Balancing Motherhood, Yoga and Writing

Today the first thing to draw my attention in my email inbox was an update from natural parenting magazine Mothering, including a call from charity Care to sign a petition to American President Elect Obama against so-called ‘female circumcision’, or female genital mutilation as it’s more accurately known.

The cultural practice of female genital mutilation is an enormous problem in many countries, particularly those in Africa, as well as parts of Asia and the Middle East. It involves removing all or part of the external female genitalia, and is a dangerous and harmful practice with life-long negative impact. I first became aware of this issue ten years ago at university, when it caused hot debates during anthropology classes, with some students arguing for the right of people to keep their ‘culture’, even though it goes against the human rights of women. I signed the petition, and it got me thinking about the issue of male circumcision. One of my volunteer colleagues at the breastfeeding drop-in today was talking about her strong views against male circumcision (removal of the penis foreskin), which she regards as equally ‘mutilating’. 

Before I became mother to a boy I was quite neutral on the male circumcision issue, but since coming across Mothering Magazine and its discussion forum, Mothering Dot Commune, I found out that there are lots of compelling arguments against it. For example, it disrupts a child’s behavioural development as well as the mother-infant bond, desensitizes the penis, disrupts circulation, and disfigures the penis. Fundamentally, male circumcision violates human rights by cutting off a part of a person’s body without his consent.

I never considered having my son circumcised, but luckily here in the U.K. it is an uncommon procedure. In my homeland, South Africa, it’s much more widespread, and indeed it has been argued that it prevents HIV transmission, an enormous problem in Sub-Saharan Africa.

I’m glad that this is an important parenting issue my partner and I firmly agree on, as I have read articles about parents disagreeing, and one of them having to come to terms, unwillingly, with having their son circumcised. Clearly it is an emotive and complex issue. I feel very fortunate to live in a country where I don’t have to fight for the right to keep my son intact, nor would I have to protect a daughter from the threat of mutilation. It seems to me that what nature intended - intactness - should be preserved.