All for "Izzat"
Ghadially, R.
Newsletter 38: 7-8
1992
PMID: 12285436 Document Number: 320272
The nature and practice of female circumcision in India among the Daudi Bohra is discussed. The Daudi Bohra are a sect of the Ismaili Shia sect numbering half a million residing principally in the western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat with 50% in Bombay alone. The spiritual head has considerable control over his followers and supports but does not enforce female circumcision. In Sabak or Sunday school in there is instruction by the clergy wives that disgrace will come to a family that does not have their girls circumcised. The most common practice is the sunna variety, which involves removal of the tip of the clitoris. Information was obtained from informal interviews with about 50 mothers of young daughters, 2 practitioners of circumcision, and secondary sources. 70% of the mothers did not question and followed the practice of sunna. 20% debated the practice with family and friends, and only 10% did not have sunna performed. Giving up the practice of circumcision was related to not subjecting the daughter to pain without a strong reason, not wanting to interfere with a girl's sexuality, and avoiding medical complications. The reasons cited for sunna were that it was required of the parents to follow the practice mentioned in the shariat, that it was the custom in the community, and that it was necessary in curbing a girl's sexuality. Other secondary reasons were for the purpose of cleanliness and purity or for the attainment of the status of a Muslim. Other studies have found that the main reason is to curb a woman's sexual passion. Sex socialization of Bohra girls involves denial of sexuality. Girls are warned to stay away from strange men and are not taught about the biology of their bodies. The body is considered unclean and the subject improper for discussion. Menses are explained only as the act of becoming a woman, and the focus is on cleanliness and ritual bathing at the end of the menstrual period. Information on the sex act is provided by an experienced aunt the night before the marriage ceremony. Within marriage, sexual pleasure by women is permitted. Among Uttar Pradesh Muslim women, there are 3 basic thought about women: 1) women are physically, mentally, and spiritually weak; 2) the responsibility of women is to conform to traditional cultural norms and transmit the norms to their offspring; and 3) women must safeguard izzat, the honor of the woman and her family, for the family. Bohra women must both culturally and physically have their sexuality curbed. The consequences are usually difficulty in urination or infection and sometimes frigidity. Physicians have been unable to change this religious practice. Women's groups organizationally have not taken a stand against the practice, although reformist women did not have their daughters circumcised.