Paying lip surface

As a woman who knows other women who’ve been ‘cut’, I eagerly watched a B.B.C. news item on labial stretching. It helpfully linked this lesser-known custom from Sub-Saharan Africa and the cosmetic genital surgery of elsewhere. That misogyny gets bloody far is a useful cultural thread, woven through Western labioplasties and the F.G.M. of the developing world. But a major aspect of the latter was crucially missed out, as it so often is elsewhere– hardiness.
It is a quality many African parents like my own do their best to instil. Hardship is inevitable and a fate they must prepare their children for. Via different methods, each intent on building endurance, the expected result is a resilient adult ready for independence. The pain that goes along with wounding of delicate, reproductive tissues is not lost on the elders, parents and future grooms at the heart of F.G.M.’s prevalence. Make no mistake, that agony is very much on purpose. And this is where the coverage of this practice often fails. Ignoring this motive leaves a gap in how this issue is accurately reported, especially in Africa where most cases of it take place.
The emotional argument of a cutting-free world will always go over the heads of overseas cultures that pride themselves in being unsentimental. It also comes across (unintentionally) as neo-imperialism. Nothing is more likely to disturb relations between nations than this beauty. Kenya witnessed this first-hand during the 19th century, seeing an uptick in cutting following a ban introduced by British rulers. What country would giddily throw away its self-determination? Owing my ancestry to a part of the Commonwealth, my feminism grapples with my conviction in a country’s right to sovereignty. Does a nation’s freedom matter as much as an individual woman’s? I doubt this oversight is deliberate. But facing up to this unfamiliar concept is an uncomfortable but much-needed next step. Any dialogue between two communities at odds with each other needs thorough and mutual understanding. Placing more weight on the practical benefits of giving up F.G.M. has been proven in some African countries to be most effective. The advantage of maternal and neo-natal health, ironically one major goal of F.G.M in the first place, emerges paramount. Besides, this ‘pain = toughening’ narrative needs far more than just an anti-misogyny angle to be overcome. Many other rituals native to Africa are performed to test mental toughness, including tribal marking, male circumcision, branding and breast-ironing. Will they too experience similar intervention from overseas?
That video follows another custom that anti-F.G.M. propaganda is guilty of — a short-sightedly, man-versus-woman standpoint. They put off many practitioners and supporters of this rite by sketching a crude picture that reduces them to villainous caricatures. This tradition has more than just patriarchy to thank for being so widespread. It has been lent helping hands by a heady mix of economics, religion and geography. Each begs a very different response, not least because they shape gender norms everywhere.
I am grateful that more people are enlightened about this issue from a broader and fairer perspective. Diversity’s main benefit is exposing us to the truths of others and being enriched by them. Sometimes that mean being humble enough to set aside our own.

