Aside from the risk of infections, women told Badawi they lived in chronic pain. One woman told him that urinating, menstruating, having intercourse and having children were all excruciatingly painful events. But the worst, she told him, was when the excision was done. She told me she would never forget that pain. And she was sixty-five years old.
Circumcision has nothing to do with religion.
The ancient practice, usually carried out on girls aged around 10, continues to be widespread in Egypt, where 97 percent of Muslim and Christian women are circumcised, according to a study released in February. Supporters say excision is important to quell sexual desire before marriage. The Sengalese government yesterday banned female circumcision, the surgical mutilation of female genital organs, an official communiqu said here. The practice, which affects an estimated 130 million African and Asian woman according to to the United Nations Children's Fund, will be punishable by one to five years in prison. During the age-old operation, all or part of the clitoris and sometimes the labia are removed.