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[Note: This report was shared with the authors anonymously to protect
the individuals involved.]
Recently, while serving as a visiting professor at a medical college in an
African country where female circumcision is common, a female professor
of medicine remarked to me, "Women who have been circumcised cannot
experience an orgasm because they do not have a clitoris." To which I
replied, "The whole body is erogenous; and while not having a clitoris
might increase the time to reach an orgasm for some women, most
women should be able to experience orgasms with or without a clitoris."
As our discussion continued, I mentioned the erotic potential of the lips,
nipples, and G-spot and the value of kissing and lightly caressing the face
and all of the skin. She informed me that in her culture, breasts were for
feeding babies and men did not touch the breasts. To do so would result
in the man being labeled as a baby. I then suggested that she send her
husband to chat with me and I would make suggestions on things he
could do to help her experience an orgasm. To this she replied, "My
husband would never talk to anyone about sex." I then suggested she go
home and either masturbate--an idea that she found repulsive--or that
she encourage her husband to kiss, caress, massage, and fondle her and
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that he manually stimulate the G-spot or use sexual positions that would
stimulate the G-spot. She asked me how to find the G-spot. I turned on
my computer, pulled up slides of the female reproductive system, showed
her the approximate location of the G-spot, and how her husband could
stimulate this sensitive region.
Early the following morning she came waltzing into my office with a big
smile on her face and exclaimed, "Wow! I am 48 years of age and I just
had my first orgasm." After telling me about her "delightful" experience,
she asked me if I would be willing to meet with some of her young female
patients some evening, show them the pictures of the reproductive
system, show them the location of the G-spot, and discuss the erogenous
regions of the body.
For the remainder of my stay (three and a half months), I quietly and
secretly met each week with the physician and 10 to 20 young, married
women who had been circumcised in childhood. We discussed the
anatomy of the female reproductive system, erogenous areas of the body
including the G-spot, sexual stimulation, sexual pleasure, and sexual
orgasms. They explored their bodies and had assignments to do at home.
These sessions were enlightening and rewarding to me due to the positive
feedback I received.
In the spring, a few days before I returned home, the female physician
arranged a picnic dinner in a small, rarely used local park. She invited all
of the approximately 200 women who had participated in one or more of
the evening sessions on female orgasm. About 150 women attended the
picnic dinner. During the picnic dinner, many of the women came to me
thanking me for "making their lives better" and to express their
appreciation for my taking the time to tell them about the erogenous
areas like the G-spot. Their husbands were much more discreet,
communicating through an intermediary their "appreciation of what you
did."
After the dinner, the physician asked the group of young women a variety
of questions. One question was for a show of hands if they had achieved
an orgasm from stimulation of their G-spot. Every woman, about 150,
raised her hand. All of us know this is not the way to collect scientific data
and I have no idea how many of those who raised their hand had really
experienced an orgasm and how many had not. I am sure some of these
young women just wanted to belong to the "orgasmic club." However, I
think it is realistic to say that many of these young circumcised women,
did learn to experience orgasms from G-spot and other erotic
stimulations. (Personal communication, 2004)
majority of these women are unhappy and complain about their lack of
sexual satisfaction despite the insistence of their husbands on having sex
regularly. In Kemal Bolayir's clinic, most sexual complaints from the
females involve inhibited orgasm, vaginal spasms, and coital phobia. Most
of these cases can be traced back to negative sexual learning,
misinformation, religious inhibitions, prohibitions against talking about
sex, and lack of sexual knowledge.
Dysorgasmia among Muslim Cypriot women is more frequent in long-term
marriages. This is believed to be because of the heavy burden of the
women, housework, childcare, and the need to work outside the house as
well as contribute to the family budget. Men's insistence on having sex
whenever they desire without taking into consideration the feelings of
women, and their failure to include enough loveplay, are among the
reasons for women's dysorgasmia. In Northern Cyprus, the main cause of
diminished sexual desire for women is the lack of quality in the sexual
loveplay. Many Turkish women are deprived of enjoying orgasm, but
prefer to suffer in silence instead of speaking out. In brief, women avoid
revealing or discussing their dysorgasmic or anorgasmic problems and so
suffer without relief (Bolayir & Kelami, 2004, 318).
In African cultures, there are certain sexual practices and topics that
Africans simply do not discuss or acknowledge with non-Africans because
they are very sensitive, sometimes taboo, and many times racially
charged. Even within an individual tribal culture, some sexual topics and
behaviors are not open for discussion between men and women or
between children and their parents.
Nigerian Ibos, for instance, believe talking about any sexual matter is
vulgar. Sexual education should not exist, and sexuality should never be
discussed. In the Borno region, talking openly about sexuality is clearly
taboo. In the Delta State, any discussion of sexual topics is taboo. Males
do, however, discuss sexuality-especially when they want to tell their
peers how many girlfriends they have had intercourse with (Esiet, et al.,
2004, 758).
6. From India
effectively block many men and women from a deep, fulfilling experience
of sexual love. It is not difficult to detect the prevalence of considerable
sexual misery in the Indian marriage and family from culture ideals,
prohibitions, and modern fiction and cinema. This is also evident in clinical
studies of the sexual woes expressed by middle- and upper-class women
who seek relief in psychotherapy, and in the interviews that Sudhir Kakar
(1989, 21) and others have conducted with low-caste, "untouchable"
women in the poorest areas of Delhi. Most of these women portrayed their
experiences with sexual intercourse as a furtive act in a cramped and
crowded room, lasting barely a few minutes and with a marked absence of
physical or emotional caressing. It was a duty, an experience to be
submitted to, often from a fear of beating. None of the women removed
their clothes during intercourse since it is considered shameful to do so.
