Labia elongation

Labia Elongation as a rite of passage for Zimbabwean girls

Labia Elongation, has been practiced in many parts of Africa for many centuries. The early recordings of the results of the practice are perhaps among the Khoisan peoples of southern Africa http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elongated_labia&action=edit, where the inner labia were seen to be several centimetres longer than the outer labia. In Zimbabwe the practice is not done to such extremes, but there is a general view among women of certain tribes, that the inner labia need to be longer than they would naturally be. To outsiders it may seem like a strange practice, especially because some whole communities may be engaged in it. Usually, an outsider would never know that this is taking place. Only the women know about it. The men are mostly oblivious to it, and most of them cannot tell the difference between elongated inner labia and natural inner labia. In fact most men do not look.

The Process

Starting at puberty, a girl, when clean (after a bath) and not on her period, gently pulls her oiled inner labia outwards (away from her body) by applying force on them with oiled hands, making sure she pulls all along the length of the labia from top to bottom so that their general shape remains the same but their protrusion ofside the out labia increases. The oil used can be any oil that makes the skin tender and smooth, such as cooking oil, blue seal vaseline, etc. The amount of force is always gentle and encouraging, rather than rough and painful. Although this is usually done in a squating position, with legs apart, most girls establish a routine and follow it faithfully. In most cases an adult will check on their progress by asking the girl how she is doing or, in some cases, the adult will periodically inspect the ensure that progress is being made. There are cases when an adult may physically show demonstrate by pulling the girl's labia for her at least once. It’s a bit like someone exercising some muscles. A girl can pull as long as she wants during a given session. However, because she is keen to see results, she will usually pull more than perhaps is necessary initially. The pulling lasts through teenage and for some women it does not stop till much later in life. For the inner labia to elongate, pulling can start at any time in a woman’s life.

How Long Do They Get?

The amount of elongation varies from woman to woman, but the difference between those who have elongated and those who have not is clearly apparent to peers. In Zimbabwe, the elongation has never been excessive. The general idea is that the inner labia protrude outside the outer and are visibly so when the girl is in an appropriate position. The owner pulls until she reaches the length she is self-confident with, there after she only pulls sufficiently to maintain her length.

Why LE?

The general belief (in Zimbabwe at least) is that elongated inner labia swell more during sexual excitement, and in doing so, provide a much bigger surface area for penile friction during coitus. They also swell inwards partially blocking the entrance to the vagina. That translates into much higher levels of pleasure for both the male and the female. It is generally believed that a woman who enjoys coitus is a woman who is settled and can play a productive role in her family. The man’s pleasure is a bye-product of hers. Also, during foreplay, which is primarily for the woman and a nuisance for most men the world over, the longer inner labia provide something bigger for the man to easily find and to interest himself while he is waiting for her to be ready for coitus. Without them the incidence of dry sex would be higher. It is very common to hear women advising each other on the practice by saying, "It gives the man something interesting to play with while you are getting wet."

The process of elongating is part of the transformation from a girl to a woman, a rite of passage. It happens over a period of a few years during which time a girl will become aware of her sexuality, and feel comfortable with her body, including her genitalia. Elongation, especially when its done communally and becomes the subject for discussion, helps her to feel normal, and to be able to talk to other women about her body. She will also know all the words pertaining to her 'secret' body parts and she will hear a lot about their functions. In the west, there are many equivalents, such as the purchase of a first bra, or the use of make up, and wearing of high heel shoes, or the obsession with hair styles, to make girls feel normal and beautiful. Traditionally Zimbabwean girls did not have these western norms prior to colonialism, but had their own ways of making girls feel confident about their bodies. LE was one of them.

Some of the reasons given for LE may well differ from the original reasons, which have since been forgotten. This practice dates back many centuries and is justified in all sorts of ways. Each region has its own way of encouraging its young to start and to continue. Its child practitioners usually are not old enough to question its validity. Their mothers are simply passing on what they believe should be done. Men are not aware of it, nor are they consulted for views. Many men grow old and have grand children without ever knowing about the practice or its effetcs.

Later on in a girl's life, when sex education is taught, after she announces her intention to marry, she is told that with her fuller inner labia and her pelvic muscle, she can grip and release the man's penis in a process called milking, to always be tight, to control his pace and reduce pre-mature ejaculation in order to prolong her own pleasure. In some areas intricate lessons are provided to the girl, usually by her partenal aunt, the same aunt who introduced her to LE.

In Zimbabwe LE is more a factor in the personal expression of female vanity to self and to a very small group of others comprising both peers and hopefully the one man she will marry.

Comparison with FGM

Many western writers have compared this practice to FGM. There are marked differences and FGM primarily involves an attempt to forcibly reduce a girl’s sexual desire while LE is an attempt to enhance it as much as possible. In some cultures where LE is practiced, they also elongate the clitoris, also to ensure she enjoys her sexual experience as much as possible. This is a practice now copied by some western women without any writers writing rills and rills of articles condemning them.

FGM is an undisputed act of physical abuse by adults on a child, resulting in visible and permanent, painful damage to the child. It leaves a permanent scar and in many cases causes untold injuries. It also removes the very essence of female sexual pleasure and is rumoured to be a female control mechanism.

