Jacqueline Maire: A foreign nurse trying to make sense of Genital Mutilation

Jacqueline Maire, a retired nurse from France and British Columbia, levels an emotionally charged and indeed angry appraisal at her fellow female colleagues.

Some have commented that her remarks are overly abrasive if not misdirected—and perhaps they are—but they also give voice to the way that those who live outside of cutting cultures view circumcision: Genital mutilation that is at best bizarre and at worst cruel.

Transcript
(slightly modified)

I'm a retired nurse in France as well as in British Columbia, a mother, a grandmother, and today I really want to speak specifically to female circumcisors, those who cut the [penises] of little boys.

I have questions.

• What is your excuse? Were you at one point molested by a male in your youth, [which] makes you now take revenge on any penis whatsoever and whatever the age of the victim—in this case, a defenseless little boy?

• Did you ever [have] an orgasm? I'm not talking [about] while you're making love; I'm just talking about sex. Never had an orgasm with an intact male and discovered the wonders and perfection of the act? Well, I feel sorry for you, but this is not an excuse to take revenge on defenseless children—baby boys, mostly—and I don't understand how you can do that without being ashamed of yourself.

Religious excuses or medical excuses are plain and simple fallacies! I feel sorry for you, but I also feel ashamed in the name of womanhood. [sigh]. You don't respect your Hippocratic oath—if you even know what it's all about [in the first place]; I'll remind you:

First, do no harm.

I think you're just plain bitches, and I'm not insulting the female dog there. You are very mean, and I'm disgusted.