A Gesture to Yasmin

Note: I am not a doctor and the following is intended for information purposes only, not as medical advice.

Today's Toronto Star had an article about an Ethiopian immigrant who had been subjected to Female Genital Mutilation when she was six years old in Ethiopia.

www.thestar.com...

Yasmin . . .



. . . who is 23 now, has told her story to put a light on the subject of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), not only the trauma and pain of experiencing it, but also the difficulties of obtaining what remedial treatment is available for the situation, and condition, that victims of the procedure suffer.

This is a subject that one broaches with extreme caution. It is a very sensitive subject. One would assume, perhaps correctly, that a person like me, a man, not a medical professional, not a gynecologist, not from Ethiopia, not a woman, would have nothing pertinent to say on this subject.

That might be true, but sometimes one must stick one's neck out and make a gesture, even a shot in the dark, of a compassionate nature.

The only reason I am able to say anything intelligent on this subject, is that I have been practicing meditation as a Buddhist for forty years. It has been my privilege to be the student of a truly great meditation master.

My teacher, a Tibetan immigrant, was dismayed to hear that I had been circumcised as a baby, like many male children in our society.

In the world of meditation circumcision is believed to have serious consequences. Tibetans are never circumcised. Being a culture of meditators, they are aware that damaging the penis in that way has consequences in what is usually called the "crown chakra" or the "thousand petal lotus". Nerve channels that conduct energy around the body were thought to have their function impeded in cases like circumcision.

I believe that my guru felt, although he did not say so, that the highest sorts of attainment in meditation might not be possible for someone who had been circumcised.

He might be said to have been in the camp of a group of British doctors who wrote to the journal Lancet saying that positive results observed by a pioneer of a remedial surgical technique, claimed to restore sensation and in some case the ability to have an orgasm, were not anatomically possible.

We know that circumcision does not, in normal situations, impede the feeling of sexual pleasure in circumcised males, but the damage done to the penis by the procedure is not great. There is, apparently, obviously to me, enough of the penis left undamaged that sexual pleasure, in abundance, is still available to us circumcised ones.

However, the question of advanced attainments in meditation, remained open.

My guru didn't make much of it and I simply soldiered on. The question never left me though. Many years later I began to realize the limitation of my nervous system in meditation.

I didn't really worry about it and as I matured as a meditator, I solved the problem. It is the solution to the problem which constitutes my gesture to Yasmin and to women in her situation.

I want to digress a little, here, to direct the attention to a well known phenomenon, accepted as authentic by the medical profession, and not really considered controversial at all, and that is phantom pain.

From Wikipedia:

en.wikipedia.org...

Phantom limb sensation is any sensory phenomenon (except pain) which is felt at an absent limb or a portion of the limb. It has been known that at least 80% of amputees experience phantom sensations at some time of their lives. Some experience some level of this phantom pain and feeling in the missing limb for the rest of their lives.

Phantom pain is a symptom of phantom limb sensation. Obviously the limb itself, which is missing, is not feeling anything, nor is it being stimulated by anything.

This is a nervous system phenomenon that is felt in the brain. I could go a little further with this but it would get into deeper, Buddhist, notions of just what exactly is going on in the brain, and what is feeling what. But we won't go there. It is not a fruitful path of discussion to anyone but advanced meditators qualified to discuss it, like the Dalai Lama, and advanced biologists.

The subject of phantom limb sensation is discussed in some detail in the Wikipedia article, for people who want amplification of the topic.

Treatments of the problem, particularly of phantom pain are all focused on the brain. Medical science acknowledges that the problem is really in the brain.

I think that victims of FGM, female genital mutilation, can be helped and even, perhaps, restored, at least to the sensation and pleasure of phantom orgasm.

If phantom pain is painful, there is a good chance that phantom orgasm will be pleasurable.

It may be possible, through visualization techniques, and G Spot stimulation to get the orgasm circuitry in the brain particularly and perhaps in parts of the body, including the genitalia, functioning again.

That's what happened with me. I started to visualize the missing part of my penis and before long I realized that the circuits in the "thousand petal lotus" were being completed, accompanied by the increase in blissful feeling.

There you have it. Good luck to Yasmin and all the Yasmins everywhere.

a reply to: ipsedixit

First, I did not view the links fully as yet....40+ years of T.M. practice myself...It took awhile to realize any alterations to the human body from the birth-state throughout life as in alterations (broken bones, amputations...even body piercings) alter forever that body's karma...

How different it is to concentrate as a whole on a body when it itself has been altered either on purpose, by accident or unintentionally. But as you say...it can be done...and is all the time.

How this relates to the abhorrent practice discussed here is that obstacles can be overcome in life if the trauma that caused it is overcome...but sadly...most/many if not the majority of these women cannot overcome them.

Well written and poignant thread. Thanks

MS

One of the sad things is that this kind of information will not reach most of those who might profit from it. One caveat of course: Never underestimate the sisterhood!

originally posted by: ipsedixit
One of the sad things is that this kind of information will not reach most of those who might profit from it. One caveat of course: Never underestimate the sisterhood!

seeing how ethiopia is largely christian the sisterhood more than likely carried the circumcision out.

largely ignored by the media but, if you're christian and uncircumcised, male or female you're going to hell, sleep well.

originally posted by: growler

seeing how ethiopia is largely christian the sisterhood more than likely carried the circumcision out.

