This made my blood boil!

[abu nuwas]

Ed,
I refuse to even call it 'female circumcision'. In my mind it is female genital mutilation and to say it any other way is to give it way too much respect . . .

I'm sure there are many traditions that make no sense (like the Iroquois and their flattening the heads of infant boys), but this is more than just some odd custom: to me it is a scourge and should be stopped by any means necessary.

Thank you, Mark. You have completed my train of thought. Female Genital Mutilation is what it is, and I was even uneasy when on the BBC programme, they abbreviated it to 'FGM', since that too seemed to detract from the awfulness of the whole thing. In fact, I don't know how one can express it: this very evening, I told my 50 year-old daughter what i had seen, and added that it seemed that they mostly elected for the worst type, namely chopping off the clitoris and labia, and anything else that looks 'bad'. She was shocked at my use of the word clitoris. So if even now it is still a bit taboo, I suppose these words will have to do.

I have friend who lived a while in the Sudan, and wrote a book based on her experiences, about a girl growing up in an orphanage. Various events happen, out of the blue, she does not know why; that is very childhood, anywhere. And children accept stuff. It had the ring of truth to it, tho I did not make it that far. But does beg the question: if it is plainly wrong, and the people themselves cannot see it---who is to intervene and break the cycle?