Essay Example on Female Genital Cutting/Mutilation

The act of female genital mutilation is a phenomenon that is not only practiced in Somalia but is a prevalent vice across Africa and several other countries. Many human rights activists have deemed the behavior to be a retrogressive and a violation of life for the young women between the ages of 15 and 19. I would not agree less with those individuals who have devoted their lives and might towards condemnation of the devious acts by wayward evil minded conservatives. Being a Somali native, I have undergone female genital mutilation and have been forced to interact with the mishaps that it has to offer in the wake of its indulgence. It shapes the kind of life that one leads in her tender and adult age in different measures.

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While at my tender age, the process of female circumcision would not even glimpse in my mind. There was so much secrecy attached to it by the perpetrators. The process has been closely attached with a huge degree of secrecy. Most individuals have grown into the habit of embracing the vice since they are also born into it. The freedom of choice as, in this case, has become a cliche since when young we were always groomed to believe that the vice is important yet beneficial for our existence and status quo of the society. I personally did not really know how detrimental it would be for us to engage actively and participate in it.

The impacts of female genital mutilation quite immense in the entire life of a woman. The slightest idea of being circumcised as a woman may not create the same gravity of thought as when it is placed in its rightful context; female genital mutilation. I recall chills run down my spine the moment the idea was flooded by the elderly women; this time, it was my age mates and me. The kind of fear that one wears just before the act began is very harsh. It is normally depressing as the experience is deemed one that is perceived with fear. It may not be a revealing process, but there were leakages that people died in the event. Being aware of the kind of nightmare one is inevitably walking into is not a welcome exciting endeavor.

Forcibly being drawn into female genital mutilation was one of the most regrettable endeavors that will never leave my thoughts. Faced one morning with a bunch of elderly women staring at my nakedness and blades bore by a well honored traditional circumciser have me chills. Sweaty armpits, racing heartbeats and weakness in my joints were all that I felt. My mind was separated from my body, pain in my heart and tormented by my imagination and all that would befall me in the next hours and even how my life would be after these gruesome deeds have been made evident on my private parts. I did not have the slightest idea what would come my way after all had been done. Subjected to the most dreaded cut and series of stitches I was glad I survived and others never made it due to infection and their wounds wouldnt heal accumulating a lot of purses and eventually led them to their graves.

The ordeal was a painful one. I was glad it was over, though. In spite of having successfully made out alive, the pain and agony still fresh in my mind. We were not to have any sexual counter with any male till marriage bound us to do so. The idea of being circumcised lowered my self-esteem to the ground. I cannot now have a boyfriend who does not identify with female circumcision. It has limited my social life and is making me even avoid making new friends for the fear of intimidation. I am now well versed with the role that the vice plays in the childbearing process. People normally have difficulty in deliveries due to the effects of stitches. I pity those of us who cannot afford surgeries or cesarean deliveries because if forced, one could die of profuse bleeding. It pains me though since I would admire a natural delivery but I fear for my life. The blades shared in the process of circumcision could have even been a tool for HIV infection.