#FGM: Is 'pulling' worth the effort or trouble?

By Vision Reporter

Pulling is a tradition in central and southern parts of Uganda and Rwanda, which has become widely known as a Kiganda cultural coming of age for teenage girls.

Although criticised by the west, the practice, which is basically the elongation of the labia minora on the female private parts by girls and women.

Since culture is diverse, those who do not practise pulling are afraid of the unknown, and call it barbaric.

They are not totally at fault because those who practise it sometimes, due to enthusiasm or overzealousness, force their hand on them literally.

However, some parents (perhaps belonging to cultures that do not pull) are peeved that their children are pulled in school; sometimes, under the guidance of a matron or senior lady.

Mixed reactions

Brian, a trader in downtown Kampala said that pulling is a good cultural practice that makes men enjoy the moment in bed and also enhances women's sensuality during sex. "
 

It is very good for men because they get to enjoy touching and feeling their wives," he said, "The longer the things are, the better."

On the other hand, Hadija, a student at Makerere University, said pulling is not good because it messes up the original shape of women's private parts. "It's sometimes uncomfortable especially when one wears tight jeans," she said. Yahya, a communications consultant, concurred with Hadija, wondering why women bother with pulling.

"Why should women pull? They think they can compete with God, the creator? God made a woman the way she is," said Yahya.

Dr. Sylvia Tamale, a law don and women activist says there is nothing wrong with pulling and rebukes the west for attacking the tradition.

In her 2005 paper, Eroticism, Sensuality and "Women's Secrets" among the Baganda: A Critical Analysis, Tamale says:

"Classifying it (Okukyalira ensiko) and condemning it as type-IV female genital mutilation, the WHO lumps this procedure together with FGM procedures that pose health hazards to women. It completely disregards the ways in which this practice, encoded within the Ssenga institution, has enhanced sexual pleasure for women, and expanded their perceptions of themselves as active sexual beings."

She argues that unlike female genital mutilation that chops part of the women genitalia, pulling elongates the labia minora, which is an enhancement.

"Far from suffering feelings of "incompleteness, anxiety and depression" that the WHO associates with this practice, most of those interviewed in this study spoke positively of this cultural practice. This "lived experience" of Baganda women contradicts the negative blanket characterisation of the cultural practice of labia elongation offered by the WHO," says Tamale.

After receiving a backlash from Africans on its perception of pulling, the World Health Organisation retracted its position, which previously considered pulling as class IV FGM (female genital mutilation).

Ssenga speaks

Ssenga Musanyusa of JJ Musanyusa Foundation says that people who criticise pulling do not know the benefits therein.

She credits pulling for keeping the woman's nether regions warm, which she says men enjoy during the bedroom exercise.

The ssenga says pulling ensures that a woman will enjoy the exercise with her husband because the labia minora lay more ground for foreplay.

Musanyusa further says that due to pulling, a woman who has delivered a baby can easily get her womanhood back to its previous size.

"Pulling helps the womanhood go back, so a woman should pull again - not a lot - after birth of a child," says Musanyusa.

Taking pity on those who castigate others for pulling, Musanyusa says, "They do not how good it is."

Traditionally in Buganda, girls use nfulibiri and bitengo, says Musanyusa. However, bitengo, which used to be commonly found in grazing lands, hurts girls a bit because it makes the labia minora swell first.

"Nowadays, girls use many other leaves such as amalagala (sweet potato leaves)," says Musanyusa.

No medical evidence

According to Dr. Chirag Kotecha of Victoria University Healthcare Centre, there is no evidence to suggest that pulling is harmful to women's health.

"It is not a widely researched area, with some stating that the elongation is physically harmless and may be beneficial to women's and men's enjoyment of sex," says Kotecha.

Nevertheless, Kotecha says the problem arises from the mystery and excitement around heightened sexual arousal.

"Therefore people are curious as to how the sex would feel and thus experiment with men, putting themselves at a risk of getting sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV, and unintended pregnancies," says Kotecha.

Although culturally purported to keep the vagina warm, Kotecha says "again, there isn't any scientific evidence to prove it".

Related to the story

‘Okukyalira ensiko' similar to FGM, say lobbyists