Clitoridectomy in Ancient Egypt

[Paolo]

Clitoridectomy in Ancient Egypt

By: Nile Goddess

Historical account about the practice of clitoridectomy in ancient Egypt as found in this link //www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/aetius.shtml

362A. Clitoridectomy. Roman Egypt, sixth cent. A.D. (Aëtius 16. 115, written in Greek). According to the Greek geographer Strabo (first cent. BC), the Egyptians were noted "for raising all their children and for circumcising the males and for performing excision (ektemein) on the females, as is the custom among the Jews" (17.2.5).(1)

The so-called "bride" (clitoris) is like a muscular or fleshy structure located near the upper closure of the lips of the vagina, in the place where the urethra is located. In some women it becomes enlarged, increasing the female organs in size, and causes inappropriate behavior and disgrace. Also when it is rubbed continuously beneath the clothes it arouses the woman, and encourages her to engage in sexual intercourse. Accordingly, the Egyptians thought it best to remove it completely, at the time when young women were about to be married.

The surgery is accomplished as follows. Let the young woman be seated on a stool. Have a strong young man stand behind her and place his hands on her thighs, so that he can control her legs and her whole body. Have the surgeon stand opposite and let him draw out the clitoris with his left hand by grasping it with a wide-mouthed forceps; have him cut the clitoris off with his right hand at the tip of the forceps. It is appropriate to retain a portion of the cut-off organ, so that only the excess is removed. I have said that the excision takes place at the tip of the forceps, because the clitoris is fleshy at that point and can be stretched as far as possible, and so that a hemorrhage will not occur, as in the case of the more extensive excision used to remove a tumor.(2)

After the surgery one should use wine or cold water to stop the wound from bleeding, and wipe the wound off with a sponge and sprinkle powder on it, and moisten a compress with vinegar and apply it, and put a sponge moistened with vinegar on top of it. After the seventh day sprinkle the lightest camomile on it, along with rose petals, or genital medicine dried with pumice stone {?}. And this also is good: burn the stones of date palms and grind them and sprinkle on the dust, and do this also for wounds in the genitals.

1. Cf. D. Montserrat,"Mallocouria and Therapeutria: Rituals of Transition in a Mixed Society?," Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 28 (1991): 48; Sex and Society in Graeco-Roman Egypt (London: Kegan Paul, 1996) 41-2

2. Cf. the following excerpt from a 1989 interview with Aisha Abdel Majid, a Sudanese woman working as a teacher in the Middle East, quoted by Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf, "Unmasking Tradition, " The Sciences 38.2 (March/April 1998) 23, about her excision at age six some forty years earlier. "The women ordered me to lie down on a bed [made of ropes] that had a hole in the middle. They held me tight while the midwife started to cut my flesh without anesthetics. I screamed till I lost my voice...After the job was done I could not eat, drink or even pass urine for three days. I remember one of my uncles who discovered what they did to me threatened to press charges against his sisters. They were afraid of him and they decided to bring me back to the midwife. In her sternest voice she ordered me to squat on the floor aud urinate. It seemed like the most difficult thing to do at that point, but I did it. I urinated for a long time and was shivering with pain. It took a very long time I was back to normal. I understand the motives of my mother, that she wanted me to be clean, but I suffered a lot."

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Permission is hereby granted to distribute for classroom use, provided that both Mary R. Lefkowitz and Diotima are identified in any such use. Other uses not authorized in writing by the translator or in accord with fair use policy are expressly prohibited.

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[MustafaG2 (imported)]

From what I understand, this practice is still very much prevalant in the region of North Africa to this day.

Good find. This dispells the myth that Clitoridectomy was a practice the came out of an interpretation of the Koran or that it's origins were in Islam.

[Riven (imported)]

Interesting thread Paolo,

I think clitoridectomy is probably an even bigger taboo in modern western culture than castration - and that's saying something. There are women who like the idea of clitoridectomy, in just the same way as us guys like the idea of castration, and for a lot of the same reasons. BUT, I don't think there are quite as many of them, and I have a feeling that they are even more misunderstood than we are. I hope that any such women reading this feel welcome. Well, I would certainly try to make them feel welcome.

[Castroboi (imported)]

Indeed I agree with MustafaG2 this is a very good find indeed. Anyways it seems to me that men of the ancient world feared women especially for the blood that comes along with a period so they forced theses surgeries and other hardships on the women. Oh but their is a silver lining to this for the women who wanted the surgery it must have been a dream come true minus the intense pain.

[Francis (imported)]

From what I understand, this practice is still very much prevalant in the region of North Africa to this day.

Good find. This dispells the myth that Clitoridectomy was a practice the came out of an interpretation of the Koran or that it's origins were in Islam.

I think that this practice is ancient and predated both Islam and Christianity maybe even the development of the Jewish faith. It was historically not supported by the Romans but male circumcision is mentioned by their historians from time to time. If a Roman was captured and circumcised by his enemies it was a matter of derision and shame whan he retured home. Likewise if made a eunuch. I think that was probably also the case for most of the northern barbarian peoples as well - e.g.Germans, Celts etc

Circumcision of both sexes was adopted and is still commonly practiced by Muslims even in some western countries but is more prevalent in countries of North Africa, Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan particularly in traditional tribal areas.

I am not sure of the Jewish ritual position on female circumcision (clitoridectomy) but am certain that male circumcision is a religious rite of passage with them. Maybe the strong Jewish women have been able to do away the female rite but it was likely a ritual in their early tribal development.

In these countries the practice appears to also be practiced by people of other religions including some Christian and various native tribes. This suggests as indicated above that it first arose as a general cultural practice in these regions and has been adopted and later given a religious rite significance in Islam and some other sects.

It probably is not dissimilar from the practice of circumcision for both sexes which has ritual status throughout much of tribal Africa (non Islam, non Christian) but I am not sure how far South. It was and I think still is a standard proceedure for the Masai and related peoples and probably the extended related tribes to the south. Again this suggests an origin in an earlier age where it was a general practice amongst most of tribal people. Since it appears to have appeared in hotter climates its origins may have been, in fact, to avoid infections which is the reason applied to the widespreaf practice of male circumcision in the western world today. I am not at all sure how justified this view really is but non religious circumcision remains pretty common in the western world suggesting that there is some medical support for it to be done as a matter of personal hygiene.

There are probably others here who have done more research than I have. This is rumination and recollection from 60 years of omnivorous reading and I stand to be corrected if it is not all valid.

[MustafaG2 (imported)]

Hum,

You've said a lot but documented very little. Male circumcision is NOT very prevalant in the Western World. It is only common in the United States of America.

Circumcision in America originated in the 19th century Victorian belief that masturbation was a cause of insanity or mental deficencies. Little boys back 100+ years ago were subjected to this practice when they were found to be active in 'self abuse'. Circumcision is still around today because of the belief that boys should 'look like their fathers', and in the case of some boys, because their mothers think a cut cock 'looks better'.

Religion and hygeine have nothing to do with it in the case of most USA boys.

As for clipping the clit for girls. It's all about sexual control, and like in the USA 'tradition'. Ouch!

Again, religion and hygein have little if anything to do with it.