Editing Female genital mutilation (section)

===Antiquity===
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|quote=But if a man wants to know how to live, he should recite it [a magical spell] every day, after his flesh has been rubbed with the ''b3d'' [unknown substance] of an uncircumcised girl ['''m't''] and the flakes of skin [''šnft''] of an uncircumcised bald man.
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|source=—From an [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Egyptian]] [[sarcophagus]], c.&nbsp;1991–1786&nbsp;BCE{{sfn|Knight|2001|loc=330}}}}

The practice's origins are unknown. Gerry Mackie has suggested that, because FGM's east–west, north–south distribution in Africa meets in Sudan, infibulation may have begun there with the [[Meroë|Meroite civilization]] (c.&nbsp;800 BCE&nbsp;– c.&nbsp;350 CE), before the rise of Islam, to increase confidence in paternity.{{sfn|Mackie|2000|loc=264, 267}} According to historian Mary Knight, Spell 1117 (c.&nbsp;1991–1786 BCE) of the [[Ancient Egypt]]ian [[Coffin Texts]] may refer in [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyphs]] to an uncircumcised girl ('''m't''):

{{center|<hiero>a-m-a:X1-D53-B1</hiero>}}

The spell was found on the [[sarcophagus]] of Sit-hedjhotep, now in the [[Egyptian Museum]], and dates to Egypt's [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]].{{sfn|Knight|2001|loc=330}}{{efn|Knight adds that Egyptologists are uncomfortable with the translation to ''uncircumcised'', because there is no information about what constituted the circumcised state.{{sfn|Knight|2001|loc=330}}}} (Paul F. O'Rourke argues that '''m't'' probably refers instead to a menstruating woman.){{sfn|O'Rourke|2007|loc=166ff (hieroglyphs), 172 (menstruating woman)}} The proposed circumcision of an Egyptian girl, Tathemis, is also mentioned on a Greek [[papyrus]], from 163&nbsp;BCE, in the [[British Museum]]: "Sometime after this, Nephoris [Tathemis's mother] defrauded me, being anxious that it was time for Tathemis to be circumcised, as is the custom among the Egyptians."{{efn|"Sometime after this, Nephoris [Tathemis's mother] defrauded me, being anxious that it was time for Tathemis to be circumcised, as is the custom among the Egyptians. She asked that I give her 1,300 drachmae&nbsp;... to clothe her&nbsp;... and to provide her with a marriage dowry&nbsp;... if she didn't do each of these or if she did not circumcise Tathemis in the month of Mecheir, year 18 [163 BCE], she would repay me 2,400 drachmae on the spot."<ref>{{harvnb|Knight|2001|loc=329–330}}; {{harvnb|Kenyon|1893|[https://books.google.com/books?id=TiAcAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA31 31–32]}}.</ref>}}

The examination of [[Mummy|mummies]] has shown no evidence of FGM. Citing the Australian pathologist [[Grafton Elliot Smith]], who examined hundreds of mummies in the early 20th century, Knight writes that the genital area may resemble Type III because during mummification the skin of the outer labia was pulled toward the anus to cover the [[pudendal cleft]], possibly to prevent a sexual violation. It was similarly not possible to determine whether Types I or II had been performed, because soft tissues had deteriorated or been removed by the embalmers.{{sfn|Knight|2001|loc=331}}

The Greek geographer [[Strabo]] (c. 64 BCE&nbsp;– c. 23 CE) wrote about FGM after visiting Egypt around 25 BCE: "This is one of the customs most zealously pursued by them [the Egyptians]: to raise every child that is born and to circumcise [''peritemnein''] the males and excise [''ektemnein''] the females&nbsp;..."<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'', c.&nbsp;25&nbsp;BCE, cited in {{harvnb|Knight|2001|loc=318}}</ref>{{efn|[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'', c.&nbsp;25&nbsp;BCE: "One of the customs most zealously observed among the Aegyptians is this, that they rear every child that is born, and circumcise [περιτέμνειν, ''peritemnein''] the males, and excise [''ektemnein''] the females, as is also customary among the Jews, who are also Aegyptians in origin, as I have already stated in my account of them."<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'', [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/17B*.html#ref273 Book VII, chapter 2], 17.2.5. {{harvnb|Cohen|2005|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PmL-LogqJ-YC&pg=PA59 59–61]}} argues that Strabo conflated the Jews with the Egyptians.</ref>{{pb}}
[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/16D*.html Book XVI, chapter 4], 16.4.9: "And then to the Harbour of Antiphilus, and, above this, to the Creophagi [meat-eaters], of whom the males have their sexual glands mutilated [''kolobos''] and the women are excised [''ektemnein''] in the Jewish fashion."}}{{efn|Knight 2001 writes that there is one extant reference from antiquity, from [[Xanthus (historian)|Xanthus of Lydia]] in the fifth century BCE, that may allude to FGM outside Egypt. Xanthus wrote, in a history of [[Lydia]]: "The Lydians arrived at such a state of delicacy that they were even the first to 'castrate' their women." Knight argues that the "castration", which is not described, may have kept women youthful, in the sense of allowing the Lydian king to have intercourse with them without pregnancy. Knight concludes that it may have been a reference to sterilization, not FGM.{{sfn|Knight|2001|loc=326}}}} [[Philo|Philo of Alexandria]] (c. 20 BCE&nbsp;– 50 CE) also made reference to it: "the Egyptians by the custom of their country circumcise the marriageable youth and maid in the fourteenth (year) of their age when the male begins to get seed, and the female to have a menstrual flow."{{sfn|Knight|2001|loc=333}} It is mentioned briefly in a work attributed to the Greek physician [[Galen]] (129&nbsp;– c.&nbsp;200 CE): "When [the clitoris] sticks out to a great extent in their young women, Egyptians consider it appropriate to cut it out."{{efn|Knight adds that the attribution to Galen is suspect.{{sfn|Knight|2001|loc=336}}}} Another Greek physician, [[Aëtius of Amida]] (mid-5th to mid-6th century CE), offered more detail in book 16 of his ''Sixteen Books on Medicine'', citing the physician Philomenes. The procedure was performed in case the clitoris, or ''nymphê'', grew too large or triggered sexual desire when rubbing against clothing. "On this account, it seemed proper to the Egyptians to remove it before it became greatly enlarged," Aëtius wrote, "especially at that time when the girls were about to be married":

{{blockquote|The surgery is performed in this way: Have the girl sit on a chair while a muscled young man standing behind her places his arms below the girl's thighs. Have him separate and steady her legs and whole body. Standing in front and taking hold of the clitoris with a broad-mouthed forceps in his left hand, the surgeon stretches it outward, while with the right hand, he cuts it off at the point next to the pincers of the forceps. It is proper to let a length remain from that cut off, about the size of the membrane that's between the nostrils, so as to take away the excess material only; as I have said, the part to be removed is at that point just above the pincers of the forceps. Because the clitoris is a skinlike structure and stretches out excessively, do not cut off too much, as a urinary fistula may result from cutting such large growths too deeply.{{sfn|Knight|2001|loc=327–328}}}}

The genital area was then cleaned with a sponge, [[frankincense]] powder and wine or cold water, and wrapped in linen bandages dipped in vinegar, until the seventh day when [[calamine]], rose petals, date pits, or a "genital powder made from baked clay" might be applied.{{sfn|Knight|2001|loc=328}}