“The Raelians have championed some strange causes in the movement’s 25-year history, including aliens and human clones, but now they are going to bat for a body part — the clitoris. The cult’s leader, Rael, whose real name is Claude Vorilhon, has become outraged by the custom of female genital cutting, the primarily African practice in which part of a girl’s genitalia is sliced away.
Now the Raelian Movement has resolved to build a hospital in the West African country of Burkina Faso, where women could come to have their clitorises “reconstructed.” “Rael thought this is a crime against humanity,” says Lara Terstenjak, a spokeswoman for Clitoraid, a nonprofit set up by the Raelians to sponsor genital surgeries.”
(via Wired)
February 20, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Female genital mutilation is most correctly identified as an Islamic practice. To end it, criticize Islam.
February 21, 2008 at 3:01 am
How about someone fighting for the end of the mutilation of male genitalia in the United States?
February 21, 2008 at 8:01 pm
The mutilation of anyone’s genitalia is unacceptable. (Unless it’s desired or done by the choice of an individual. To each their own.)
This is a step in the right direction. I only hope that this isn’t just empty words spoken from the Raelian’s PR department, and that this becomes a reality.
February 22, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Trevor, there are pre-Islamic cultures that practiced this also, but they were small in numbers. You are correct in that Islam can be criticized for this spreading, but that is also a sad reality of population growth and the travel or emigration of people who do
this sick shit.
It is yet another sign of men who are so threatened by females that they have to mutilate them to control their behavior. While they’re at it, maybe foot-binding will come back, to go with neck extension via metal torcs/necklaces. Girdles, high heels, wigs – most of these have to do with altering the female body to make it longer, taller, thinner, and thus more desirable to men. Genital mutilation and foot-binding are meant to limit women’s desires, pleasure, and freedom of movement, let alone choices of the heart.