I'm reading on female circumcision today. It seems that the main reason it's practiced is to "purify" the woman and prevent her from being promiscuous. I think the creator(s) of this terrible thing were afraid. They saw a woman- beautiful, proud, confident. She was aware that she's a sexual being and liked, no loved, it. She wasn't sorry for her existence and this made those men uncomfortable. She intimidated them, made them pine for her. She never made excuses for who she was. This angered them.
And so they decided that they needed to bring this wonderful woman down to their level of inferiority and powerlessness. They decided that they needed to take something from her, to show her that she is nothing, to make her need them. And so they cut off her clitoris. When this did not silence her, they cut of her lips. But her head remained held high. And when they saw this, they sewed her vagina and left only a little hole (perhaps remembering that she was a tool for their pleasure).

They did all this out of fear. They couldn't handle a phenomenal woman.

Phenomenal Woman

BY MAYA ANGELOU

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. 

I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size   

But when I start to tell them, 

They think I’m telling lies. 

I say, 

It’s in the reach of my arms, 

The span of my hips,   

The stride of my step,   

The curl of my lips.   

I’m a woman 

Phenomenally. 

Phenomenal woman,   

That’s me. 

I walk into a room 

Just as cool as you please,   

And to a man, 

The fellows stand or 

Fall down on their knees.   

Then they swarm around me, 

A hive of honey bees.   

I say, 

It’s the fire in my eyes,   

And the flash of my teeth,   

The swing in my waist,   

And the joy in my feet.   

I’m a woman 

Phenomenally. 

Phenomenal woman, 

That’s me. 

Men themselves have wondered   

What they see in me. 

They try so much 

But they can’t touch 

My inner mystery. 

When I try to show them,   

They say they still can’t see.   

I say, 

It’s in the arch of my back,   

The sun of my smile, 

The ride of my breasts, 

The grace of my style. 

I’m a woman 

Phenomenally. 

Phenomenal woman, 

That’s me. 

Now you understand 

Just why my head’s not bowed.   

I don’t shout or jump about 

Or have to talk real loud.   

When you see me passing, 

It ought to make you proud. 

I say, 

It’s in the click of my heels,   

The bend of my hair,   

the palm of my hand,   

The need for my care.   

’Cause I’m a woman 

Phenomenally. 

Phenomenal woman, 

That’s me.

Maya Angelou, “Phenomenal Woman” from And Still I Rise. Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, Inc.