h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is not a religious rite of passage, but it is very widespread and is a common social custom in some countries, both with Muslim and Christian populations.

Female circumcision is still a widespread practice in the African continent. It takes on different forms: the mildest is the Sunna circumcision, which involves the removal of the tip of the clitoris and/or its covering. Clitoridectomy involves the removal of the clitoris, its covering and adjacent labia.

Infibulation, the most extreme of all forms of female circumcision, involves the removal of the clitoris and of the inner and outer labia. What is left is then sown together (more often than not in precarious hygienic conditions)leaving only a small opening for bodily functions.

Female circumcision is a rite of passage for many young girls all over the world. Non-circumcised girls are often not eligible for marriage, and therefore are unvaluable to their community. Along with being a severe mutilation, infibulation often leads to the death of the circumcised girl, either due to blood loss or infection. Anyone can easily work out other problems related to this kind of practice.

International organizations have been trying to ban female circumcision, so far with limited success, despite the support of personalities such as Waris Dirie, the Somalian model who was circumcised as a little girl and is now a spokesperson for the campaing against infibulation.

It may be interesting to note how some women who were infibulated or circumcised as children in their country of origin often require to be sown up again after giving birth in European hospitals (in Italy this phenomenon has attracted some attention, due to the relatively recent wave of immigration from countries where this practice is still common).

I hope I didn't get my facts mixed up... I have left out some of the more gruesome details, but the facts as they are are still pretty grim...