Actually it is not a Moslem practice to genitally mutilate girls tho it is a practice in parts of Africa that is Moslem. It is estimated that 90% of Somali girls are mutilated in a Moslem country. Kenya is less Moslem & the practice is still evident among non Moslems. Kenyan women are resisting this abominable practice. The Quran has no mandate for this practice.

@Countrywoman I am aware that not all Muslims inflict FGM on their daughters and I may not have been clear when I wrote above. The fact that quite a large number of mainly Muslim cultures practice this is enough to call it out for what it is, child abuse. Just in the same way that not all priests are molesting children, but enough of them are for us to call that out. I don’t really care whether the Quran sanctions it or not, it is happening whether because it is thought to be a religious practice or a cultural one it is mainly happening in Muslim communities. I know this because a large number of girls are still being subjected to this abominal mutilation in the UK, mainly among the Somali and other Muslim African immigrant communities. There are have been precious few prosecutions even though it has been a crime in the UK under the Offences Against The Persons Act since it was first discovered it was going on. Cultural sensitivities and a fear of being called racist has probably prevented the police from prosecuting in most cases. There are Imams and Muslim doctors who have been charged, but had their cases dropped by the CPS. A large number of girls are taken back to Africa to have this performed on them during school holidays.

@Marionville It is illegal here also but it is being done quietly in doctors offices. Along with children giving birth resulting in fistula, girls bear the brunt of abuse world wide. From foot binding in the past to female genital mutilation. As women we need to organize & rise up against such practices. Such a large obstacle to over come are cultural rituals. You & I are both aghast. The Moslems I know swear it is not an Islamic practice. It is an African practice by people who 2ndly are Moslem. That is what they tell me. Their girls are not subjected to this barbarism.

@Countrywoman All religions appear to be misogynistic. They are made by men for men, and women are brainwashed into going along with it. Even Hinduism, which very rarely gets a mention has practices which are abhorrent....such as suttee, widows expected to immolate themselves on their husbands funeral pyres. This practice has only been outlawed relatively recently. I visited Bali with my husband a number of years ago, it is an Indonesian Island, but is the only one which is not Muslim but Hindu. We visited a Hindu temple and were astonished to be told by our guide that any menstruating women could not enter the inner part as we were unclean! I asked my husband did he think I would be examined.....how would they know? I suppose their own women would just not go to the temple at that time of the month. I didn’t want to go into the temple anyway....the whole place was filthy and had green slime everywhere. The idea that a menstruating woman could soil such dirty hole really angered me.