Yasmin is in the diaspora now. I mean that sisterhood. Some of them might travel back to North Africa and whisper in the ears of victims there.

largely ignored by the media but, if you're christian and uncircumcised, male or female you're going to hell, sleep well.

I didn't know there was a religious dimension to this. I thought it was about "women as chattel", animal husbandry, that sort of thing. Well, being circumcised myself, I guess I'm safe as long as moral and ethical questions aren't brought up at the pearly gates.

originally posted by: growler

originally posted by: ipsedixit
One of the sad things is that this kind of information will not reach most of those who might profit from it. One caveat of course: Never underestimate the sisterhood!

seeing how ethiopia is largely christian the sisterhood more than likely carried the circumcision out.

largely ignored by the media but, if you're christian and uncircumcised, male or female you're going to hell, sleep well.

where did you get that rather weird idea from? i have never, ever heard anything in all my life about a Christian needing to be circumcised, or go to hell. in fact all the Christian men i know who were circumcised it had nothing at all to do with religion, but was done on medical advice from doctors. never even heard of any female who was brought up Christian being circumcised. not only is this idea of yours "ignored by media, but it is apparently equally ignored in Christian churches. in fact the only religions i have even heard about doing circumcisions for religious purposes are Jews for males, and Muslims for females.

originally posted by: ipsedixit
The only reason I am able to say anything intelligent on this subject, is that I have been practicing meditation as a Buddhist for forty years. It has been my privilege to be the student of a truly great meditation master.

My teacher, a Tibetan immigrant, was dismayed to hear that I had been circumcised as a baby, like many male children in our society.
(snip)
He might be said to have been in the camp of a group of British doctors who wrote to the journal Lancet saying that positive results observed by a pioneer of a remedial surgical technique, claimed to restore sensation and in some case the ability to have an orgasm, were not anatomically possible.

We know that circumcision does not, in normal situations, impede the feeling of sexual pleasure in circumcised males, but the damage done to the penis by the procedure is not great. There is, apparently, obviously to me, enough of the penis left undamaged that sexual pleasure, in abundance, is still available to us circumcised ones.

However, the question of advanced attainments in meditation, remained open.
(snip)

I think that victims of FGM, female genital mutilation, can be helped and even, perhaps, restored, at least to the sensation and pleasure of phantom orgasm.

Let's get into the anatomy a bit more:
* circumcision removes a hood of skin over the penis.
* there is a similar operation available to women where the hood of the clitoris is removed. This is not FGM.

The male equivalent of FGM is "wait until the baby boy is 3 years old, take him to a dark hut, and cut his penis off and remove the prostate. Leave the urethra intact (hopefully) and the testicles in place.

Now... imagine a man with this done to him as a child trying to achieve sexual pleasure. That's the situation for these women.

a reply to: Byrd

My understanding is that there are degrees of this invasive procedure. Are you saying that FGM victim's have Skene's gland removed as well as the tip of the clitoris, or whole end of the clitoris, plus removal of the labia minora? My understanding is that not all these "procedures" are done to the same degree and that the definition of FGM is not as specific as you imply, but as I said at the outset, I am not a medical authority at all.

originally posted by: ipsedixit
a reply to: Byrd

My understanding is that there are degrees of this invasive procedure. Are you saying that FGM victim's have Skene's gland removed as well as the tip of the clitoris, or whole end of the clitoris, plus removal of the labia minora? My understanding is that not all these "procedures" are done to the same degree and that the definition of FGM is not as specific as you imply, but as I said at the outset, I am not a medical authority at all.

The whole thing, as she's describing it. This isn't a surgery. It's a "traditional practice" by a local (unlicensed) practitioner. The "large knife" is not something you can use to remove just the tip of the clitoris in a child. Depending on where she was from in Ethiopia, she could have been subjected to the most extreme form (including removing the labia majora.)

The structures are fairly small on a child. If she'd said "went to a doctor and had the procedure done" then one would expect the damage to be less. This was simply butchery in a household setting. The description ("threw it away like it was a piece of trash") suggests it wasn't something as tiny as a child's clitoris.

Remember, clitoris=penis in terms of anatomy and neural endings. So "only the tip of the clitoris" is the same (roughly) as "only the head of the penis."

Some do experience sexual pleasure however, it's very difficult to study since families now don't want to admit to it and women are ashamed to admit it. Within their own groups (women who have undergone FGM) they talk about this and exchange information. There are some who went through FGM who are teachers about this issue.

It's very kind and empathic of you as a man to step forward with ideas, and I do salute you for it. It's a horrible problem and something that needs to be gone from the planet.

Yeah. It's a remnant of an ancient time. Even Yasmin herself indicates that the problem, at source, has to be handled in a sensitive way in the communities where it is done, since she believes that the practice, barbaric as it is, comes from a well intentioned motive, although clearly misguided.