Female Genital Mutilation

i read a couple weeks back about this movie that was coming out starring model Liya Kebede in an autobiographical film about '80's model Dirie Waris. here is the film trailer:


after going through female genital mutilation and being married off at 13, Waris, a Somalian, was discovered in London by a model agent. after becoming famous, she shared her story and has started her own foundation whose sole purpose is to fight against Female Genital Mutilation. she has also written an autobiography entitled Desert Flower that i've been trying to get for the longest. i think someone stole it from the library.....
i think this movie premiered at some type of film festival, so i may need to find it on the internet or wait for it to come out on DVD.

this story interested me because it reminded me of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography Infidel. i think i read that about 2 years ago, and it was such an eye opening piece of work for me. i don't get emotional very often, but i cried a number of times throughout that book.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a native Somalian as well, underwent Female Genital Mutilation too. her grandmother held her down, while a man from their neighborhood (whose main occupation was to genitally mutilate females) cut off her clitoris with a rusty pair of scissors. he then stitched up her labia around her clitoris, which then was to be broken or cut open by her husband on their wedding night (although she escaped while on the trip to marry him). all while being administered no anesthesia, somewhere between the ages of 11 and 14. Ayaan recalls fainting when she urinated for some time after that episode. she is such an inspiration for me. not only has she gone on to educate herself, she's spoken out (at the risk of her life) against FGM as well as religiosity through her autobiographies and a film with the late Theo Van Gogh (a death threat for her was stabbed into his chest by religious extremists) and she's also served in Dutch Parliament.

i think this was the first time i'd read a personal account about Female Genital Mutilation, and i've since read a number of accounts (another to note, a book entitled Burned Alive by Souad). but every account is as horrific as the first. its difficult to even fathom someone doing that to one of the most sensitive areas of the body, but it happens all the time. The World health Organization has some facts about this "practice". and ReligiousTolerance.org has some background information/theories about the supposed reasoning behind FGM.

as a westerner, it is difficult to critique practices from areas of the world i have never been because even though i have read facts, personal accounts, and statistics on a certain topic, i have a western bias whether i want to or not. i will have an aversion to some things simply because it is not commonplace for me. however, i think the only way someone can be corrected or changed, in their opinions, is to put those opinions on the table. if your arguments aren't heard, then you're likely to stay stagnant-stagnant in you mental state, in your politics, in your personal life, in growth altogether. to me, progression IS life. if i am not progressing , then there is no point.

that being said, i acknowledge that i may be wrong in condemning this practice, however, i think its a deplorable practice that should be banned by any means necessary. some individuals choose to call it "female circumcision", but its nowhere near that of male circumcision. its MUTILATION in every sense of the word. males undergo mutilation as well, it is simply more common for males, especially in the United States to undergo it soon after birth. but males have the foreskin of their penises cut off, while females have their clitoris cut off, and then have their labia stitched up around the clitoris. men do not have issues with urination after FGM, like females, and males do not have a menses or have to go through childbirth, so its almost pointless to even attempt to compare the two.

aside from the immense pain that is experienced through FGM, females also have issues urinating, usually get infections or diseases, have hemoragging and genital ulcers soon after, with an increased chance of STD's such as HIV. after the labia is ripped or broken open by husbands, genital tears are likely to occur. and thats not including the complications that result from childbirth. this practice forces women to have Cesarean sections, and the death rate for children born from mothers that have undergone FGM is significantly less that that of other children born to women that have not undergone FGM, not to mention the heightened risk of death for girls themselves. and all of this is even more horrific considering that prepubescent girls undergo this. if adult women chose to go through this, i probably wouldn't feel as disgusted by this, but there are young girls that are held down against their will, mutilated without anesthesia, usually cut with some crude knife, scissors, pieces of glass or sharp metal.

i think its also necessary to note that, from what i've read, the societies that expect women to be mutilated, the reason is because men want a virgin when they are married, and considering the vagina is stitched shut under the labia, this is one way of ensuring chastity. but does this mean that these men have some type of fetish with chastity? arguably. but what society doesn't? a simple examination of terms like "slut", "hoe", and "tramp", can show you that women in our society are judged a good deal based on their levels of chastity. women that have a large number of sexual partners are considered the lowest of the low, while men that do it have their dicks gold plated and worshiped.
it should also be noted that i don't necessarily link this to any religion in particular. although i have many issues with religion, and believe that it impacts society negatively more often than not, there really is not any particular Surah (verse) in the Quran that promotes or mandates FGM. however, i do think that Islam and Christianity do a part in limiting the ideals of females and holding the chastity of females higher than anything else. think about the most praised female in the bible. Mary. she did what besides have a child-while supposedly maintaining her chastity? NOTHING. she did absolutely nothing. she was a virgin and a mother, and she's held as the ideal in the bible. i think once something becomes habit in a society, its difficult to deviate from that, regardless of how unreasonable it may be.

so whats the point of this post? i think its always good to get a different prespective on something, and hear about different practices from different parts of the world. it also forces you to think about your thoughts on morality as a whole.
is it wrong to condemn other cultures? to what extent? if you say "no", then does this include things like child sex slavery? or even genocide? if you say "yes", then where do you draw the line between an uninformed opinion and a valid argument? do i need to experience FGM in order to critique it?

watch the movie. help me find the movie. read their books. comment. think. criticize.

