I am so angry. I am so angry I don’t even know how to put it in words. But I’ll make the attempt. The American, AMERICAN, Academy of Pediatrics in the United States of America, in the year 2010, is asking the pediatric Doctors, you know the kind with Medical Licenses, to perform female GENITAL MUTILATION.
FGM is a harmful traditional practice with serious health risks that affects up to 140 million women and girls around the world. It is acknowledged internationally as a human rights violation and an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls. This practice involves the removal of various parts of female genitalia and is carried out across Africa, some countries in Asia and the Middle East, as well as in locations where FGM-practicing immigrants reside, including the United States. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated in 1997 that over 168,000 girls and women living in the U.S. have either been, or are at risk of being, subjected to FGM.
Unsurprisingly the people behind this nonsense are men, but my god, I mean, even men have to accept that this is a horrific practice. This is from the pdf they released:
I sent the following letter, the contact information for these unbelievable idiots is at the bottom.
Dear Sirs,
How dare you? How dare you, in the name of “cultural sensitivity”, be so insensitive to the fact that millions of women have lost their lives, their ability to reproduce, and their ability to feel pleasure because of a barbaric tradition that you are now supporting. You are endorsing this behavior! Have you completely lost your mind? Obviously you’ve lost any perspective or moral guideposts.
In America, you are supporting the ritualistic abuse of children who aren’t old enough to decide what is right for them because their parents want to cut off their clitoris to prevent them from feeling pleasure. That is the goal of this behavior. It is disgusting, absolutely disgusting that you feel the need to be so accommodationist that you refuse to take a moral stance here. Cutting off women’s genitals is wrong. You know that.
First do no harm, do you not remember this oath? Tell me how you are doing no harm. Are you not harming psychologically all the poor girls, even if you’ve invented some sort of half-mutilation with no long term physical effects. Guess what, you’re saying that the medical community endorses the idea that women should not feel pleasure. This is the 21st century in America and you’re asking that doctors endorse behavior that wasn’t even appropriate 500 years ago. Will you next be endorsing leeches? Castration for good singers?
Do you not have daughters? I can’t help but notice you are all men. I hope you know that this decision isn’t just wrong, it isn’t just bad, it is evil.
Shame on you. I want a retraction. And an apology. And an individual apology to every girl who’s ever been wounded by this evil practice against their will. You should go door to door.
Ashley F. Miller
Errol R. Alden, M.D. FAAP
Executive Director/CEO, American Academy of Pediatrics
141 Northwest Point Blvd
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-1019
Phone: +1 847 434 7500
Fax: +1 847 434 8385
Email: [email protected]
Please send copies of your letters to the American Board of Medical Specialties and the American Board of Pediatrics at the addresses listed below:
Kevin B. Weiss, M.D., MPH
President and CEO, American Board of Medical Specialties
222 North LaSalle Street
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: +1 312 436 2600
Fax: +1 312 436 2700
Email: [email protected]
Alan R. Cohen, M.D.
Chair, The American Board of Pediatrics
111 Silver Cedar Court
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Phone: +1 919 929 0461
Fax: +1 919 913 2070
Email: [email protected]
