This form of FGM is called female circumcision or Sunna circumcision. Another form of female genitalia mutilation is called excision or clitoridectomy. Removing the entire clitoris and either part or all of the labia minora is performed in this type of mutilation. Intermediate circumcision, another form of FGM, is very similar to a clitoridectomy. The difference is that in addition to the removal of the clitoris and part or all of the labia minora, that part or all of the labia majora is also removed. The last and most severe form of FGM is called infibulation or pharaonic circumcision. This includes the removal of both the clitoris and the labia minora, as well as much of the labia majora. Then the remaining sides are sewn together (Walker 367). This ritual begins with the facilitator praying and singing praises. Then, as a woman identified as P.K. retells her dreadful experience, she was instructed to lie down on a mat. P.K. says that no sooner had her frail, young, legs hit the mat they were tightly grasped by heavy hands and spread wide apart. Her legs and arms were both immobilized. Next, she tells that a foreign substance was rubbed all over her genital organs and that it caused a very unpleasant sensation. She later discovered that the foreign substance was sand and that it was used in order to assist in the operation. P.K. goes on to tell that as a hand grasped a part of her genital organs [Her] heart seemed to miss a beat. [She] would have given anything at that moment to be a thousand miles away; then a shooting pain brought [Her] back to reality as her excision had begun (Walker 106). This operation is performed under extremely poor hygienic conditions. The facilitator of this excision will often use an UN-sterile knife or a rock that merely has a sharpened edge. In addition, the entire process is done without any form of anesthetics (Rushwan). When Waris Dirie retells her memory of when her body was slic...
