Genital Mutilation

At the risk to my reputation for omniscience I must confess that I was taken aback by figures announced on the BBC this morning indicating the sickening scale of female genital mutilation. I had no idea. Of course, we all remember the Bobbitt case, which caused so much outraged tabloid coverage, but there has since been little similar in the gutter press, leading one, mistakenly, to suppose it had been an isolated case. But today's figures, compiled by UNICEF, suggest that there are parts of the world where 90% of women are involved. The mind boggles. And yet, as a tireless campaigner for women's rights, I got over the shock sufficiently to note how typical it was of those misogynists at the BBC to pick on female genital mutilation, as if gender had anything to do with ones sense of outrage. Frankly I wouldn't want my genitals to be mutilated by anyone, female or otherwise.