Oh, my mistake, I was reading on my phone and I just missed that you were the same commenter—I thought you were someone new jumping in.

Yeah, I think it is an abhorrent practice, but I never heard that it had anything to do with shame. I thought the root idea was to reduce a woman's desire for sex, thereby making her less likely to have sex outside marriage, which I guess is supposed to make her a more valuable wife. I can't imagine that FGM makes a…

I appreciate this response. When I was abroad in Cameroon, I had an amazing African, female, Philosophy and Culture professor. She gave one of the most engaging and eye-opening lectures I have ever been present for about the ways that applying Western Feminism to colonized countries and peoples in Africa simply sweep…

A grown woman getting a labiaplasty is a bit different from what is done to children.

Nope! There is nothing defensible about that practice. You don't have to be from this culture, or really from any culture, to comprehend that it's wrong. No shades of gray. Motherfucking wrong. End of story.

No, I hear you. My problem is with the way the author wrote about it, I basically share the view that it's a pretty horrific practice. See my response to Hello_My_Lover. (I also think cultural relativism is bullshit, and the work that women who come from cultures where FGM is performed are doing incredible, laudable…

It's not that I dislike it, but that I very, very, very, rarely come that way. And many guys seem to have gotten the idea that oral's the best way for all women to get off. So it becomes this whole thing, and that can get boring.

I fail to see the nuance in slicing up children's genitals.

female genital mutilation is ritualistic torture. i'm not sure it needs a more nuanced and thoughtful characterization. we (by 'we' i mean 'humans everywhere') need to stop this practice immediately. i dont believe this is an issue of ethnocentrism.

If we're a minority, we're a damn SEXY minority. What is more sensual and hedonistically louche than appreciating your own sex-box redolence?

I don't think I was ever bothered by my smell... except when I had infections, (obvi)

I think you're right that what we learned at home was a pretty big part of it — I also never had an unkind/immature boyfriend say anything negative to me at a young age, I'm sure that happens and is formative.

I dig this. I do enjoy/am intrigued by my scent when I'm at home and relaxed, but I hate smelling myself when I'm out and about, around others. I just want to keep it between me and my partner.

Yeah, my main source of self-consciousness was when I discovered that whenever I removed a significant amount of my pubic hair, my vagina would get infected and smell weird (like different than it's usual smell, which I like) every time, which put a damper on things when I had partners who wanted my vulva bare.…

YES! This is my secret shame! My ex husband used to catch me sniffing my fingers and when we divorced he told everyone we knew. Still embarrassed about that. But seriously, what is up with this compulsion? Are we in the minority? Is it a habit or a chemical compulsion?

I disagree - one of the major reasons for FGM is to "cleanse" women. The author conveyed that very well. But of course this isn't an article about FGM, so there isn't a need to go into deeper details about the practice (which obviously varies from place to place, but what she described DOES occur nonetheless). And…

Evidently it really does affect the ability to relax and enjoy things. Though I can't truly understand, I definitely sympathize!

I also think pussy smells good. I don't really get this.

"Summer's Eve can go douche itself."

Oh my God, I love the way I smell. I first realized it while working in a medical supplies factory "clean room" wearing one of these badboys: