The AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, to be held at the Hard Rock Hotel Jan. 17-19, will sponsor Clitoraid, a non-profit, Las Vegas-based organization dedicated to surgically repairing the clitoris of victims of female genital mutilation (FGM).

For the 6th year in a row, the organizers of the AVN are generously donating booth space for Clitoraid to promote its humanitarian endeavor: building the first Clitoral Restoration Hospital or 'Pleasure Hospital' in the world. The hospital, in Burkina Faso, West Africa, is slated to open in October.

“FGM victims who want to have their clitoris repaired and thereby have their sexual pleasure restored will be able to do so there at no cost!” said Nadine Gary, spokesperson for Clitoraid.

She explained that, according to a barbaric tradition, millions of female children in some parts of the world – especially Africa – are forced to undergo an excruciatingly painful procedure in which the clitoris is excised.

“The act is typically carried out without anesthesia and is often performed by female relatives, themselves earlier victims of the practice,” Gary said. “Each year, millions of girls endure this brutal practice so they won’t enjoy sex and will be more likely to remain the ‘property’ of men. Up to 98 percent of all women in some African countries have been genitally mutilated.”

Gary explained that Clitoraid was founded in 2006 by Rael, Spiritual Leader of the Raelian Movement (rael.org) to address a need that no other charitable organization wanted to take on: the actual restoration of sexual pleasure for FGM victims.

“Of course, the United Nations, the World Health Organization and others educate people about the dangers of FGM, but they don’t address the desperation of the millions of already maimed victims who want to feel sexual pleasure,” Gary said. “Dr. Pierre Foldes developed the appropriate restorative surgery in the 1980's, so why don’t these organizations make this known as well?”

Answering the question, Gary said shame over female sexual pleasure stems from the dogma of several prominent world religions.

“This attitude still plagues our planet in both extreme and subtle ways,” she said. “Even humanitarian organizations are tainted with it. By contrast, Clitoraid embraces Raelian values that defend and celebrate guilt-free sexual pleasure for all women.”

It is for that reason, Gary said, that Clitoraid is receiving support from a wide range of women. They include adult video actresses Deajiha Milan and Serena Marcus, who will make appearances at the Clitoraid booth, and students of Larry Ashley, a UNLV professor and sex trauma counselor. Ashley’s students are volunteering time at the booth and have also been offering free counseling to Clitoraid's patients for the last 3 years. In addition, Ashley has been supporting the work of Clitoraid's head surgeon, Dr. Marci Bowers, who practices in San Francisco and has already operated on close to 60 FGM patients in the United States.

“Restoring a sense of dignity and pleasure is what Dr. Bowers and the other volunteer medical personnel and therapists want to offer the 400 patients now on our waiting list in West Africa,” Gary said. “Our current fund-raising drive goal is to raise the last $100,000 we need to buy the needed medical equipment and finish the pleasure hospital on time for its October inauguration date.”

“Bodily harm is against the fundamental rights of all children, and we can’t understand when a so-called civilized country such as Germany would allow its male babies to be so readily mutilated legally!" said Nadine Gary, spokesperson for Clitoraid. She was referring to male circumcision, typically performed on male infants who have no say in the matter.

Clitoraid (clitoraid.org) is the international, non-profit organization founded by Rael, spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement (rael.org), to end Female Genital Mutilation by offering free clitoral repair surgery to victims of this barbaric act. Now the organization is urging a worldwide end to genital mutilation of male children as well.

“On Nov. 28, the United Nations passed a resolution that condemns all cultural and religious arguments in favor of FGM because the act constitutes a gross violates of children rights,” Gary said. “But how can the U.N. ban Female Genital Mutilation and not denounce Male Genital Mutilation as well? Is it exempting certain religions from respecting the fundamental right of baby boys?”

Gary said that according to the World Health Organization, 30 percent of males worldwide are circumcised.

“This means billions of people have been mutilated without their consent,” Gary said.

Brigitte Boisselier, Ph.D., head of Clitoraid, affirmed that mutilation of any baby or child in the name of a god is unacceptable.

