Sexuality is valued through the importance granted to procreation

The end in mind regarding women’s sexuality is its reproductive component. Procreation is the most celebrated function of female sexuality in Mali. To this ex­tent, a woman’s recurrent concern about sexual pleasure is often misinterpreted as her possible deviance from reproduction. Such a presumption has led some people to believe that the practice of excision/female genital mutilation seeks to displace women’s libido from self-gratification to the social obligation of child­bearing.