Body Alterations
A key element of Sande initiation is the clitoridectomy, or female circumcision. This surgery is supposed to foreshadow the pain a Mende woman experiences during childbirth. The shock of this experience also tests a Mende woman's physical endurance. The shared pain of the clitoridectomy creates permanent bonds among the initiates. Vows that express a social bond are taken after the operation; these vows are a metaphor for the support the women will have during the pains of childbirth.
This procedure is considered necessary to change Mende children, who are considered to be of neutral sex before the procedure, to heterosexual, gendered adults. Circumcision is thought to remove the female's residue of maleness.
Read more about this topic: Mende People
Famous quotes containing the words body and/or alterations:
“Each body is in its bunker. The surgeon applies his gum.
Each body is fitted quickly into its ice-cream pack
and then stitched up again for the long voyage
back.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“I put the gold star up in the front window
beside the flag. Alterations is what I know
and what I did: hems, gussets and seams.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)