Father Being Prosecuted for Circumcising Daughter

Sandra Bell wrote an article earlier this year titled "Female Circumcision in the United States" that was particularly timely. In her "Did You Know" section, she wrote "The last known female circumcision to control sexual behavior in the United States was performed in 1958."

Well, it's back.

An Atlanta-area father is currently on trial for performing a clitoridectomy on his 2-year-old daughter with a pair of scissors in their apartment in 2001. This is the first criminal case known of regarding female circumcision in the US.

Khalid Adem is a 31-year-old immigrant to the US from Ethiopia. His wife, Fortunate Adem, states that she was not aware of the circumcision until more than a year after it occurred. She testified that her husband stated that it was to preserve his daughter's virginity.

Their daughter testified in court, stating that her father cut her on her private part.

Mr. Adem denies that he circumcised his daughter or asked anyone else to. His daughter has been circumcised, but his attorney stated that there is reason to believe that his wife, Fortunate, may have had it done. Fortunate Adem is also from Africa.

The Adems have been divorced since 2003. Ms. Adem has full custody of their daughter.

If Mr. Adem is convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.

Female circumcision, or female genital mutilation (FGM) has been a hot-button topic among womens' rights activists, who consider the procedure a heinous abuse of womens' bodies for multiple reasons.

FGM is often performed with the presumption that women are somehow "unclean" and/or the assumption that, if not done, the girl will become promiscuous.

As Ms. Bell states in her article, there are several forms of FGM, but a clitoridectomy causes serious damage.

It has been estimated that as many as 130 million women have undergone circumcision as of 2001. Part of the contention with this practice is that it is done in unsanitary conditions, without the proper tools. Many girls coming of age are done one after the other, leading to a chance of infectious transmission. Women have been cut with any sharp implement, including knives, razors, broken glass, or sharp rocks.

Female circumcision is most often practiced in the nations of Africa, and seems to be more a societal requirement than religious, considering that women of multiple religious backgrounds have been forced to undergo the procedure.

The practice is oddly strongly supported by women in these cultures, because they want their daughters to go through this as a rite of passage, to be like them, or to be viewed as marriage material. This draws strong parallels to male circumcision in the United States, where men and women support circumcision of newborn baby boys due to their real or false beliefs about their son's future.

It is unknown how many women have died from female circumcision itself or complications that may arise like infection or complications from childbirth.

Female circumcision is garnering more attention in the US as a large immigrant population tries to bring their traditions with them. Female circumcision is illegal in the US, but the US has a policy of trying to be understanding of the beliefs that immigrants can have. This is not the case with female circumcision. It is still illegal to perform one in this country.

I've little doubt that as this trial ensues, more information will be brought to light about female circumcision and FGM, and I think it's a topic that many of us need to be aware of, as our country welcomes more immigrants from African nations. This could provoke a hot debate about these issues in many forums, both on the internet and in the real world.

If you would like more information on female circumcision, or FGM, and what organizations are trying to put a stop to it, there are many information sources on the internet including Amnesty International (http://web.amnesty.org/actforwomen/index-eng), Stop FGM, (http://www.stopfgm.org), and wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_circumcision"). I urge people to become aware of FGM and its implications in our society today and in the future. Perhaps you can make a difference in a child's or woman's life.

When we know better, we do better.