My undestanding is Female Genital Mutilation is practiced to reduce chance of female adultery, smell, and decrease the chance of STD Transmission... at least those were reasons cited from practitioners in a UN study on the subject.
Basically it was a way to keep women downtrodden by expressing the sentiment that they couldn't even keep control of their bodies.
In the end, that's what sex is in a lot of the 3rd world... a way to express dominance.
Apparently nothing makes one as manly as doing a boy up the tailpipe... I think I'll have to disagree with Barak's friends on that one.
This still isn't as stupid as the story out of Pakistan a couple years ago about a 13 yo girl getting put on trial for fornication because she was raped.
