Without religious or racial prejudice, who is to affirm whether male circumcision and female genital modification are a basic human right or cruel punishment that must be put to an end immediately? As to if male circumcision and female genital modification should be performed, is a controversial question. Especially as religious, medical and moral issues may be involved. Though there is much controversy placed on male circumcision, there is none more placed than on female genital modification. There are many arguments, pro and con, for the various modifications. However, from its original roots in anti-masturbation hysteria, male circumcision continues in English-speaking western countries. Such countries included are the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, because of beliefs and fears about hygiene, physical ailment, appearance and sexuality, and refutation of the pain of infant circumcision. Other countries however, such as parts of Egypt, Eastern Africa, and Asia share these same beliefs and fears for women whose genitalia are not modified. .
Male circumcision is almost unheard of in Europe, South America, and non-Muslim Asia. As a matter of fact, only 10 to 15 percent of men throughout the world are circumcised. The vast majority of whom are Muslim. So why are these countries imposing and often forcing women against their will to mutilate their own genitalia? Female genital modification is known in three levels of pain and mutilation degree. Sunna circumcision is Type I, excision is Type II, and Type III or infibulation. These three operations range in intensity, from the most "mild," Type I, to the most extreme, which is Type III. Type I is "the removal of the prepuce with or without the excision of part or the entire clitoris." Type II entails the partial or full removal of the clitoris, with the further scraping off of the labia majora and labia minora. Type III however, consists of the amputation of the clitoris, the adjacent labia (majora and minora), and the joining of the scraped sides of the vulva across the vagina, where they are fastened with thorns or sewn together with catgut or thread.
