Female Mutilation Is Necessary Since Egyptian Men Are “Weak”, Lawmaker Claims

It was an outrageous argument, by any measure: Women should “reduce their sexual desires” because Egyptian men are “sexually weak.”

This is what an Egyptian lawmaker, Elhamy Agina, claimed over the weekend in making an argument in favor of female genital mutilation or FGM.

“We are a population whose men suffer from sexual weakness, which is evident because Egypt is among the biggest consumers of sexual stimulants that only the weak will consume,” Agina said, according to a translation in Egyptian Streets, an English-language local news website. “If we stop FGM, we will need strong men and we don’t have men of that sort.”

So it is better for women, he continued, to undergo the brutal practice to “reduce a woman’s sexual appetite.” And by doing so, he added, women would “stand by their men” and life would proceed smoothly.

The centuries-old practice involves the partial or full removal of the external sex organs, usually with a knife or razor blade, in a belief that doing so reduces sexual desires. The cutting can lead to urinary infections, menstrual problems, infertility and death, in addition to psychological trauma.

The practice was banned in Egypt in 2008. Since then, circumcising girls has been punishable by a prison sentence of between three months and three years as well as a hefty fine. Still, FGM remains a widespread practice here, as it is in many other African nations and parts of the Middle East.

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