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The Phyllis
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Feminist Muslims Fight Genital
Mutilation's Growing Popularity
  Be the first of your
friends to like this.As an Arab-and African-style Islam spread via the sword, customs that may or may not have been religiously mandated also spread. According to a recent report, female genital mutilation (FGM), long associated with Muslims and Africans, is becoming more popular in Malaysia. Some Malaysians believe this is religiously required by the Quran; others believe it is an important Muslim custom, one that will "protect girls from premarital sex as it is supposed to lower their sex drive." A spokeswoman for a local women's rights group, Sisters in Islam, insists that sunat (Malaysian for circumcision) is not mentioned in the Quran."Previously, it was a cultural practice," she says, "but now, because of Islamization, people just relate everything to Islam. And when you link something to religion, people here follow it blindly." FGM has absolutely no medical benefit and poses the gravest harm ranging from infection, pain when urinating, agony during sex and child birth, fistulas, life-long suffering, and even death. Increasingly, Malaysian Muslim physicians, often female, are performing FGM procedures (which range from very mild to most severe). According to a 2012 study conducted by Dr. Maznah Dahlui, "93 percent of Muslim women surveyed had been circumcised." Some gynecologists admit that they perform "a more drastic version with needles and scissors;" other Malaysian physicians claim "less invasive procedures."
Related Topics: Gender, Islam, Islamic
Gender & Religious Apartheid, Muslim Women
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