Clitoraid Announces New Round of Clitoral Repair Surgeries in U.S. for FGM Victims

by Sandrini Gonzalez, posted on 2010-02-25 16:00:25

 

 

“Those having the surgery have just one thing in mind – to get their pleasure and dignity back,” Gary said. “They know what they’ve missed. One woman is having the surgery so she won’t be the mutilated bride her relatives intended her to be. She’s getting married soon and wants to enjoy the physical part of things along with her husband. She had the courage to defy tradition, and we’re hoping many others will follow in her footsteps.” 
Another patient (whose name is withheld to protect her privacy) gave Clitoraid a poignant, written summary of the atrocity she experienced as a helpless child.
 
“All I remember is going to bed one night, having breakfast the next morning and then having two ladies hold my legs while another woman came toward me with a razor,” the woman wrote. “I struggled and managed at one point to escape, but they just came after me in the street and held me down again. I weep as I type this, because this memory is so horrible. I spent weeks recovering, with ropes tied around my legs.”
 
Pre-surgery, each patient in the group will receive free, private counseling from Dr. Larry Ashley, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas, professor who specializes in sexual trauma.
 
“FGM not only cuts the flesh but affects its victims mentally and emotionally for the rest of their lives,” Gary said. “They feel guilty and ashamed about pleasure and sensuality and those feelings are deeply ingrained. That’s why Clitoraid considers counseling as important as the surgery itself, and we made sure to include it in our program.”
 
She added that the new patients will also have the opportunity to take part in a workshop that incorporates the self-love teachings of sexologist Betty Dodson, who volunteered to assist the women during the post-op months of the recovery process.
 
How clitoral repair surgery restores pleasure
 
“The restoration [of sexual pleasure] is possible because the entire clitoris is sensory, not just the amputated portion,” Bowers explained. “Sensation is robbed [through FGM] because the amputated portion retracts back and then gets covered by scar tissue. The clitoris is foreshortened by FGM but it isn’t removed – not even a majority of it. The restoration surgery exposes the clitoral stump. Then, with plastic surgery techniques, we are able to bring the exposed portion to the surface, suture it there and even create new labia minora in many cases by utilizing the available surrounding skin. The exposed sensory portion, free of overlying skin and scar tissue, is then there to function.”
 
For an interview with a Clitoraid spokesperson, please contact our press agent Donna Newman at:

Phone #305-690-9800 

donnajn@bellsouth.net

 

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