Clitoridectomy
This might be the first movie to bring up the subject of that abhorrent practice.
shareI couldn't get back to sleep earlier this morning, so I caught this movie from the beginning on TCM. I could not believe how at ease the character was talking about her upcoming "surgery" as if she were talking about getting her hair done!
shareYes, that was very striking. But it might not be unusual in a culture where a girl would be taught from an early age that she had to subordinate everything about herself to the demands of her future role as a virgin bride and then as a mother-- even if the 'surgery' caused horrible physical mutilation and infection.
And to the rulers of her village who would say, "Her personal pleasures are of no importance compared with the overall needs of our society," I would reply, "That so? Well, I'm a guy, and if there were an equivalent 'operation' that could be inflicted on men, I know you guys wouldn't allow it to be done to YOU. Don't even try to pretend that you would!"
I wonder if this movie ended up creating any public controversy about the issue in the U.S. or Europe back in '73? Too bad this one got only a fraction of the audience and publicity that the first movie got...