In Fact, resistance to the pain is actually part of the ritual. It’s like a ritualized form of torture as it is performed without any form of pain relief. As I’m sure you can imagine, the horrific procedure would cause extreme pain. The Maasai perform a type of circumcision called a clitoridectomy, which usually involves the removal of the entire clitoris, and sometimes the adjacent labia. They justify this with the belief that it decreases overall immorality within the community. A lowered sex drive means less chances of a woman engaging in adultery. A more telling reason for circumcision is to control women’s sexuality by decreasing their desire for sex. Girls as young as 10 years old undergo circumcision before being married off.

The ritual elevates a girl from childhood into adulthood.įor Maasai women circumcision also goes hand-in-hand with marriage. An uncircumcised female is not considered a complete woman. Circumcision is seen as a right of passage. For the Maasai people female circumcision is not a religious practice, it’s a cultural one. It is found in some countries of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, but is most notably and widely practised by the Maasai people of northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. In 2016 UNICEF estimated that 200 million women in 30 countries have been subjected to the practice. Here are some bizarre and highly problematic tribal traditions from around the world.įemale genital mutilation (FGM) also known as female circumcision, is the ritual cutting and removal of some or all of the external female genitalia even when there is no medical reason to do so.

However, it’s not as easy to turn a blind-eye when the rights and safety of vulnerable people are in question.

Normally I would say don’t interfere live and let live. And yet some groups find it difficult to give them up as they see them as integral parts of their culture. In some cases these practices are truly horrific and have no place in the modern world. We’re supposed to live in enlightened times but some tribes and ethnic groups still currently practice unsettling rites and rituals that defy all modern rational and humanist comprehension.

Blades in the dark rituals