oldest female circumcisers in the region told me she would save (sic) all the girls in her family and excise them before she died. Then she added that she would gladly do her next excision-ceremony in the middle of the street: “And they may arrest me! They can’t prevent me from following the Prophet’s recommendations”.
As I mentioned above, women who are not initiated into the female society are socially excluded in many respects. But as long as they are excised, they are not insulted or subjected to other women’s harassment as uncircumcised women generally are. Men who are critical of uncircumcised women would not express their critique in public, but more likely in paraphrases and tacit disapproval; it is considered indiscreet and shameful for a man to talk of ‘women’s matters’. However, I have noticed that people are tolerant vis-a-vis those un-excised women who have immigrated and are not married to one of the local men. Those who did marry a local man however, seem to have been more or less forced to go through the procedure in order to be socially accepted, especially by the women.
Young women and teenage girls rarely expressed any doubts concerning excision in front of me. A few whom I know well told me that they were considering not excising any daughters that they might give birth to in the future. But they would not tell their mothers and grandmothers about their thoughts. Respect for elders is an important element in the education of young people. Respect explains why the young local imam I came to know in Casamance could not express his criticism of excision in front of his mother, who is a circumciser.
It is rare to hear old men speak out against excision. In fact, I never met an elderly male villager taking an open stance against excision. Like the old women, they say it is a religious recommendation and a prerequisite for the initiation ritual and education of the girl.
Young men, on the other hand, are generally more critical and curious to know what excision is, what it does, and if it really has consequences for women’s health. Most questions concerned women’s sexual health and whether non-ex — cised women take more pleasure in sex than excised women do. The villagers I met that were outspoken against female circumcision were all young and middle — aged men; those in the latter category were all educated.
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In interviews concerning the growing criticism of excision, the older women ridiculed men and said they are ‘only thinking of sex’. It is interesting to note how they dismiss men’s talk of sex as childish and irresponsible. An old woman told me that she knows why nowadays a man does not like female circumcision: “He plays with ‘that’ and if he doesn’t find it he will not be pleased. But that ‘thing’ is exactly what we don’t want and have to remove, because it is kosaye”. Kosaye is the word used for the ritually unclean state from which one has to be cleansed through a ritual purification (ghusl in Arabic) in order to pray, as for instance, after sexual intercourse (concerning both men and women) and during the menstrual period. Just like the female circumciser cited in the introduction, this old woman put emphasis on the religious importance of excision, to be ritually pure in prayer,
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A Reflection on the Cultural Meanings of Female Circumcision
interpreting men as irresponsible and more concerned with their own pleasure than with religion.
This points to an internal dynamic involving not just men’s relationship to women, but also and perhaps more importantly, the power relationship between old and young women. Obviously, there are several social actors and rival discourses claiming authority. Most visible is the younger and middle-aged men’s Western-influenced discourse on sexuality and the older women’s discourse on ritual purity and religion. Among the various representations of the meaning of female circumcision, these younger men’s voices stand out as especially interesting.