–– Paul Schlehlein
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In August of 2023, three women in The Gambia were ordered to pay a fine or face jail time for practicing female circumcision. They were charged under the country’s Women’s Amendment Act of 2015, which outlaws female circumcision.
Despite this law, at least half of the women in The Gambia have undergone this procedure, often performed by older women in the community.
What is Female Circumcision?
According to the World Health Organisation, female circumcision involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. This procedure is common in many African countries, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and Eritrea. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 200 million girls and women globally have undergone female circumcision.
The issue of female circumcision has caused violent controversy throughout Africa. Even the name itself is debated. Some insist the proper term is “female genital mutilation” or FGM, which is the term officially adopted by the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices in Ethiopia in 1990. Others say the term is impolite to women and the purpose is not mutilation but initiation.
Why Female Circumcision?
This leads to the question: What is the purpose of female circumcision? According to Samuel Kunhiyop in his book African Christian Ethics, female circumcision in Africa has been practiced for centuries. It is not just a medical procedure, it is a rite of passage preparing young girls for womanhood and marriage. Per one African female author, from the age of 10, a Gambian girl begins to be looked at as a potential bride for an older man. If she has not yet undergone FGM, there will be those in her community who will want to make sure that she does.
But this is not only a cultural issue. It is a religious one as well. When the Gambian government considered overturning the previous FGM law in the country, the Supreme Islamic Council in The Gambia swooped in with their support of female circumcision. They issued a fatwa, which is a recognized authoritative ruling on a point of Islamic law. In September they wrote:
“The committee would like to clarify that female circumcision is not just a merely inherited custom, as falsely claimed by those who are not conversant with the Islamic Law. Rather, it is one of the virtues of Islam and among the Sunnah practices approved by the Messenger of Allah.”
Why Christians Should Oppose FGM
As Christians, we must oppose FGM as immoral and in opposition to Scripture for the following three reasons.
First, we should never do anything to unnecessarily harm the body. This is because God created it “very good” (Gn. 1:31). FGM has no health benefits. Instead, it can lead to infections, haemorrhaging, HIV/AIDS, infertility, difficult deliveries and a higher risk of stillbirths. For Christians, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 6:19) and thus we should care for it accordingly.
Second, God has created sexual relations to be pleasurable for both the husband and the wife. The Book of Song of Solomon was written to laud the sexual delight that comes with marriage. Female circumcision shatters this. Though there are different forms of FGM, each kind has this in common: they permanently inhibit or terminate sexual feeling during intercourse for the woman.
Proponents of FGM view this as a positive. They see FGM as a kind of chastity belt that curbs sexual desire so that the woman may enter marriage as a virgin. But this is not how Scripture speaks. According to 1 Thessalonians 4, the way to abstain from sexual immorality is through the power of the Holy Spirit, who comes to live within all those who trust in Jesus Christ.
Finally, the primary responsibility for teaching girls about virginity, faithfulness, womanhood, and marriage falls on the parents (Eph. 6:1-4) and the church (2 Timothy 4:1-2), not on the leaders of the community.
So as Scripture demands, let the men of our societies, churches, and homes honor women with the respect they are due (1 Pt. 3:7).