View source for Infibulation

{{Short description|Ritual removal of the vulva}}
{{Violence against women}}
'''Infibulation''' is the ritual removal of the [[vulva]] and its suturing, a practice found mainly in [[northeastern Africa]], particularly in [[Djibouti]], [[Eritrea]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Kenya]], [[Somalia]], and [[Sudan]].<ref name=Yoder2008>{{cite journal|last1=Yoder|first1=P. Stanley|last2=Khan|first2=Shane|date=March 2008|title=Numbers of women circumcised in Africa: The Production of a Total|url=http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/WP39/WP39.pdf|publisher=USAID, DHS Working Papers|issue=39|pages=13–14}}</ref> The [[World Health Organization]] refers to the procedure as Type III [[female genital mutilation]]. 

The term can also refer to the entirely different practice of placing a clasp through the [[foreskin]] in men; for more information see the article [[Fibula (penile)]].

==Female==
{{Further|Female genital mutilation#Type III}}
[[File:FGC Types.svg|right|250px|alt=diagram]]
The [[World Health Organization]] refers to female infibulation as Type III female genital mutilation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation|title=Female genital mutilation|publisher=[[World Health Organization]]|access-date=2022-11-16}}</ref> Often called "pharaonic circumcision" (or ''farooni'')<ref>{{Cite web |title=Genitalverstümmelung {{!}} Dieter Wunderlich: Buchtipps und mehr |url=https://www.dieterwunderlich.de/weibliche_genitalverstuemmelung.htm |access-date=2023-02-09 |language=de-DE}}</ref> in countries where it is practiced. It refers to the removal of the [[Labia minora|inner]] and [[Labia majora|outer labia]] and the suturing of the [[vulva]]. It is usually accompanied by the removal of the [[Clitoris#Glans|clitoral glans]].<ref>{{cite book|last=El Dareer|first=Asma |author-link=Asma El Dareer |title=Woman, Why Do You Weep: Circumcision and its Consequences|date=1982|publisher=Zed Books|location=London|isbn=978-0862320997|pages=1–2}}</ref><ref>For "pharaonic circumcision", also see [[Ellen Gruenbaum|Gruenbaum, Ellen]] (2001). ''The Female Circumcision Controversy: An Anthropological Perspective''. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp.&nbsp;43–45.</ref> The practice is concentrated in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan.<ref name=Yoder2008/> During a 2014 [[Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys|survey]] in Sudan, over 80 percent of those who had experienced any form of FGM had been sewn closed.<ref name=MICS>{{cite web |title=Sudan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2014 |url=http://mics.unicef.org/files?job=W1siZiIsIjIwMTYvMDUvMTgvMjEvNTkvNTEvODg3L1N1ZGFuXzIwMTRfTUlDU19FbmdsaXNoLnBkZiJdXQ&sha=32907fc39e6e2e6e |publisher=UNICEF |date=2014 |page=214, Table CP.10 |access-date=2019-08-28 |archive-date=2019-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706102152/http://mics.unicef.org/files?job=W1siZiIsIjIwMTYvMDUvMTgvMjEvNTkvNTEvODg3L1N1ZGFuXzIwMTRfTUlDU19FbmdsaXNoLnBkZiJdXQ&sha=32907fc39e6e2e6e |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The procedure leaves a wall of skin and flesh across the [[vagina]] and the rest of the pubic area. By inserting a twig or similar object before the wound heals, a small hole is created for the passage of urine and [[menstruation|menstrual blood]]. The legs are bound together for two to four weeks to allow healing.<ref name=Abdulcarida2011/><ref>[[Comfort Momoh|Momoh, Comfort]] (2005). "Female genital mutilation" in Comfort Momoh (ed.). ''Female Genital Mutilation''. Radcliffe Publishing. p.&nbsp; [https://books.google.com/books?id=dVjIP0RfVAMC&pg=PA7 7].</ref>

The vagina is usually penetrated at the time of a woman's marriage by her husband's penis, or by cutting the tissue with a knife. The vagina is opened further for childbirth and usually closed again afterwards, a process known as defibulation (or deinfibulation) and reinfibulation. Infibulation can cause chronic pain and infection, organ damage, prolonged [[micturition]], urinary incontinence, inability to get pregnant, difficulty giving birth, [[obstetric fistula]],  and fatal bleeding.<ref name=Abdulcarida2011>Abdulcadira, Jasmine, et al. (January 2011). [http://www.smw.ch/content/smw-2011-13137/ "Care of women with female genital mutilation/cutting"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160718085718/http://www.smw.ch/content/smw-2011-13137/ |date=2016-07-18 }}. ''Swiss Medical Weekly'', 6(14). {{PMID|21213149}}</ref>

==Male==
{{section move from|Fibula (penile)|discuss=Talk:Infibulation#Section Move Proposal|date=October 2023}}
[[File:Anacreon infibulated.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A marble statue of the Greek poet [[Anacreon]] (582–485 BCE), showing ''[[Kynodesme|kynodesmē]]'']]
Infibulation also referred to placing a clasp through the male [[foreskin]].<ref>Favazza, 
Armando R. (1996).''Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry''. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=BwQT9fdZNdgC&pg=PA190 190–191].</ref> In [[ancient Greece]], male athletes, singers and other public performers used a clasp or string to close the foreskin and draw the penis over to one side, a practice known as [[kynodesme|''kynodesmē'']] (literally "dog tie").<ref name=Schmidt2004p263/> Many ''kynodesmē'' are depicted on vases, almost exclusively confined to [[symposium|symposiasts]] and [[komos|komasts]], who are as a general rule older (or at least mature) men.<ref name=Zanker1996p28>Zanker, Paul and Shapiro, Alan (1996). '' The Mask of Socrates: The Image of the Intellectual in Antiquity''. University of California Press. pp. 28–29.</ref> In Rome, a [[Fibula (penile)|fibula]] was often a type of ring used similarly to a kynodesme.

''Kynodesmē'' was seen as a sign of restraint and abstinence, but was also related to concerns of modesty; in artistic representations, it was regarded as obscene and offensive to show a long penis and the [[glans penis]] in particular.<ref name=Schmidt2004p263>Schmidt, Michael (2004). ''The First Poets''. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p.&nbsp;263.</ref> Tying up the penis with a string was a way of avoiding what was seen as the shameful and dishonorable spectacle of an exposed glans penis, something associated with those without repute, such as slaves and barbarians. It therefore conveyed the moral worth and modesty of the subject.<ref name=Zanker1996p28/>
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==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Wiktionary}}
*[[Ayaan Hirsi Ali|Ali, Ayaan Hirsi]]. ''[[Infidel: My Life]]'', Free Press, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-7432-8968-9}}
*Pieters, Guy and Lowenfels, Albert B. [http://www.cirp.org/pages/female/pieters1 "Infibulation in the Horn of Africa"], ''New York State Journal of Medicine'', 77(6), April 1977, pp.&nbsp;729–731.
*Whitehorn, James, Oyedeji Ayonrinde, and Samantha Maingay. "Female Genital Mutilation: Cultural and Psychological Implications," ''Sexual and Relationship Therapy'', 17.2 (2002), pp.&nbsp;161–170.

{{Violence against women/end}}
{{female genital mutilation}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Genital modification and mutilation]]
[[Category:Female genital mutilation]]