“It’s been done for centuries under the pretense that a god requested it, but no religion should be allowed to harm infants or children who can’t give informed consent,” she said. “We’re setting up a hospital in Africa that’s due to open next year, where female victims can go to have genital repair surgery for free. “And, thanks to Clitoraid, thousands more can find relief at several clinics in North America. But we’ve also been getting e-mail from hundreds of circumcised men who want to have their own mutilation undone. They need help too! So, as Rael has repeatedly stated, it’s urgent to have all the old scriptures reviewed by an independent committee on human rights so that all religious group practices are in agreement with the Declaration of Human Rights.”

By Marinella, Clitoraid coordinator in Italy

"It was the weekend of the 24th-25th of November, in occasion of the worldwide awareness day of violence against women, where Pino, Vittorio, Clitoraid volunteers here in iTaly, and I set up a fundraising stand in Voghera (Milano) in a shopping center.

We arranged a nice table with t-shirts, clitboxes, flowers, flyers, panels and a Clitoraid banner.

The fundraising was very good because we collected 735 euros!

A special thanks to Pino and Vittorio for their commitment to the goal of building the Clit-Hospital."

On Nov. 29, at the San Mateo Surgery Center in California, Dr. Marci Bowers, M.D., head surgeon for Clitoraid, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping victims of the brutal tradition of female genital mutilation (FGM), restored the clitoris of four victims, one of whom came all the way from West Africa to have the surgery.

Nadine Gary, Clitoraid’s head of operations, said the other three women who had the procedure performed by Bowers are African immigrants who live in the United States.

“Each of these four women was desperately seeking to recover her womanhood, and was able to do so thanks to the clitoral repair surgery offered by Clitoraid through the generous services of Dr. Bowers and other volunteer surgeons,” Gary said.

She explained that the barbaric act of FGM, also know euphemistically as “female circumcision,” destroys much or all of the exposed clitoris and surrounding tissue but leaves some of the root structure intact, thus making surgical restoration possible for those fortunate enough to undergo the procedure.

“Since 2008, Clitoraid has operated on close to 50 FGM patients,” Gary said. “Our volunteer surgeons use the technique of Dr. Pierre Foldes of France, who pioneered this restorative procedure.”

Gary pointed out that in the United States alone, 300,000 women currently suffer from FGM effects, according to the World Health Organization.

“Worldwide, there are more than 150 million victims who were forcibly deprived in childhood of their sense of pleasure,” she said. “In fact, it’s estimated that somewhere in the world, one little girl is being genitally mutilated every six minutes under the most atrocious conditions imaginable. And about 10 percent of these victims will die from the bleeding or subsequent infections.”

Gary said the four women who came to San Francisco for last week’s procedure were lucky enough to survive FGM.

“Nevertheless, each was deeply affected by traumatic childhood memories of that excruciatingly painful and frightening experience,” she said. “One of these patients, a lovely 30-year-old woman who has never even dated, burst into tears when Dr. Bowers lifted the paper sheet that covered her bare legs during a gynecological exam. She had dreaded that OBGYN appointment because she was that ashamed to show a doctor a body part she perceived as repulsive.”

According to Gary, one of Clitoraid’s primary missions is to help FGM victims by building a hospital in Burkina Faso, West Africa, exclusively for the performance of the restorative procedure.

“It’s set to open its doors in 2013,” Gary said. “The facility will offer free surgical treatment to all FGM victims who want the procedure performed, and we can do this thanks to the volunteer services of doctors from around the world.”

She said the four patients in San Francisco are doing well post-surgically.

“They are gently recuperating from the procedure, and changes can already be seen,”
Gary said. The woman who had a strong emotional outburst in Dr. Bowers’ clinic was elated by the results of the surgery. Her voice now expresses such great joy, as if a 24-year curse has been lifted from her body and mind. She feels she can love herself now and also begin to forgive her mother, who ordered her circumcision.”

Gary said self-hatred and deep anger are two common emotions among FGM victims and that the restorative surgery greatly helps dissipate both.

“It helps them finally turn the page into greater health and consciousness,” she said."And Clitoraid is helping more and more victims do just that. In the United States, new surgeries will take place in San Mateo, California, and in Oswego, New York, in January thanks to the generosity of Dr. Bowers and Dr. Harold Henning. And late next year, both surgeons will travel to West Africa for the inauguration of our hospital, where over 400 FGM victims are patiently awaiting a new beginning in their lives as women.”