The Jewish and Christian view on female genital mutilation

Abstract

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a practice involving the removal of all or parts of the female external genitalia. It has been documented in 28 African countries and in some countries in Asia and the Middle East, but due to increasing immigration from these countries to the western world, FGM has become a worldwide human rights and health issue. Contrary to the belief that it is a practice carried out by Muslims only, it is also practiced by Christians and a minority group of Ethiopian Jews. However, FGM is neither mentioned in the Torah, nor in the Gospels, and – like in Islam – bodily mutilation is condemned by both religions. In fact, FGM is a mix of mainly cultural and social factors which may put tremendous pressure on the members of the society in question.

Full text

African
Journal
of
Urology
(2013)
19,
127–129
Pan
African
Urological
Surgeons’
Association
African
Journal
of
Urology
www.ees.elsevier.com/afju
www.sciencedirect.com
Editorial
The
Jewish
and
Christian
view
on
female
genital
mutilation
I.
El-Damanhoury
∗
Researcher
in
religious
studies,
Mainz,
Germany
Received
22
December
2012;
received
in
revised
form
7
January
2013;
accepted
7
January
2013
KEYWORDS
Female
genital
mutilation;
Jewish;
Christian;
View
Abstract
Female
genital
mutilation
(FGM)
is
a
practice
involving
the
removal
of
all
or
parts
of
the
female
external
genitalia.
It
has
been
documented
in
28
African
countries
and
in
some
countries
in
Asia
and
the
Middle
East,
but
due
to
increasing
immigration
from
these
countries
to
the
western
world,
FGM
has
become
a
worldwide
human
rights
and
health
issue.
Contrary
to
the
belief
that
it
is
a
practice
carried
out
by
Muslims
only,
it
is
also
practiced
by
Christians
and
a
minority
group
of
Ethiopian
Jews.
However,
FGM
is
neither
mentioned
in
the
Torah,
nor
in
the
Gospels,
and
–
like
in
Islam
–
bodily
mutilation
is
condemned
by
both
religions.
In
fact,
FGM
is
a
mix
of
mainly
cultural
and
social
factors
which
may
put
tremendous
pressure
on
the
members
of
the
society
in
question.
©
2013
Pan
African
Urological
Surgeons’
Association.
Production
and
hosting
by
Elsevier
B.V.
All
rights
reserved.
According
to
the
World
Health
Organization
(WHO),
female
geni-
tal
mutilation
(FGM),
also
referred
to
as
“female
circumcision”
or
“female
cutting”,
“comprises
all
procedures
that
involve
partial
or
total
removal
of
the
external
female
genitalia,
or
other
injury
to
the
female
genital
organs
for
non-medical
reasons”
[1].
The
WHO
esti-
mates
that
about
140
million
girls
and
women
worldwide
are
living
∗
Corresponding
author.
Tel.:
+49
15205725769.
E-mail
address:
hoda1958@yahoo.de
Peer
review
under
responsibility
of
Pan
African
Urological
Surgeons’
Association.
1110-5704
©
2013
Pan
African
Urological
Surgeons’
Association.
Production
and
hosting
by
Elsevier
B.V.
All
rights
reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.afju.2013.01.004
with
the
consequences
of
FGM
and
that
every
year
in
Africa
alone,
about
3
million
girls
are
at
risk
for
genital
mutilation
[1].
FGM
has
been
documented
in
28
African
countries
and
in
some
countries
in
Asia
and
the
Middle
East
[2].
However,
it
has
also
become
a
human
rights
and
health
issue
in
western
countries
where
the
practice
is
continued
by
immigrants
from
countries
where
FGM
is
commonly
performed
[3].
For
instance,
the
German
organization
“Terre
des
Femmes”
estimates
that
about
30.000
girls
and
women
living
in
Germany
have
undergone
or
are
at
risk
of
being
subjected
to
FGM
[4].
Given
the
fact
that
some
Sunni
Muslims
legitimate
FGM
by
quot-
ing
a
controversial
hadith
(a
saying
attributed
to
the
Prophet
Mohammed)
in
which
the
Prophet
allegedly
did
not
object
to
FGM
provided
cutting
was
not
too
severe
[5,6]
and
that
the
least
invasive
type
of
FGM
(partial
or
total
removal
of
the
clitoris
and/or
the
pre-
puce)
is
also
called
“Sunna
Circumcision”
[7],
FGM
is
widely
con-
sidered
to
be
associated
with
Islam.
However,
during
a
conference