Yankan Gishiri or Salt Cut. This traditional "cure," practiced mainly in the
northern part of Nigeria by the Hausa, involves a surgical cut in the
anterior vaginal wall of a woman who has been diagnosed by a traditional
healer or traditional birth attendant to be suffering from gishiri disease.
Gishiri refers to a wide range of conditions or symptoms, including itching
vulva, absence of menstruation, infertility, obstructed labor, anemia,
malaria, and any condition that presents the symptoms of headache,
edema, fainting attacks, or painful inter-course.
The "salt cut" is usually made on the anterior vaginal wall. Repeated
cutting over a period of time may extend the incision area to the posterior
vaginal wall. The gishiri cut is also performed when certain changes occur
during pregnancy, such as hypertrophy of the vaginal muscle and vaginal
discharge. The cut is performed by a traditional birth attendant or healer,
few of whom are knowledgeable of the anatomical structure of the area
they are cutting. There is no scientific basis for the gishiri cut, and despite
the fact that it effects no cure, the practice continues unabated. A gishiri
cut leaves behind both immediate and long-term health complications,
such as hemorrhage, infection, shock, and scar formation. Some of the
most debilitating effects include a breakdown in the wound-healing
process. This is caused by repeated cuttings, which can be done anytime
any of the above-mentioned symptoms surface. Damage can also be done
to the bladder, leading to vesico-vaginal fistula or damage to the rectum
causing recto-vaginal fistula. Repeated salt cuts make intercourse
extremely painful and even impossible for women (Opiyo-Omolo in Esiet,
et al., 2004, 771-774).
This purity restriction applies not only to intercourse but also to any direct
or indirect physical contact between husband and wife. Toward the end of
her menstrual period, but not less than five days from its onset, the
woman has to check each morning with a white cloth at the external
opening of the cervix whether she is still bleeding. When there are no
more signs of bleeding, she waits seven "clean" days before her cleansing
bath (mikveh), after which she can resume intercourse (Shtarkshall,
2004, 612-616).
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Recently, some ultra-orthodox women have complained that the ritual ban
on touching is unbearable, especially when they are in a low or depressed
mood, ill, or suffering. This is also true when the husband or an
adolescent child is ill or suffering. Women also complain that resumption
of intercourse at the end of the Nidah period often has a "mechanical"
aspect to it, which causes both individual and interpersonal difficulties
(Shtarkshall, 2004, 612-616).
anarchy [fitna] and trickery or deception [kaid]" (Sherif 2004, 348). There
is also the fundamental distinction in the Qur'an between what is halal or
lawful and what is haram or prohibited. This is not a simplistic good or evil
distinction, because some behaviors are "in between things," things that
may be permitted, but are not approved, as well as things that are not
permitted but also not punished. Halal carries the connotation that
something is not only lawful, but also beneficial and recommended.
Haram has the connotation of that which is forbidden, and also harmful
and punishable under law.
A basic concept of sexual modesty and intimacy involves 'awrah, which
tradition divides into four categories: what a man may see of a woman,
what a woman may see of a man, what a man may see of a man, and
what a woman may see of a woman.
To be a Muslim is to control one's gaze and to know how to protect one's
own intimacy from that of others. However, the concept of intimacy is far-
reaching, for we are confronted here with the concept of 'awrah. Between
men and women, and also between men before their own wives, the part
to be concealed from the eyes of others stretches from the navel to the
knees exclusively. A woman must reveal only her face, hands, and
perhaps the feet. Between husband and wife, sight of the whole body is
permitted except for the partner's sexual organs, which one is advised not
to see, for "the sight of them makes one blind." Exceptions are allowed in
cases of juridical or medical purposes.
Total nudity is very strongly advised against, even when one is "alone."
This is because absolute solitude does not exist in a world in which we
share existence with the angels and with djinns (spirits lower than
angels). "Never go into water without clothing, for water has eyes." But
this is the strict interpretation of the Q'uran. It is commonly agreed that
all forms of public nudity are forbidden for both men and women. The
most extreme case of this is that some ultraconservative men will cover
their wives' feet with a cloth when they climb in and out of a bus. But
certain fugaha (rulings) allow husband and wife to be intimate and look at
each other's sexual organs during intercourse. Some even affirm that it
increases one's ability to reach the quintessence of ecstasy (Sherif et al.,
2004, 350).
We could cite many examples from our 12-year research project of recent
challenges to the deeply entrenched patriarchal repression of female
sexual rights and health. In the past, most of these challenges would
hardly have created a ripple in the world outside the village, or even
nation, where they emerged. Quickly forgotten, they would have no long-
term effect on human culture around the world. But today, the Internet,
the World Wide Web, and satellite communications change all that.
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doctors politely asked Dr. Whipple not to publicize her finding, because
Islamic fundamentalists would quickly exploit this finding to support their
defense of genital cutting (Personal communication, 2004; Sherif, et al.,
2004, 354-355).
Conclusion
It took several thousand years and many generations for our ancestors to
negotiate the First Axial Period. It seems obvious that our explosion of
digital, Internet, and World Wide Web communications is already greatly
accelerating our transition through the present Second Axial Period. Will
several millennia shrink to several hundred years? Or less?
References
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Sources:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2096/is_3_54/ai_n8706636/?
tag=content;col1
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2096/?tag=content;col1
http://www.crosscurrents.org