Female Genital MutilationImagine this, a young innocent girl, aged between eight and twelve, running around, playing and having fun. Then she is taken away to a filthy hut, the floor of which is nothing but dirt. Once in the hut, the defenseless girl is stripped of all her clothes and pinned to the dirt floor. Her tiny legs are spread and held apart with a firm grip. Soon after, a midwife, with no education in human anatomy or medicine, enters the hut and says a prayer. While the young girl is held in this extremely vulnerable position, the midwife takes a handful of sand and rubs it on the girl's genitals (Walker 106). Without anesthetics and with a jagged rock, which only has a sharp edge, the midwife begins cutting the most tender area of ​​the young girl (Rushwan). The midwife cuts away the clitoris and the tissue at the entrance to the vagina. When the midwife has finished cutting and perfecting the excision, she takes a bramble needle and sews from the head of the clitoris to the vaginal opening, except for a small point where a splinter of wood is placed. The wood is positioned so that when scar tissue forms, a small opening is left for urine and menstrual flow to escape. After the raw edges are stitched, a mixture of butter and herbs is placed on the wound. This is done to stop the blood now flowing from this defenseless young girl (female genital mutilation). The above is just a brief description of a type of mutilation that millions of girls in Africa experience every year. What drives parents to inflict such pain on their little girls? Female genital mutilation is divided into four main types. One type of FGM is ver...... middle of paper ......t)Walker, Alice, and Pratibha, Parmer. Marks of the Warrior. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993. Works Consulted “Banjul Declaration on Violence Against Women.” Women's International NetworkNews 24.4 (1998): 27. (Ebsco Host) "Mali: Center Djoliba." Women's International Network News 24.4 (1998): 32. (EbscoHost) "Nigeria: Strategies and Tactics for the Prevention and Eradication of Female Genital Mutilation." International Women's Network News 24.4 (1998): 30 - 31. (EbscoHost) Hecht, David. “Defend yourself from ancient customs”. Christian Science Monitor 90.131(1998): 131. (Ebsco Host)Saran, Ama R. “Turn Up the Volume on the Voices of Our Sisters.” Essence 28.12 (1998): 172 – 173. (Ebso Host) “Symposium for Religious Leaders and Medical Personnel.” Women's InternationalNetwork News 24.4 (1998): 27. (Ebso Host)