Eltonjohnssyrup, in response to my statement "FGM removes sexual pleasure. That's it's purpose. It is neutering women; keeping them faithful, compliant and non-sexual" you responded
"Not all forms of it do. Most of them leave the majority of the internal clitoris intact. It's only the extreme forms (which are mainly done by fundamentalist Muslims)."
I assure you, there is nothing in the Koran, Hadith or Muslim teachings that endorses FGM. FGM is an entirely cultural practice.
"If you look at the East African tribes who do it, they have an extremely open and accepting attitude towards sexuality and even a socially accepted form of pre-marital sex which is a type of dry humping.
The neutering thing is a bit of a western myth from people who don't understand it very well. In fact, it's main purpose is to remove parts of the body which their traditions tell them will lead to male characteristics developing."
Does the retainment of an intact cliterous mean a female will develop male characteristics? Can you expand on which characteristics these might be? If one of these characteristics is that a female may get 'horny' or develop a roaming eye, then how can you deny that the purpose of FGM is neutering women, removing their sex drive, keeping them faithful?
"Which just shows why western women screaming and shouting about something they don't really understand is counterproductive. In fact, when they've sent people in who actually understand and respect their cultures and traditions, they've had more success at stopping it. Because they can actually go and show them some science and tell them about the endocrine system and how it affects male and female characteristics and that the parts removed in FGM have no bearing on this."
Are you in fact suggesting that some cultures believe that an intact cliterous will mutate into male genitalia if left uncut? I agree that this nonsensical thinking (that leads to the mutilation of children, and consenting adults) needs to stop, so here is one area where we're in agreement.