Don't accept the terminology as given. It is not female circumcision it it is a clitectomy. The clitoris is amputated to deny sexual pleasure. A male circumcision simply removes some foreskin around the crown of the penis. Were the the male circumcision don comparable to a female "circumcision" you would have men with testicles and no penis. Now if women were circumcised in the same sense as a man. Some of the hood surrounding the clitoris would be removed. I don't think that beneficial either but not the mutilation. And considering it is usually performed by unskilled relatives with a kitchen knife or pice of glass, I would call it torture.

In western countries women do choose cosmetic "genital cutting" surgery, but it is not called circumcision. http://www.drrobertrey.com/pages/REY_Search.asp In North America types of female cosmetic surgery FGCS are getting very close to the same results of female circumcision. Labiaplasty and vagina rejuvination are offered by plastic surgeons. It would appear that DR 90210 has 10 pages of examples on just Labiaplasty, so I'm guessing that it's not uncommon in the US. And it's called FGCS plastic surgery, instead of female circ. Oddly enough women in western countries cite the desire for a neat and clean appearance and hygiene as reasons for choosing FGCS. http://www.truthdig.com/.../ …"Researcher Karen Roberts McNamara reports that accounts of this medical trend in mainstream media quote doctors and patients alike as describing the new beauty standard for the vulva as “neat” and “clean.” McNamara cites a Boston Globe article in which a 25-year-old student from California, a patient of Dr. David Matlock, describes her postsurgery genitalia as “cleaner” and “more hygienic.”" … "Toronto plastic surgeon Robert Stubbs…. Stubbs has done more than 205 labia minora shortenings on women aged 14 to 60. His style of trimming the hood of the clitoris as well as the lips of the vagina has been nicknamed the Toronto Trim."

Though brutal, mutilating, and sexually incapacitating (that is, it makes the woman incapable of enjoying sex, but instead makes it painful) these "circumcisions" - really clitorectomies - are often done with the full permission or the girl. In their culture this sexual mutilation increases the girl’s marriageability (improves her marriage prospects) and preserves her "honor" - people won't suspect her of being unfaithful or promiscuous. Consequently, many efforts to abolish this barbaric practice has met with resistance from many of the very girls they’re trying to protect.