This is from the US State Department report that i cited in my original post :

A recent clinical study indicated that 19 percent of the procedures involved only the excision (removal) of the prepuce (clitoral hood) with or without removal of a part or all of the clitoris (Type I). Sixty-four percent involved the excision (removal) of the prepuce (clitoral hood) and clitoris together with part or all of the labia minora (inner vaginal lips)(Type II). In eight percent of the cases, only the labia minora were removed

So, in the majority of cases the clitoris is removed. That's hardly akin to what we do in the US to baby boys. If we cut off their glans it would then be a parallel procedure I suppose. But in somewhere between 8 and 27% of cases in Egypt, anyway, the procedure really is much more like male circumcision at least in terms of the physical structures that are cut away. (The kind of procedure called "infibulation" -- where not only is the clitoris removed and much of the labial tissue as well, but also most of the vaginal opening is sewn up -- is extremely rare in Egypt.)

I raise this just to point to the range of procedures that seem to fall under the heading "female circumcision" or "female genital mutilation."

My preference is that nobody's genitals are altered without their consent -- and that means they must have a real ability to say no. But I don't think we should be equating the removal of the clitoral hood with the excision of the clitoris or with infibulation, just as I wouldn't want to see the removal of the foreskin equated with the cutting off of the glans of the penis. This isn't a "Hey, what about teh men" kind of response, either. I think the language we use to conduct these debates doesn't always lend itself to fine distinctions. The word "circumcision" obscures details just like the word "mutilation" obscures details. We'd be better able to discuss these things if we could be explicit and specific.

(As for the broken glass, in Egypt right now anyway most genital surgeries, regardless of type, occur in doctors' offices or clinics. It's the driving of people back to traditional/ritual settings with unsafe conditions that concerns me as an unintended consequence of the new law. I hope that enforcement will target those traditional knife wielders as well as the medically-trained ones.) 

...because public space really matters!

Elizabeth