FEMALE CIRCUMCISION/GENITAL MUTILATION AND ETHICAL RELATIVISM In Northern Africa and Southern Arabia many girls undergo ritual surgery involving removal of parts of their external genitalia; the surgery is often accompanied by ceremonies intended to honor and welcome the girls

In Northern Africa and Southern Arabia many girls undergo ritual surgery involving removal of parts of their external genitalia; the surgery is often accompanied by ceremonies intended to honor and welcome the girls into their communities. About 80 million living women have had this surgery, and an additional 4 or 5 million girls undergo it each year (Kouba and Muasher 1985; Ntiri 1993). Usually performed between infancy and puberty, these ancient practices are supposed to promote chastity, religion, group identity, cleanliness, health, family values, and marriage goals. This tradition is prevalent and deeply embedded in many countries, including Ethiopia, the Sudan, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Tanzania, Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Eritrea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Mauritania, Nigeria, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, and Egypt (Abdalla 1982; Ntiri 1993; Calder et al. 1993; Rushwan 1990; El Dareer 1982; Koso-Thomas 1987). Modified versions of the surgeries are also performed in Southern Yemen and Musqat-Oman (Abdalla 1982). Tragically, the usual ways of performing these surgeries deny women sexual orgasms, cause significant morbidity or mortality among women and children, and strain the over-burdened health care systems in these developing countries. Some refer to these practices as female circumcision, but those wishing to stop them increasingly use the description female genital mutilation.