The Muslim Faith and the Evolution of Eradication

http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm.htm

The goal of this website is to consider the religious rationale for female circumcision. Also, there is information supplied on the evolution of laws on female circumcision around the world. Even though female genital mutilation is not considered to be a religious practice, but a social custom, this website seeks to explore it's religious implications. Specifically, within the muslim religion. As with any religion, the interpretation of sacred text can be, at the very least, subjective. Here we see the exploration of the many different interpretations of the Qur'an, in regards to the implementation of genital mutilation. As we have seen many advancements, in the eradication of such a haneous practice, the timeline that this website lays out only helps to illuminate how far we have to go.
Just as we have seen in the distant past (female harems) we continue to see the rationle that women are not capable of retaining theire virginity. Nawal El-Saadawi, a victim of mutilation, discusses this issue quite eloquently. She explores the idea, that by removing a woman's clitoris you are removing her sexual desire, therefore removing the chance for her to lose her virginity. It is obvious that this is just another way of insisting on a woman's inability for self control. That is, it is only possible to maintain this control by external pratices. Unfortunately, this can only be used as a half witted excuse for so long. Eventually, the victim will marry and then the lifelong implications are revealed, as she will never experience pleasure the way she was intended to.
While there are many laws enforced to help eradicate this practice, it is relevant to discuss the contradictory Rights of the Child article posed by the UN. As the website articulated, it is impossible to abolish harmful maltreatment of children, while promising to respect parents wishes. One cannot hope to keep children from harm while simultaneousy supporting a social idenity that promotes such destruction.

Multicultural Feminists Seeks To Normalize Female Circumcision

http://www.huliq.com/43954/multicultural-feminists-seeks-normalize-female-circumcision

This article seeks to discuss the new movement toward considering female circumcision as purely a cosmetic procedure that really "isn't all that bad." The authur looks to dismantle this naive view.

Recent news in Finland

http://www.yle.fi/news/id104013.html

This news brief shows that female circumcision is not limited to African countries. Many whom have migrated outside of Africa still take part in the pratice of femal mutilation. To these individuals it is still vitally important to have their young daughters circumcized. This means sending their young girls back to their home country to have the "operation" and heal. Finland is now discussing the introduction of an international circumcision prevention programme. Neighboring countries have enacted such a programme to help prevent its' practice by enforcing strick penalties to offenders. It is important for everyone in the world to understand that this issue is not somewhere else, it is an issue that strikes right at home for everyone.
Unfortunately, although certain laws can help to a degree to dampen the practice, education is still essential. Counting on the penalties of the law to eradicate female circumcision completely is naive. Unlike normal criminality, female genital cutting is linked to tradition and specific beliefs and therefore can only be stopped through education. The pure fact that this still occurs once a family is outside their country of origin shows just how powerful the notions of this practice really are. It will take more than fear of punishment to stop this problem.

Islamic female genital mutilation

The FGC Education and Networking Project

http://www.fgmnetwork.org/legisl/index.php

This is a great website to visit for several testimonies, statistics, legislation, etc.