Free Lace II by Shirley Conran Page B
Authors: Shirley Conran
be important. In silence, he prepared his cameras, while the nurse rigged a drip into the girl’s thin arm; as she increased the volume of the liquid flowing into her vein, the girl slipped into unconsciousness. The smell of septicemia pervaded the small room.
As the bandages were removed, Mark saw a mass of pus and blood oozing between the little legs; her delicate young genitals were caked in a brown paste of what looked like chewed grass. As the nurse gently sponged water over the stinking mass, another nurse held the small dusty feet together, then eased the girl’s thighs apart, allowing the coltish knees slowly to fall outwards.
The lips of the girl’s vulva were speared by a row of long acacia thorns lashed across with black twine. As the caked paste and scabs of blood were washed away from the cat’s cradle of thorns and string, Mark saw cloudy green pus trickling from a tiny opening at the bottom of the closed slit. Quickly, he photographed, as the nurse snipped the threads, picked each piece off with tweezers, then carefully, so as not to break them, pulled the thorns out, one by one. The last thing Mark saw was the child’s mutilated genitals gaping bloody and rotten as the last thorn came out. Then he fainted.
Mark opened his eyes in an emergency room, reached for a kidney bowl and vomited the remains of the previous night’smilk and dates into it. The woman doctor heard his retching and came over to him. Mark said, “What had they done to that girl? That’s the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen.”
“They made her into good marriage material.” The doctor was unable to keep the fury out of her voice. “A virgin bride and a docile wife. They do that in most of Africa and also some of the most primitive communities in the Arab states. They circumcised her; they deliberately mutilated her genitals. First, they cut out her clitoris and all of her labia minora; a wife that cannot fully enjoy sex is less likely to stray.”
“But who did it?”
“Probably the village midwife used the razor, while the girl’s mother and her sisters held her down. Of course they have no anesthetics. Then, earth or ashes would have been rubbed on the wound to stop the bleeding. Then they sewed her up, as you saw, with thorns and twine. They leave a miniscule opening for urine and menstrual blood. Then they bind her legs together to immobilize them.”
“Why is her stomach so swollen?”
“It is swollen with blackish, foul-smelling blood.”
“But what happens after she’s married?”
“What do you think? Her husband cuts her open with a dagger, then runs around the village, waving the bloodstained blade so they can all see that the bride has just been deflowered. It goes without saying that mutilated women feel severe pain during intercourse, and sometimes the husband doesn’t cut enough, so when the girl has her first child, she splits open like a melon.”
“Are they all … operated on at such a young age?”
“The earlier a child is mutilated, the greater is the damage, since infantile and adolescent masturbation teaches the orgasm.”
Mark heaved a further mouthful of bile into the bowl. “What do you want me to do with the pictures?”
“Photographs may alert the Western World to what is happening here.” The doctor pulled off her heavy-framed spectacles, and rubbed her tired eyes. “I was one of the doctors who gave evidence to the United Nations Commission that investigated female circumcision in the Gulf States, but their report was ignored. However, as you know, apicture is worth a thousand words. I see cases like that girl every month, some are even worse.” She sighed. “But the government of Sydon, which pretends that this practice no longer exists, would be unable to ignore a photograph in an American magazine. Western pressure would force the Sydonite government to take action.”
“Do you mean King Abdullah?” asked Mark.
“No, not the King. The Department of Health
As the bandages were removed, Mark saw a mass of pus and blood oozing between the little legs; her delicate young genitals were caked in a brown paste of what looked like chewed grass. As the nurse gently sponged water over the stinking mass, another nurse held the small dusty feet together, then eased the girl’s thighs apart, allowing the coltish knees slowly to fall outwards.
The lips of the girl’s vulva were speared by a row of long acacia thorns lashed across with black twine. As the caked paste and scabs of blood were washed away from the cat’s cradle of thorns and string, Mark saw cloudy green pus trickling from a tiny opening at the bottom of the closed slit. Quickly, he photographed, as the nurse snipped the threads, picked each piece off with tweezers, then carefully, so as not to break them, pulled the thorns out, one by one. The last thing Mark saw was the child’s mutilated genitals gaping bloody and rotten as the last thorn came out. Then he fainted.
Mark opened his eyes in an emergency room, reached for a kidney bowl and vomited the remains of the previous night’smilk and dates into it. The woman doctor heard his retching and came over to him. Mark said, “What had they done to that girl? That’s the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen.”
“They made her into good marriage material.” The doctor was unable to keep the fury out of her voice. “A virgin bride and a docile wife. They do that in most of Africa and also some of the most primitive communities in the Arab states. They circumcised her; they deliberately mutilated her genitals. First, they cut out her clitoris and all of her labia minora; a wife that cannot fully enjoy sex is less likely to stray.”
“But who did it?”
“Probably the village midwife used the razor, while the girl’s mother and her sisters held her down. Of course they have no anesthetics. Then, earth or ashes would have been rubbed on the wound to stop the bleeding. Then they sewed her up, as you saw, with thorns and twine. They leave a miniscule opening for urine and menstrual blood. Then they bind her legs together to immobilize them.”
“Why is her stomach so swollen?”
“It is swollen with blackish, foul-smelling blood.”
“But what happens after she’s married?”
“What do you think? Her husband cuts her open with a dagger, then runs around the village, waving the bloodstained blade so they can all see that the bride has just been deflowered. It goes without saying that mutilated women feel severe pain during intercourse, and sometimes the husband doesn’t cut enough, so when the girl has her first child, she splits open like a melon.”
“Are they all … operated on at such a young age?”
“The earlier a child is mutilated, the greater is the damage, since infantile and adolescent masturbation teaches the orgasm.”
Mark heaved a further mouthful of bile into the bowl. “What do you want me to do with the pictures?”
“Photographs may alert the Western World to what is happening here.” The doctor pulled off her heavy-framed spectacles, and rubbed her tired eyes. “I was one of the doctors who gave evidence to the United Nations Commission that investigated female circumcision in the Gulf States, but their report was ignored. However, as you know, apicture is worth a thousand words. I see cases like that girl every month, some are even worse.” She sighed. “But the government of Sydon, which pretends that this practice no longer exists, would be unable to ignore a photograph in an American magazine. Western pressure would force the Sydonite government to take action.”
“Do you mean King Abdullah?” asked Mark.
“No, not the King. The Department of Health