Karmen Gei

i went to the Brooklyn Library to see another film today. this one was the Senegalese version of 'Carmen'. this one was called 'Karmen Gei'. i've never seen any version of Carmen before, so this was my first. and it was an amazing film.

at the end, we had a discussion about the underlying message of the film-about freedom, about freedom and love, about society, etc. questions like...when does being free with your love and your actions cross the line into being reckless? can anyone ever truly be an individual, and if so, can they ever really be free?...arose in the discussion.
all the while, i was not thinking about the underlying message of the film. i was admiring the art of the film, the selection in characters with minor beauty flaws, the art in the dance Karmen does a number of times in the film, the wardrobe, the music, the scenery in Senegal....it was all captivating.
here a clip. its the opening scene:

but it is interesting to think about. is there a such thing as an individual? from your conception until you die, you impact other people and other beings and you need other people and other beings to survive. this relates a lot to one of the main tenets of Buddhism-we are all connected. hurting your neighbor (whether that be someone in your apartment building or someone overseas)is ultimately wrong because it hurts you. we can live, especially here in the United States as if we are individuals and our lives don't impact others, but theres a neighborhood in Ghana thats filled with garbage from us (as in one other post i did today).
in the movie, Karmen was a reckless lover. she seduced women and men alike and dumped them whenever she felt like it. in the end, one of these heartbroken lovers killed her. hence conjuring up the question of whether we can ever truly be free to do what we want?

comment. think. check out the movie.

Vipassana Meditation

so earlier today (well, technically yesterday...), i went to the Brooklyn Library to see a film entitled The Dhamma Brothers. the abstract said it was a documentary about four death row inmates that had taken up Vipassana Meditation and how it changed them.
and it was an enlightening film.
there were four main men in the film, but it went through interviews with a number of the inmates in this prison in Bessemer, Alabama (on the outskirts of Birmingham). in 2002, one of the officials that runs the Donaldson Prison had somehow heard about Vipassana Meditation being used in prisons in India, and decided to give it a try in the prison he ran.
Vipassana Meditation starts with a 10 day retreat in which one cannot communicate with others; they cannot speak, they cannot do any type of work, they cannot exercize..etc. they must also refrain from praying, sex, reading, writing, and other disciplines. during this time they meditate for most of the day, breaking for restroom and meal breaks.

in the film, there were about 25 inmates that went through the course, 4 or 5 of which shared their experience in camera. many of them said that it was the hardest thing they had to do. that sitting and thinking about your life, your choices, your future, your family, your victim(s) and their families was the hardest thing they've ever gone through.

the handout that i got during the film says this:

"Vipassana means 'to see things as they really are'. it is a logical process of mental refinement through self-observation.
from time to time, we all experience agitation, frustration and disharmony. when we suffer, we do not keep our misery limited to ourselves; instead, we keep distributing it to others. certainly this is not the proper way to live. Vipassana enables us to experience inner peace; it purifies the mind, freeing it from suffering and the deep-seated causes of suffering. the practice leads step-by-step to the highest spiritual goal of full liberation from all mental defilements.

apparently, Donaldson Prison has gone from being one of the worst prisons in the United States, in terms of the number of stabbings, deaths, and all around violence to being.....on the same level with shankings as other prison?....i don't know. something along those lines.
now whether the violence has been reduced because these men have actually had a change in...spirits and have found other ways to channel their anger...or whether they have committed fewer of these acts due to their time simply being consumed by meditation....is debatable. being an optimist though, i would like to believe the former. its probably a combination of both.

the most important message i walked away from the film and discussion was that prison inmates ARE human beings. it sounds like something we all know, but i think its often forgotten.
going back to a similar message of my post on 'What is a Slave?', someone in the film remarked that the people who run prisons, politicians, and voters often forget that these men and women are human beings. labeling them as "murderers" and the like labels them from their worst action. i've lied in the past many times, does that mean my ultimate label should be "liar"? this makes sense (sorry, i debate with myself sometimes...), however, lying cannot be compared to slitting the throat of another human being. Hitler and Pol Pot are known for their worst actions (genocide) because it was so significant to other people's lives. the same with murder and rape.
but although it is hard for me to look at, say, a pedophile as anything other than a vile, sick animal, this film brought home the idea that they still need to be treated like human beings. i think a good way one can judge the civility of a country or people is to observe how they treat the offenders in their society.
and how do we treat ours? yes, they have their meals paid for by us, and in some prisons its like a damn club-med equipped with PSP's, televisions and gyms, but what can we say about how they are rehabilitated mentally, granted we can even term what they go through as "rehabilitation"?

i think you should see the film. it brings up many questions of how we/you see morality, human beings, society, the prison system...etcetera.

comment. think. consider Vipassana Meditation.

also, i just want to give a shout out to the public library. i seriously love good libraries, and coming from a town that had a collection of about 10 philosophy books, and nothing like these film showings to NYC with all this amazing shit....its wonderful. Brooklyn Library...Mid-Manhattan...Schomburg...yea, i love libraries.