Fionn, I've read a lot about the female circumsion practices in Africa and while I believe it is so that the mothers do have a lot to do with carrying on the tradition, I still believe, according to what I've seen and read, that they are acting out according to the dictates of the patriarchy. In the accounts I've read, the men wanted their women circumcised and sewn so tightly shut that only a trickle of urine could escape. It is also a "guarantee" of virginity. It is said they get more pleasure out of the effort to "open" the girl up and they even sew them shut, again, after each birth.

It's more rare now, but little girls in this country were forced to undergo clitorectomies as late as the 1930's when thought to be oversexed, i.e. found playing with themselves, even when very, very young.

kat