“Genital Cutting Shows Signs of Losing Favor in Africa: A woman who cut her daughters is now a foe of the practice,” by Mark Lacey, New York Times, 8 June, p. A3.
It remains the worst form of male-imposed disconnectedness on women around this planet of ours: basically removing the clitoris in the lite version and sewing up the vagina almost shut in the full-up job. The goal is simple: remove all sexual pleasure for women to keep them tied to their husbands. It is the sexual slavery within the marriage, sanctified by religion, and thank God it is showing signs of fading in Africa. It is easily one of the most bizarre misrepresentations of the Koran that persists to this day in more than two dozen African states.
It is not a widespread practice anywhere inside the Core, only inside the Gap. Why? It reflects traditional societies that tend to keep women down and deny them economic opportunities, and there are simply no truly developed countries where women are so shut out of economic life. To develop is basically to liberate your women. Without enlisting them, you remain poor.
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