the debate over FGM

There's a row in Egypt currently over the fight to criminalize FGM (female genital mutilation - also known as cliterodectomy, female genital cutting, female circumcision and other names). FGM procedures vary widely. (Goes to the WHO fact sheet on FGM).

For a discussion of the text of Quran and hadith on the question of FGM, see Kecia Ali's Sexual Ethics and Islam. Ali really parses the text that Muslims have to contend with on this topic, and discounts both the arguments that it has nothing to do with Islam and that it is a requirement.

The Times did a photo-montage of a circumcision ceremony in Indonesia this winter. (Mild trigger alert; it's all above-the-belt shots but the photos are evocative).