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Article: Village Gives Up A Painful Ritual; Drive to End Female Circumcision Gains Support Among Egypt's Copts
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- June 21, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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When Miriam Bolas was 11 years old, her mother invited the
local daya, or midwife, to slice off part of her genitals. She did
not do this out of cruelty: Like generations of Egyptian women, she
believed that dulling her daughter's ability to enjoy sex would help
preserve the girl's virginity and boost her prospects for marriage.
But Bolas, now married to a tenant farmer with two young
daughters of her own, is determined to spare her children the same
fate.
"My mother was ignorant and she was stupid," said Bolas, a
forthright woman in her late thirties with prominent cheekbones and
long dark braids streaming from beneath her black head scarf. "They
just did it because everyone else ...