Table 1 (abstract 4) Examples of quotes. All names used in this table are pseudonyms
Speaker | Interview verbatim transcripts |
|---|---|
Female speaker “Awa” 1, 23-years-old, market vendor, married, 2 children | “All women, at a certain moment, are up to make love. If this need comes, it does not manifest equally for every woman. It is said that if a woman is circumcised and feels this mood for sex, she can sustain it. But those who are not circumcised, if they feel this need, their vagina tempts them. She cannot stay calm if she does not make love.” |
Male speaker “Haroun” 39-years-old, unemployed photographer, married, 4 children | “It was said, ‘A woman who is not circumcised, she always wants to make love. The moment she is in bed with her husband, it is tough. The man has to make an effort. […] Effectively, later others said, ‘Cut away there and you have to stimulate her tirelessly, and it does not mean anything for her. In bed, they are losers.’ Others even say that it even hurts them. That is, it cannot heal just like that.” |
Male speaker “Moises”, 27-years-old, unemployed, unmarried, 1 child | “If they were cut, it could help them to better control themselves. I don’t like [the uncut girls’] behavior. If we could instruct [the ones performing excision] and give them rules for circumcising the girls, I would view this as a good thing. Because like this, they could catch a disease… […] It is not sure whether thse girls can stay faithful to their husbands” |
Female speaker “Fatoumata”, 18-years-old, high-school student graduation class, unmarried, no children | “What they have to establish, in my view, is to circumcise the young in the hospital, and to avoid traditional female circumcision. It is not good. It is risky. Especially the rusty knives and all that… it elicits illnesses in the genital apparatus of the woman. The boys, there are no consequences. But the girls have consequences due to the cutting. They have to establish one law for all the young, boys and girls alike, so that they all are circumcised in the hospital..” |
Male speaker “Boureima”, 44-years-old, tailor, married, 3 children | “[…]in the past, it was possible to lose blood [during excision]. Going to the hospital, you would find blood to give fast. But nowadays, when you lose blood, to have good blood to replace it in the body, this would not be easy. I have seen it myself, but not in connection to excision. There is a woman, who […] got blood, but found that the person had hepatitis. She died[…]Nowadays one should not take that risk. When you do the cutting, if the girl loses a lot of blood, in the hospital, this will not be easy.” […] “In former days, there wasn’t AIDS and then the diseases like that. There weren’t any. And then, the people, everything is fragile nowadays. The food is bad. […] In the past, those who practiced the cutting, they […], they did it in a way that was limited. Now, because of the money, those who don’t know, they entered into this trade. That brings problems.” |
“I prefer those who are not excised. If by chance, I find a woman who is cut, I do not mind either. This is faith. But the preference, I prefer the girls who are not cut, because they are as God created them.” | |
Male speaker “Le Lion”, 22-years-old, market vendor, unmarried, 1 child | I consider excision as a crime. It is the mangling of bodies, which God has created. It is an enormous pain, which influences the life of the small girls. [..] They are mangled, they are cut, and this hurts me. I do not like it. I fight against it. |