Infibulation

INFIBULATION (from Latin fibula—clasp, buckle, hook), a custom preserved among Arabs and a whole range of wild Negro tribes of Africa (Galla, Somali, Masai, etc.) and consisting of the artificial mutilation of the external sexual organs of young persons of both sexes for the purpose of preserving premarital chastity and for a peculiarly understood prevention of masturbation. The custom is known to historians since the times of ancient Egypt; in a modified form it also figured during the era of chivalry. I. in women consists of the excision of the labia minora and sewing together the edges of the wound with the leaving of a small opening for the passage of menstrual blood. I. in men is described in detail already by Celsus. It consists of sewing together the edges of the preputial sac with the formation of an artificial phimosis and represents, in idea, something directly opposite to circumcision. The sewn foreskin makes erection painful and hinders all kinds of masturbatory manipulations. For the same purpose, Arabs perforate the foreskin of boys and thread a ring through the opening; a similar custom is described among the natives of the East Indies and among the ancient inhabitants of Peru. It is undeniable that the phenomena of balanitis and balanoposthitis arising as a result of I. rather promote sexual excitation and have a negative effect from the operation.