are enjoying it. At a point, they may start thinking that it is their husband or partner that is the problem and may want to try it with someone else. Besides, a woman can be promiscuous because she wants money. Some prostitute, not because they enjoy it, but because they have to do it for financial gains. I will even say that poverty promotes promiscuity than an uncut clitoris.”
Patriarchal or matriarchal?
When this reporter pointed out that her statement that the largely patriarchal nature of our world may be responsible for its persistence may be wrong, as older women have been seen to be the more vocal and determined in ensuring that younger women also go through it, Awodoyin said, “Yes I see it as a result of ‘Oh, this was carried out on me, I’m going to carry it on younger women.’ It’s a way of cultural practice. It is also the case because some of these local cutters are women and they see it as a legacy they want to carry on. They made the women see the pride in it. That is why you see our mothers say they didn’t cheat on their husband. They did not have unplanned pregnancy, got married as a virgin and all sorts; and live in denial of the implication. Sometimes, they even say it’s a male world. Some women have even come to subject themselves to the fact that they are not even supposed to enjoy sex, and that they are just subject to their husband. So, the mentality has really been damaged.”
“If you ask me, I would say that men have more influence while women carry it out. If as a man you say you don’t want your daughter or wife to be cut, I think it’s going to carry more weight. The chances that your mum or anybody pushing is more likely to listen to you are very strong. If men disregard and talk against FGM, I believe it will end. But like I pointed out above, I think some men also like it because they like to have their wives incapacitated sexually. Only few liberated men want their wives to enjoy sex and be free to express their sexuality.”
Incidentally, Adebija in Kaduna agreed almost in totality with Adedoyin on this.
“Yes, I think it’s a patriarchal thing. Irrespective of the fact that women are at the forefront of perpetuating the practice, I believe it is because the patriarchal system has refused to abolish it that it is still thriving. If we had a cultural practice that requires that something that causes pleasure for men be cut off, I think its practice would have been abolished by now. The men who don’t speak against it simply don’t want their daughters or wives to go haywire. I wasn’t cut but I don’t think I’m a wayward person or have ever been wayward. It is not automatic that if one is not cut, she would go haywire, but a matter of self control. Some men are also in support of it because they know they can leave their women for as long as they want and she would not go exploring with other men. In any case she doesn’t even know what she is missing.
“So you would agree with me that it is the patriarchal system that is giving it fertile ground to fester,” Adebija said.
The law and the culture of silence
Asked how endemic the practice is in Kaduna, Adebija said the cosmopolitan nature of the state makes it difficult to do an assessment. She, however, volunteered: “I was quite naïve when I first embarked on this journey because I thought it was something that was peculiar to people in the South; until I came across a lot of Northerners who are into it. A lot of people from the North do it but they don’t talk about it because it’s a taboo topic. Were it not for the problem of insecurity, Kaduna used to have all sorts of tribe imaginable; and because of that, cutting became endemic too. My travel along this path carried me to a suburb called Kakuri, where a Yoruba woman, who sells agbo (herbs), was the go-to woman amongst the Yoruba who could not make it home to do the cutting for their children. I interviewed her at the time and she gave so many reasons, including that infection hide under the clitoris. They also took me to one clinic somewhere called Unguwan Jero, where they advertised cutting girls clinically. Their advantage was that they use sterilised instruments. The hospital was reported and it was shut down.”
She concluded that “The law is driving people to keep mute about it because we haven’t addressed their fears. I think if this thing does not start from our traditional rulers, like we had in Edo, when the Oba placed a curse on families who sent their daughters to prostitute abroad, it’s never going to stop. We don’t have those kinds of edicts coming from our royal fathers on FGM, so how do we expect it to stop? Most of the time, they don’t really want to go down as those who stopped the whole thing.
Asked to assess the level of success vis-a-vis the campaign against it, the VAPP act and its domestication in Kaduna State, Adebija said it is hard to put a number to the level of success. “What I feel the laws have done is drive the perpetrators under. A lot of the women are no longer talking about it. Even the Southern women who would ordinarily talk about it are no longer talking about it.”
Even before the VAAP Act, Awodoyin said Osun State has had a law against FGM for more than 13 years; and even VAAP has been domesticated to make it function in the state, although she could not speak of other states. However, she is also of the opinion that the problem of FGM is not about laws, but their effectiveness.
“How many people have been arrested or charged to court concerning FGM? If you go to the police station and report cases of FGM, do they handle it the way they handle money laundering and armed robbery? Even the police officers, do they believe in FGM laws? This thing is more of a cultural thing; so we need to have a behavioural change. And that is why we need religious leaders and traditional rulers to work more; even more than enforcement of the law – because it’s a thing of the mind. It’s a lifestyle. The truth is some people will not even mind going to jail over what they believe in.
Unfortunately, rather than abate, Adebija said the last two years alongside the COVID-19 lockdown, has gone down as the most fertile time for the cutting. “I heard that the cutting that has taken place in the last two years was bumper because the kids were at home and they had no excuse of school or work.”
Notably, Awodoyin also stressed that the practice has no religious footing, as the commandment to Abraham and Prophet Ibrahim in the Bible and Quran, respectively was directed only at the male child.
Double crime
Asked why matured ladies who have attained puberty and even married, still subject themselves to the practice, even when they could refuse, Awodoyin gave a most bizarre explanation.
“Some of them don’t even know. If a man marries a woman that was not cut, they feel that ‘oh, maybe this one has slept with different men’; so during delivery, the man or mother-in-law may tip the nurse to cut it after delivery, such that she wouldn’t even know. Sometimes it is done while they are stitching her after delivery tear, unknown to her.”
When reminded that such is a crime, she agreed: “Yes, but people do it a lot. And so many women have died in the process. There was a case two years ago in a Delta State community, where they cut their women when they’re seven months pregnant; there was an argument and this woman refused to be cut. However, during labour, the midwife said ‘God forbid’; she would not bring out a baby from an uncircumcised woman, because it was forbidden. In the process the woman died. So some people hold on to this culture thing a lot; especially those who give birth at the traditional birth attendants.
At the moment, Awodoyin says four states: Osun, Imo, Ebonyi and Ekiti; top the list of states where the culture is most practiced. The culture of silence, she said, has made it difficult to properly assess the level in the North.
“However, what is popular in the North is the stitching of the vagina. So when they now want to get married, they go and cut it open again. They don’t cut the clitoris but they just literally seal it off, only leaving space for urination and menstruation.”
“We have recorded success stories, but there is still a lot of resistance. However, there is a global agenda to end FGM by 2030. I, however, don’t know how realistic that is.”, Awodoyin, who is also country representative GMC, Global Media Campaign to end FGM, UK, said.
