Monday, June 21, 2010

Genital Mutilation at Cornell

It sounds incredible that a respectable university would employ somebody who conducts genital mutilation on little girls:
A pediatric urologist at Cornell—Dix Poppas—has been operating on little girls with what he judges to be oversized clitorises, cutting away important clitoral tissues, and then stitching the glans to what remains of the shaft. 
As if that weren't enough, this vile witch doctor does the following horrible things to the poor little girls:
At annual visits after the surgery, while a parent watches, Poppas touches the daughter’s surgically shortened clitoris with a cotton-tip applicator and/or with a “vibratory device,” and the girl is asked to report to Poppas how strongly she feels him touching her clitoris. Using the vibrator, he also touches her on her inner thigh, her labia minora, and the introitus of her vagina, asking her to report, on a scale of 0 (no sensation) to 5 (maximum), how strongly she feels the touch.... Poppas has indicated in this article and elsewhere that ideally he seeks to conduct annual exams with these girls.... 
The question is, of course, what freak of a parent would allow this horror to be inflicted on their own daughter and would actually sit there watching their child being sexually molested like that. (Probably the same ones who breastfeed their children until the age of 5 and sleep in the same bed with them until puberty). But leaving that aside, I think the entire academic community should boycott Cornell until this disgusting individual is thrown out of the university for good. It pains me to say this because I have good memories of Cornell but for now this university is dead for me until Poppas is thrown out of Cornell on his ass and recognized publicly for a nasty, disgusting animal that he is.

3 comments:

Pagan Topologist said...

This is truly horrible.

The same cultural bias against women's bodies leads some women to voluntarily have their breasts surgically enlarged or reduced, which I find horrifying, too. But, at least these women are old enough to make such decisions themselves.

Clarissa said...

Sometimes, people have breast reduction surgery for health reasons (back pain, etc.) In any case, as you say, at least these are grown ups who know what they are doing.

Dina The Nomad said...

I am really puzzled, this is allowed by the medical .... whatever the institution above this doctor is? I can't beleve it!!!