Dangerous Ideas

The Chronicle has a sad story about what’s believed to be the first genital mutilation case in the United States:

An Ethiopian immigrant was convicted Wednesday of the genital mutilation of his 2-year-old daughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in what was believed to be the first such criminal case in the United States.

Khalid Adem, 30, was found guilty of aggravated battery and cruelty to children. Prosecutors said he used scissors to remove his daughter’s clitoris in his family’s Atlanta-area apartment in 2001. The child’s mother, Fortunate Adem, said she did not discover it until more than a year later.

It’s terrible that this happens, and newspapers and television news aren’t helping by calling this kind of mutiliation ‘circimcision’ when it’s much worse. They do this even when they should know better – the Chron article calls it genital mutiliation to begin with but ends calling it circumcision:

Knives, razors or even sharp stones are usually used, according to a 2001 department report. The tools are frequently not sterilized, and often, many girls are circumcised at the same ceremony, leading to infection.

It is unknown how many girls have died from the procedure, either during the cutting or from infections, or years later in childbirth. Nightmares, depression, shock and feelings of betrayal are common psychological side effects, according to a 2001 federal report.

Since 2001, the State Department estimates that up to 130 million women worldwide have undergone circumcision.

Circumcision of males could be called genital mutilation, too, but of a much lesser scale. Women who have their clitorises cut off not only are missing an organ, but have many other health problems as well, such as trouble urinating.