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Morocco 1985 My mother had just entered labor as my father was trying to find their way back to the hotel; for my parents had been vacationing in Morocco from Marseilles, France. As they turn down yet another wrong street Natalie screams Miguel!!! The baby the baby its co..oooooaaaah!!...ming. Finally he gives up and rolled down the car window and in his best Arabic asks a fruit monger where the nearest hospital is. The dark skinned heavily clothed man yells at an old woman across the path in another tongue then says This way good sir there is a midwife across the street. My father impatiently shot back my wife needs a DOCTER where is the nearest hospital!! At this part is where my mother made the biggest mistake of her and my soon to be life. Miguel this is no time to be bartering Im about to have a baby and Ill take anyone who knows what to do. He gets out of the Peugeot and walks around to the other side to help her out of the car. The monger hobbles around to the other side and escorts them into a small one roomed building or possibly home. At the door he asks my dad to wait outside for it is forbidden for men to attend the birth. He began to say something when mother warned him not to aggravate them or they may not be gentile. The man opened the door for the old corn and my mother then shuts it and stands guard in front of the arch. Inside is the acrid scent of curry and marjoram from a pot off couscous on a small wood burning stove; the woman sets it aside and tells a small child to boil some water and get some towels put two small ones in the pot and the rest bring to her she also asks for the fathers razor and a bowl and a special powder. While the young boy runs off the old hag conveys to my Natalie to lie on the ground and pull off her panties and pull up her dress. After doing so the lady unexpectedly sticks two fingers in my mothers rectum and then jams her hand up the vagina then felling the cervix mumbles something. Two hours go by and my head is seconds from crowning. The old woman suddenly utters If it is a boy we must not let him touch your clit or he will fall impotent. Before my mom could even translate and comprehend what she said the woman picks up the razor pulls on my mothers clit and instantly its gone, she then packed some powder into the wound stopping the bleeding instantly. However due to the pain of labor during her first child she would not notice until they return to France that her clit is gone. Moments after my mothers circumcision my head finally emerges the crone pulls on my shoulders brining the rest of my out. Instantly I begin crying not only because that is what most babies do when born but also before my cord is even cut the hag yet again pulls out her razor and slowly and meticulously severs my clit hood labia minor and major she then tells my mother I left her clit for it is custom to sever it before her fist birth. However my mom does not comprehend for she is tired after labor and just asks to see me. The woman packs my wound with the same powder she used on my mother, cuts the cord and then wraps me in a towel before handing me to her as I still scream like a banshee according to my mother. Outside the abode my father upon hearing the crying insists on going in yet a much larger and more foreboding man than the monger is in the way likely while my father was not paying attention he was replaced. The tall man resembling what a fairy tale would describe as a jinni bellows. She will come to you. Insisting further all the tall man had to do was slightly unsheathe his sword stopping all argument. Moments later my mother holding my waddles out of the place and heads strait for the car my father helps her in yet before getting in him self he turns around and offered to pay the woman as is the custom the crone refused three times than took it. As my dad got into the drivers seat he asks how my mother is and what my sex is so they can give me my name my mom conveys that she is sore in the crotch but thinks it is normal then looking at me says I dont know and I dont want to wake it. Instantly my mother rolls down her window and shouts to the demon. You never told me her gender and I dont want to wake the child. The witch fires back I told you earlier that she is a girl and it is good that she sleeps for she needs her rest. My mother turns to my Father and whispers. Are we staying with the girls name we picked? he nods she says Bon Anniversaire ma petite Nicole. United States of America, Virginia 2004 As I run to make it to cultural anthropology at the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community Collage a fellow classmate Michele jogs to catch up with me. As he runs along side myself I just know he is about to ask me to the movies or what not again. As I prepare to reject him yet again a thought comes to me; I can have a relationship and not get intimate, he seems so in love with me Im sure he will respect my wishes before he can utter a word I tell him that I know what hes about to say he acknowledges me and explained it was worth a shot that is when I sprang the id love to go with you line that almost dropped him to the ground. All this running was making my clitoris sore for I had forgotten the gauze with Vaseline that my mother since as far back as I remember told my to wear as not to ruin the sensitivity of my clit; Ive always said to my self that it is sensitive enough, for just walking without the gauze is enough to almost drench my panties from pleasure. After our class the first boyfriend I ever had took me out on the most wonderful diner I had ever had and the movie Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind was what makes my favorite actor Jim Carrey great. Thats when I decided to be open and I said. Michele, remember that lecture on the customs of sub-Saharan and Arabic rights of passage? He responds enthusiastically I never new there was such a thing as circumcision let alone female circumcision, and those lip things man those crazy Africans and Bin Ladens. I looked at him and said You didnt know about male circumcision? He seems ashamed and mumbles Yes I did but living in America where all the guys are cut it helped in the locker room if I just played innocent especially in my middle school in Michigan where the locker rooms were coed because it was and old girls school turned public, all the girls did was laugh and say eww gross some would say it looks like my horses penis what were you born in a barn. I just stood there and looked at him unable to say anything when I finally did it was hard to say because it was the first time I had told anyone except my gynecologist my little brothers didnt even know what I said next so I calmly said. Im sorry Michele I know its hard enough to be French in this country right now but to have that to, if it helps Im about to tell you something I have never told anyone. Her I go I told my self pulling him aside into the corner in Regal cinema Manassas I explained. Honey I know I told you Im from France its true but when I was born while my parents were on vacation in Morocco by a midwife because they could not find the hospital, when I was born before my cord was even cut the witch cut off my labia major and minor along with my clit hood so Im a circumcised female. I know my birth certificate says France but that is because my parents snuck me back into the country before they registered via my aunts in Corsica. My new boyfriend looks at me and says At least you were too young to remember the pain it must have caused and this only makes you more unique and desirable. He then said something that shocked me because after news like that I thought id never see him again. Nicole would you like to see a uncircumcised penis because Im dieing to see a circumcised girl? I just stood for over minute almost missing the beginning of our movie then replied Well I have seen my brother cause their twins to tell them apart my parents had one circumcised and the other not, yet they are only three years old Id love to see and adult one. However being catholic no sex till engagement I know its supposed to be marriage but Im not marrying not knowing how the other is in bed so Ill meet my religion halfway. After he said same here we headed to the nearest closet and because he used to work there he knew how to get in and we showed each other our you show me yours Ill show you mine after several moments of staring in amazement we still had time to catch the previews of our movie Lady Killers this Saturday.
Editor's Note - This validity of this statement is purely up to the reader.
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