Labia Elongation (LE) is mostly done by the children and young ladies themselves, singly or communally. The practitioner knows her own pain tolerance level and works within that to achieve her ends. It does not cause any scaring although views differ as to whether elongated labia can be regarded as a deformity or not. Searching for information on attitudes from seemingly liberated women, such as on www.newzimbabwe.com, where the topic is regularly discussed, seems to indicate that many women, who are afraid of FGM and would never consider it as an option for them or for their girl children, will happily seek information from their peers on how to elongate their labia, even in their adulthood.

The practice should perhaps be viewed in the same light as practices in the west, such as face lifts, enlarging breasts, obsession with body weight, etc. The main difference is that the western women involved in these are above the age of consent whereas those involved in LE are children. However, parental consent on sexual matters is of higher importance in Zimbabwe than in Europe, and most mothers in the cultures where the practice is prevalent, give their consent to the child to start elongating.

Also, where as a young lady victim of FGM would hide her affected parts to even her husband, a young lady with elengated inner labia may want to show them off. Many are proud of them and would never have nightmares about how they came to be.

FGM occurs once in a girl's life and is extremely painful. LE occurs over a many years and has its pleasurable moments. Many married women continue to elongate their inner labia well into adulthood when they can make their own decision not to. It is unlikely that a lady who missed FGM as a teen would volunteer to have it done as an adult.

Unlike FGM, LE has no side effects. It does not affect childbirth or any other natural process or function of woman. There has never been a single valid criticism of it either from the tribes that practice it or from elsewhere. Only expressions based of total ignorance have been made or written by outsiders.

FGM is the exact opposite of LE.

The Western Misconceptions

Western writers and commentators on the subject usually assume that women are coerced by men into elongating, and instinctively condemn the practice after assuming it is an oppressive pritice by men on women. Listening to many discussions on the issue, it is clear, at least for Zimbabwean women, that their husbands are mostly ignorant of the practice or when they become aware of it, they are not fully aware of what normal labia should look like. IF the practice was male initiated many centuries ago, it certainly is not even known to men now. Within tribes where teenage boys are initiated, the matter is not even discussed. Most of the men who get to know about it, do so from their wives after they have already married them, sometimes long after. This means the length of her inner labia is not a factor in whether or not she is considered as a potential bride. Traditionally, no man would have ever seen the woman's genital area before her wedding day.

In addition, in Zimbabwe, men are taught to seek dry sex from their wives. Many writers have correctly condemned this practice, which is known to be contributory to the spread of STIs due to genital bruising, which raises the potential for infection. It also can be very paiful to women, who invariably do not enjoy sex, but do it for their husbands. The men believe that dry sex increases the tightness of the vagina. Dry sex means there has been no foreplay of any description and the woman is not ready for sex but is going to have it anywhere. At the same time the women are taught that the elongated labia are for husbands to play with during foreplay. The two approaches to sex are clearly contradictory and show that men and women do not view sex through the same lens. It is obvious to any woman that fascinating the husband with elongated labia is much more preferable than dry sex, from which the woman would get nothing but pain. It would be better for those who write, to agree to condemn one practice or the other, but not both. It will be many years before all men are aware of the pain and discomfort women endure during dry sex as opposed to the confidence she gets from knowing that she will enjoy the experience when she has prepared through LE, and he stops and plays there for a while while she gets wet. Those with women's welfare in mind (female writers) should pile praise on the inventiveness of women who use their bodies to encourage men to behave a little better.

It is usual for some writers to view any unique African practices as ‘primitive’ or base. The temptation to reach such a conclusion is high because this is an ancient practice whose origin and relevance are difficult to ascertain. Some local writers, concerned with human rights pertaining to children, or influenced by modern knowledge in biology, or other, have sought to denounce this practice. However, it’s strength remains in it’s secretive nature and the amount of self-confidence and self-knowledge it offers the women who have engaged in it.

Those writing from outside the communities that practice LE are well advised to view the subject with an open mind, or al the very least research before publishing unwarranted views.

Elongation and Virginity

LE does not affect virginity to any significant extent. In Zimbabwe, the cultures that practice LE also emphasise the need for a girl to remain a virgin until she is married. Girls are very careful not to interfere with other than the outer part of the inner labia, even though accidents do happen.

In most gender issues counselling for girls, retaining virginity as long as possible is encouraged. There is total agreement between tradition and Christianity on the issue of prolonging virginity, a fact which has enhanced the already accepted view. (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html gives 25% of Zimbabwean peoples as professing to be Christians) There is no phylosophical conflict between LE and Christianity, as far as is known.

Traditionally, the parents of a non-virgin bride accept less dowry that would be the case if she was a bride, and many girls are proud so be known as virgins before they are married. These are the same girls who practice LE for many years during their teens, without affecting their virginity in any way.