128
Editorial
held
in
Cairo/Egypt
in
2006,
Muslim
scholars
from
various
nations
declared
FGM
to
be
un-islamic
[8,9]
and,
in
fact,
the
traditional
cultural
practice
of
FGM
predates
both
Islam
and
Christianity.
Herodotus
wrote
about
FGM
being
practiced
in
Egypt
as
early
as
500
BC
[3],
while
the
Greek
geographer
Strabo
who
visited
Egypt
in
about
25
BC
reported
that
one
of
the
Egyptian
customs
was
“to
circumcise
the
males
and
excise
the
females”
[10].
According
to
the
U.S.
Department
of
Health
and
Human
Services,
FGM
is
actu-
ally
practiced
by
Muslim,
Christian
and
Jewish
groups.
There
are
countries,
such
as
Nigeria,
Tanzania
and
Niger,
where
the
prevalence
of
FGM
is
even
greater
among
Christian
groups
[11].
In
Egypt,
FGM
is
also
practiced
on
Coptic
girls
[12],
while
in
Ethiopia,
the
Beta
Israel
or
Falashas,
a
Jewish
minority,
subject
their
girls
to
genital
mutilation
[5].
In
this
context,
it
will
be
interesting
to
have
a
look
at
the
attitude
of
Christianity
and
Judaism
toward
FGM.
Jewish
view
on
FGM
While,
according
to
the
Hebrew
bible,
circumcision
is
required
for
all
male
Jewish
children
in
observance
of
God’s
commandment
to
Abraham
(Genesis
12-17),
female
circumcision
was
never
allowed
in
Judaism,
according
to
the
Oxford
Dictionary
of
the
Jewish
Reli-
gion
[13].
Buff,
in
his
letter
to
the
editor,
states
that
“any
form
of
female
circumcision
would
be
considered
bodily
mutilation
and
forbidden
under
Jewish
law”
[14].
Yet,
a
Jewish
minority
group
living
in
Ethiopia,
the
so-called
Falashas
or
Beta
Israel,
practice
rit-
ual
female
genital
surgery
[15].
Buff
believes
that
“as
a
persecuted
and
isolated
Jewish
enclave
for
thousands
of
years,
the
Falashas
did
not
have
access
to
either
definitive
Jewish
texts
or
informed
rab-
binical
sources”
[14].
In
fact,
the
Falashas
practice
an
archaic
form
of
Judaism,
strictly
adhering
to
the
Pentateuch,
the
five
books
of
Moses.
They
do
not
speak
or
read
Hebrew.
Their
bible
is
written
in
Ge’ez,
which
is
the
clerical
language
of
the
Ethiopian
and
Eritrean
orthodox
church,
and
they
do
not
know
the
other
important
reli-
gious
scriptures
of
Judaism,
the
Talmud
and
the
Mishnah
[16,17].
The
Falashas
consider
themselves
descendants
of
the
tribe
of
“Dan”,
one
of
the
10
“lost
tribes
of
Israel”,
and
were
acknowledged
as
such,
and
therefore
as
being
officially
Jewish,
by
the
Israeli
government
in
1975
[17].
This
entitled
them
to
the
right
of
settling
in
Israel.
While
until
1984
only
few
of
them
immigrated
to
Israel,
the
major-
ity
of
Ethiopian
Jews
were
taken
to
Israel
in
the
course
of
two
air
bridge
operations,
one
between
November
1984
and
January
1985,
rescuing
about
8200
Ethiopian
Jews
who
had
fled
to
Sudan
from
a
famine
in
Ethiopia,
and
the
second
one
in
May
1991,
rescuing
14,087
Ethiopian
Jews
from
political
constraints
in
the
Ethiopian
capital
of
Addis
Abeba.
After
their
immigration
to
Israel,
the
Ethiopian
Jews
were
converted
to
orthodox
rabbinic
Judaism.
Nowadays,
only
a
minority
is
still
living
in
Ethiopia
[17].
In
a
study
conducted
by
Grisaru
et
al.
on
113
Ethiopian
Jewish
immi-
grant
women
in
Israel,
the
authors
found
a
variety
of
lesions
in
one
third
of
the
women,
with
27%
showing
partial
or
total
clitoridec-
tomy.
Although
not
all
the
women
interviewed
had
undergone
FGM,
all
of
them
stated
that
FGM
was
normative
among
Jews
in
Ethiopia,
but
they
did
not
consider
it
related
to
religion.
The
reasons
for
FGM
varied
according
to
the
province
the
women
originated
from,
ran-
ging
from
the
intention
to
create
adhesions
that
prevent
premarital
intercourse
to
esthetic
reasons.
The
authors
also
found
that
the
cus-
toms
of
FGM
is
readily
given
up
by
Ethiopian
Jews
right
after
their
immigration
to
Israel,
as
“they
see
themselves
a
part
of
a
Jewish
society
without
FGM”
[15].
Christian
view
on
FGM
Literature
dealing
with
the
Christian
view
on
FGM
is
very
scarce,
however,
Christian
authorities
unanimously
agree
that
FGM
has
no
foundation
in
the
religious
texts
of
Christianity
[18–22].
During
the
2006
conference
of
The
East
Africa
Program,
the
attending
Christian
(Coptic)
leaders
emphasized
that
“Christian
doctrine
is
clear
on
the
sanctity
of
the
human
body”
[22].
Yet,
as
has
already
been
mentioned
before,
FGM
is
practiced
among
Christian
groups,
e.g.
in
Egypt,
Nigeria,
Tanzania
and
Kenya.
Although
FGM
is
not
prescribed
by
religious
law,
many
of
those
practicing
it
may
consider
it
a
religious
obligation,
as
female
sexual
purity
plays
an
important
role,
not
only
in
Christianity,
but
in
all
monotheistic
religions.
As
described
above,
FGM
cannot
be
justified
by
any
of
the
three
monotheistic
religions.
The
reasons
for
FGM
are
various
and
are
clearly
a
mixture
of
cultural,
social
and
religious
factors
[1].
In
societies,
where
FGM
is
practiced,
the
social
pressure
on
the
families
is
very
high
and
the
necessity
to
conform
to
what
is
considered
right
may
be
reason
enough
to
continue
the
practice.
But
whatever
reason
there
may
be,
the
fact
is
that
FGM
represents
a
violation
of
human
rights
which
has
to
be
fought
until
it
has
been
totally
eliminated.
Conflict
of
interest
The
author
has
no
conflict
of
interest.
References
[1]
WHO
fact
sheet
No.
241,
February
2012.
www.who.int/mediacentre/
factsheets/fs241/en
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genital
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other
harmful
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www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/
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www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious
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female
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Jewish
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Christian
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on
female
genital
mutilation
129
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