Ebbie, thanks, but I did mean "castration," although "circumcision" is also correct. Just to make sure I did a search on google which came up with several hits, including this one, which, imo, goes way beyond the benign implications of the latter:

"While the practice of male circumcision has becom less commonly advocated and recommended by physicians in the United States today, the majority of women in Northern Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East are still being castrated...women are subjected to painful operations which include the removal of the clitoris, the clitoral hood, the labia minor, and the labia majoria. These traumatic operations are most commonly performed on pre-menstrual girls from modest and lower economic status, by midwives, physicians, and even barbers. These devastating rituals of mutilation generally occur in their homes, local hospitals, clinics, and street booths. The tormented girls suffer extensive damage to their mental, physical, and psychological health, which remain with them their entire lives. The operations are also known to lessen the sexual excitement and orgasm for these women. This is perhaps the ultimate manifestation of inequality among the sexes, and the only hope to eradicate this horrible tradition is to globally educate the people of these unnecessary and dangerous surgeries."

Thanks,

kat