5 Feet of Fury

Why would Western women defend female genital mutilation?

Defend? Hell, pretty soon it’ll be the latest craze.

Again her snort of disbelief. “Mom? Of course not. She gets all worked up whenever I talk about it. She threatened to kill our midwife. Can you believe that? I asked her if she ever bombed abortion clinics when she was younger. She said it wasn’t the same thing at all. Sure it is, I told her. It’s all about choice, isn’t it? Women making their own sexual choices.” Her beeper chimes and she leaps from the stool. “Wow, I’ve got to get going. Teddy’s going to drive me out there. He won’t stay, of course. This is only for women.”

I make my last stand. “How does Teddy feel about this?”

She shakes her head at me. “You just don’t get it, Granma. It’s not about Teddy. It’s my choice. But he’s excited. After this, if I have sex with him, he’ll know it’s not because I’m horny at the moment, but because I want to give that to him. And I think he’s excited because it will be different. Tighter because of how she sews us up. You know men.”

She doesn’t wait for an answer from me, which is good, because right now I am sure that I don’t even know women, let alone men.