Jamerican, your right, except that in my Somalian community the number of women who have been through FGM is around 95%. All the women in my family (mother, aunts, cousins) have gone through it except for me and sisters because my father was educated enough to say NO. Some of cousins have died from this procedure. This includes Dijbouti (a Somalian speaking nation) as well. When I went to Dijbouti a few years ago all the women I encounter thought there was something wrong with my sisters and I. Those who have not gone through this procedure come from families with higher levels of education, also because the Somalian immigrants are aware this practice is illegal in their host country and that it carries a harsh sentence. For example, this happened in the Somalian Ethiopian community in the USA a few years ago, one of the parents was sentenced to 10 years in prision. On the day the parent of the girl was being sentenced the court house was full of Somalian Ethiopians who where visibile Muslims (they were wearing hijabs) and they were protesting the charge claiming athough the young girl was mutilated it wasn’t the father that performed it but the mother’s family (men never perform this act, it’s women. It’s just a really shady case)

In East Africa the practice is slowly dying out because of the rise in education and awareness for women. They also practice FGM in Eritrea, and this is a country where Muslims make up around 40-45% of the population. However, interestly it’s dying much out faster in Eritrea because of the culture. For example, in Somalia a girl goes through FGM around the ages of 6-9 years old, they can not dispute their mother’s decision. Whereas in Eritrea, the practice is carried out when a girl is around the ages of 12-18 years old, at this age their not as vulnerable as a 6-9 year old. By 12-18 years old, some of those girls went to school in Eritrea and push the awareness button, and they have considerably more power over their bodies. For example, many Eritrean women refused FGM by running away and joining the Military. In certain Western African communites the age begins at a 1 week old baby girl and up.

What’s disturbing is in Egypt, where they have television debates about FGM, and the side that is for this practice always sites that 1 hadiths (that has NO credability in other Muslims countries). Honestly, on t.v. the side that is for FGM mostly likely comprises of MALE clerics.

Non-Muslims in Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya etc. also practice FGM, but none of them use religion as an excuse to perform it (it’s becoming a more popular excuse b/c culture doesn’t carry the same weight).
It’s more popular in Muslim countries where the number of Muslim Women mutilated is much higher (it’s a culture heritage that is hard for them to let go)

Here’s a short clip about the first US prosecution of FGM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40-2vvz6Vuc

sorry for the lenght.

You know, I actually had a few Muslims try to convince me that FGM is sunnah!

So how did it come to be associated with Islam when the vast majority of Muslims have not even heard of the concept??

This reminds of the piece How to Write About Africa (http://www.granta.com/Magazine/92/How-to-Write-About-Africa?view=articleAllPages) by Binyavanga Wainaina.

Nicely written