IN DEFENSE OF FEMALE CIRCUMCISION

Dear Mr. Geib:
      I have just seen your website in which you show a picture of a young girl and ask 'should she be circumcised?'. Your comments suggest that you are inviting the answer 'no'.

      Why should this be? Circumcision has been popular among African women for many thousands of years. Western pressure groups attempt to blackmail African nations into banning the custom, but whenever moves are made to do this, the streets are filled with happy circumcised women demonstrating their desire to protect their daughters' right to enjoy the same benefits.

      Here are some of the most obvious things that a girl gains when she is circumcised:

      * it is a rite of passage and proof of adulthood. One day she is a girl; the next, a woman;

      * it raises her status in her community, both because of the added purity that circumcision brings and the bravery that initiates are called upon to show;

      * it confers maturity and inculcates positive character traits, including the ability to endure pain and a submissive nature;

      * the circumcision ritual is an enjoyable one, in which the girl is the centre of attention and receives presents and moral instruction from her elders;

      * it creates a bond between the generations, as all women in that society must undergo it and thus have shared an important experience;

      * the girl will never have her conscience troubled by lustful thoughts or sensations or temptations such as masturbation;

      * there is little or no risk of premarital relationships which end in heartbreak or the stigma and social difficulties of illegitimate birth (this is especially so with full circumcision, i.e. all impure tissue is removed and the girl is sewn up until her wedding night);

      * the bond between husband and wife is closer because neither will have had sex with anyone else and the relationship will be motivated by love rather than primarily lust, because there will be no physical drive for the women, only an emotional one;

      * there is no incentive for extramarital sex, hence marriages are made more secure;

      * there will be far fewer rapes (especially in the case of full circumcision);

      * marriages are also made closer because the emphasis is taken away from sexual technique and performance;

      * children are better cared-for because there is less incentive for a marriage to break up, and because the husband can be more confident that the children are his.

      There are many ills in today's Western society which could easily be eradicated by the adoption of universal female circumcision with infibulation at puberty. Think of the positive impact on the teenage pregnancy rate in the US, which has been linked to the rise of crime and ghettoisation, especially for minorities. And it would create more peaceful, satisfied women - at the moment females are told that this little nub of skin, a vestigial penis, should have awesome phallic power. For most of them, it just doesn't, which creates dissatisfaction.

      So, in answer to the question on your website: yes, I do believe that the girl in the picture should be circumcised. It will do her good, and she will thank you for it.