Mutual LE and Lesbianism:

One of the misunderstandings to outsiders is the fact that young girls do pull each other’s labia, yet the acts are not regarded as lesbian acts, nor do they lead to girls considering lesbianism as a viable life style option. The prevalence of boarding schools in Zimbabwe means that many girls were at such places during their teenage years participated in paired, or small group labia elongation sessions. In the rural areas, where the population is usually sparse, group and paired sessions are rare. A girl gets verbal instructions from an adult and just does it herself, occasionally meeting up with others to compare progress or be inspected by an adult. Many parents in the developed world would be worried for their children in such cases, yet Zimbabwean mothers are happy to know that their daughters are part of the practice. The fathers are never aware of such information. Lesbianism is not as common in Zimbabwe as it is in the west. If mutual LE was a factor in determining the choice of lesbianisn as a life style, there should be more lesbians where LE is a common practice than anywhere else. There is no evidence that this is the case. In fact lesbianism as a concept is virtually unheard of other than among women who have interracted with western cultures, or at least that is the received causal factor.

HIV and other STIs and the Labia Elongation

LE itself can never be a participatory factor in the rate of infection of any STI including HIV. Infections start much later in life when girls start becoming sexually active. The biggest factor is the promiscuity of Zimbabwean husbands, making it dangerous for women to be married. In an attempt to effect complete social engineering, by women with other agendas, some writers have asserted that there is a causal link between LE and rates of infection. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=59304&nfid=rssfeeds It would be very difficult to show any such links, logically, practically or otherwise. LE is about body acceptance, and confidence with one's own preparation for sexual function when married. It's this fitness for sexual purpose that some writers have blammed for higher rates of infection, suggesting it causes girls to focus on sex too early and therefore incites them to experiment before they are ready. It is a fact that more girls practiced LE in the past than do so now. It is also a fact that more girls are infected now than in the past. It would be difficult for any researcher to accept these two facts and still assert that LE is a causal factor to infection rates. It is more reasonable to regard LE in the same light as a formal sexual education delivery system, invented way before western countries had any idea of its necessity. Westerners struggle with it perhaps because it is not formally taught in schools and does not include boys, thus causing conceptual problems in the psyche of the ignorant. In Zimbabwe culture, it was recognised long ago that the woman has more to lose than the male in any matters pertaining to sexual problems such as poor delivery of sex, infections, unwanted pregnancy, cost of caring for the young, etc. It therefore made sense to concentrate girls minds and prepare them for coping with being the owners and controllers of how and when sex is delivered. A Zimbabwean girl traditionally would know to use the word NO, until she is married. A much higher rate of infection is among married women, when they correctly supply sex in the home, but their husbands also have it elsewhere. The problem has never been with the women, who, it is generally accepted, are a lot less promiscuous than the men.

Offence Under the Laws

LE is one practice, which the male dominated parliaments of the regions where the practice is prevalent have kept well away from. It is not an offence under most laws. Whether this will change when elongated labia are viewed as a deformity and the practice is seen as a result of child coercion, is not currently clear. The practice still enjoys acceptance in some regions even though questions are raised in others. Meantime, legally, the practice is unquestioned.

The implications for introducing the practice into the legal framework may be initiated within the human rights framework, and most likely by people from outside of the LE practice areas. Seeing that LE has been practiced for hundreds of years and is viewed as a necessary part of the culture, and that its benefits cannot be obtained in any other way, legal discussions about LE would have to include the legality of such as sex education in European schools, child ear piercing, the use of make up by children, the selling of high heeled shoes for children, child circumcision, etc, which can easily be regarded as child coercion by outsiders and all of which result in some level of bodily deformity on the child concerned.

Other conclusions

Like any other country, Zimbabwe has its share of undesirable social ills, such as under-age pregnancy, but before 1998, when the social structures were still in place, these ills were a lot less than the same in such countries as the United Kingdom where virginity is almost regarded as a disease by teenagers. Zimbabwean girls marry early (17-24 on average) and are child bearing for longer than their European counterparts. They also have a much higher death rate since the nation was overrun by HIV infection. There are women who contribute to HIV infections, but they tend to belong to a core group of sex workers comprising a very smal percentage of the population. The rest of the women tend to be faithful to their husbands. On the other hand, men, married men mostly, are the main HIV virus carrier contributing many times more than the women.

LE and its related practices have little or no bearing on the resultant promiscuity level of the nation. The national mindset that allows people to infect each other with STDs at rates that have resulted in deaths of over 4000 people per week over such a long period can be shown to be male driven. The same men are mostly ignorant of the existance of LE. The government policy of voluntary testing instead of compulsory testing is the main contributor in perpetuating the mindset. As long as men are not dissuaded from promiscuity through compulsory regular tests and results possibly published in a HIV directory, HIV, and promiscuity will remain relentless.

Objective writers with any understanding of the Zimbabwean culture, would find it hard to find LE to be causal or contributory to promiscuity.

Area where I (Eleanor Chibwe)was born and bred

Chief Zimuto, Area between Masvingo and Chatsworth. Here it is rare to find girls that practice mutual LE.

Further reading

• http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/eighth/symp04.pdf
• http://www.heretical.com/miscella/baker4.html
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html
• http://asp.african-institute.org/articles.asp?Indeks=183
• http://cst.harare.unfpa.org/359_1594.asp
• http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=59304&nfid=rssfeeds