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Ritual female genital surgery among bedouin in Israel

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Abstract

Ritual female genital operations are common in many parts of the world, with varying degrees of mutilation from clitoridectomy and removal of the labia to removal of the clitoral prepuce. Interviews of 21 Bedouin women in southern Israel revealed the practice to be normative in several tribes. However, physical examination of 37 young women from those tribes at a gynecological clinic revealed only small scars on the labia in each woman. Bedouin in southern Israel may offer a model of evolution of female circumcision into a nonmutilative ritual incision.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kupat Holim Clinic, Rahat, Israel

    Abed Asali M.D., Naif Khamaysi M.D. & Yunis Aburabia M.D.

  2. Department of Gynecology, Soroka, Medical Center, Beersheva, Israel

    Simha Letzer M.D.

  3. Department of Social Work, Soroka Medical Center, Beersheva, Israel

    Buteina Halihal M.S.W.

  4. Division of Psychiatry, Ben Gurion University, Beersheva, Israel

    Benjamin Maoz M.D. & R. H. Belmaker M.D.

Authors
  1. Abed Asali M.D.
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  2. Naif Khamaysi M.D.
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  3. Yunis Aburabia M.D.
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  4. Simha Letzer M.D.
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  5. Buteina Halihal M.S.W.
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  6. Moshe Sadovsky M.D.
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  7. Benjamin Maoz M.D.
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  8. R. H. Belmaker M.D.
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Asali, A., Khamaysi, N., Aburabia, Y. et al. Ritual female genital surgery among bedouin in Israel. Arch Sex Behav 24, 571–575 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01541836

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01541836

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