FGM campaign fallout: Anambra mothers switch to numbing sexual organ

Following the anti-female genital mutilation, FGM, campaigns by activists and international bodies, mothers in Anambra State have devised a means of ‘curbing promiscuity’ in the girl-child — they use hot water or herb or powder to make the clitoris numb.

The head of Sexual and Gender-based Violence Unit in the Anambra State Ministry of Children and Women Affairs, Nkeiruka Okoye, made the revelation.

She accused many mothers of ignorantly endangering the sexual organs of their female children in the name of curbing promiscuity.

Okoye in an interview in Awka that because of the battle against female genital mutilation, many mothers have devised the idea of making the clitoris inactive and insensitive, an action, she said, could cause problems for them when they get married.

She said: “Because of the campaign against female genital mutilation championed by the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, they don’t use knife and thread to cut and sow again.

“Rather, they apply pressure to make the sensitive parts of the clitoris insensitive. They use hot water, scent leaf or dusting powder.

“Some mothers do it ignorantly and sometimes they think they are shaping the clitoris without knowing that they are making it insensitive.

“This action tampers with the sexual desire of these females when they grow up as they will lose interest in conjugal relationship with their husbands, thereby causing problem in their marriages.”

Okoye also spoke on the problem of disinheritance against girl-child and women in Anambra State, describing it as a pathetic situation where the girl-child is discriminated against by even her male siblings, just because she is a girl.

According to her, men in this part of the world have the mindset that the girl belongs to another family because she will get married.

She argued that many men often forget that it is usually their daughters, who they disinherit, that look after them at old age.

She said although there is a law that has abolished such discrimination, its enforcement should be handled with care because of its delicate nature.

She said further: “What is required is the creation of awareness and embarking on public enlightenment to make people understand the negative effects of the practice.”

She said although the Child Rights Law of Anambra State gives equal right to both male and female child on the matter of inheritance, in addition to the provisions in the country’s constitution, the government chose to use it as the last resort.