Pia Grassivaro Gallo

The age at menarche in some populations of the Veneto, North Italy

The mean age at menarche in 6252 girls from secondary schools in six areas of the Veneto (Northern Italy) in 1975-1976, was estimated by probit analysis as 12-77 +/- 0-038 years. This mean is the highest known for Italy. Sexual maturation appears late in girls from large families and early in girls from small families: mean menarcheal ages were respectively 12-81 +/- 0-057 and 12-64 +/- 0-036 years.

The origin of infibulation in Somalia: An ethological hypothesis

Abstract Recent studies on excisory practices in Somalia have shown a connection between a pastoral way of life and infibulation. Pastoral life in Somalia is characterized by a) the raising of herds of large animals (cattle, camels, zebus) and small animals (sheep, goats) which live alongside predators such as lions, leopards, hyenas, etc., and b) a rigid sex-based division of labor in caring for the herds. It is here suggested that infibulation is an evolutionary response to the situation, made necessary by the reaction of animals to sexually-linked female odors. The “odorless” infibulated woman who tends the herds of smaller animals is less likely to attract predators and her presence is less disquieting to the sheep and goats that are the main source of subsistence for herself and her offspring.

The age at menarche in Somalia.

The mean age at menarche calculated by the recollected-age method for 524 Somalian girls, all over 16 years of age, was 14.78 +/- 0.07 years. The subjects, gathered from schools and other communities in the capital and from the Catholic Missions in Benadir and Upper and Lower Giuba, originated from all the regions of the country. Regions showed a significant difference in menarcheal age.

Stretching of the Labia Minora and Other Expansive Interventions of Female Genitals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Ritual stretching, classified among the female genital mutilations by the WHO in 1996, has been studied for the first time in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the Padua Working Group on FGM in 2006. Data gathering took place indirectly from Italy by means of Italian and Congolese local referents, through structured interviews with traditional operators as well as a focus group of about ten intellectuals (in Kasai) and Italian health workers (in Kiwu). The data have been completed, with answers from two questionnaires sent to affected women and health workers of the Mbuji-Mayi Hospital in Kasai. The results enabled us to outline cultural and naturalistic traits, social meanings, countrywide diffusion, and time evolution of the ritual of labial elongation as it takes place in the two above-mentioned regions of the DRC. Other forms of expansive genital modifications have been identified, such as ritual defloration and the widening of the vaginal canal, among very isolated populations in the Kiwu region.

Psycholinguistic Approaches to Ritual Labia Minora Elongation Among the Baganda Women of Uganda

Ritual elongation of the labia minora is a unique enlarging modification of the external genitalia exercised for cultural reasons (FGM type 4 WHO 1996). The practice is common among the Baganda women of Uganda, where a variety of terms are used to describe the rite. Psycholinguistic analysis was conducted both in present day Africa, where elongation of the labia minora results from ritual manipulation, and through the bibliographical accounts of western authors (anthropologists and doctors) from the 1950s and 1960s. A semantic polarization results in the linguistic expressions. In Africa, the positive connotation of terms used to describe the rite indicates its substantial valorization. The vocabulary used by Western authors, however, includes reference to aspects of rural Europe suggestive of poverty and ignorance (“apron”), or symbolic ridicule of the manipulated feature, equating it to the ear of a Cocker Spaniel.

Graphic Reproduction of Genital Stretching in a Group of Baganda Girls: Their Psychological Experiences

In 2002, Paduas Working Group on FGM organized a mission to southern Uganda to analyze the rite of labia minora elongation among the Baganda. This manipulation has been classified among the less common forms of FGM (type 4) by the WHO (1996). The practice occasionally occurs in West African populations, where it is referred to as hypertrophy of the labia minora. The psychological experiences of the rite were emphasized by the analysis of drawings and the comments on the rite, made by 111 schoolgirls, from 12 to 16 years old; all of the girls examined underwent genital stretching. The results highlighted two different groups of subjects: those who adhere to and those who criticize and are somewhat opposed to traditional stretching. These results are confirmed by comparison of the drawings of female circumcision made by Somali schoolgirls of the same ages, studied with the same methodology.

Female Genital Modifications in Malawi

A strong ethnic heterogeneity has made difficult the synthesis of the results of the fieldwork in Malawi (Mangochi district), organized by the Working Group on the FGM of the University of Padua in 2004 and focused on the analysis of FGM. The most important data deal with labial stretching, practiced systematically on the Malawi teenagers during the segregation (chiputu), lasting a few weeks in a hut under the guide of a female instructor (namkungwi) and the (phungu) responsibility of the grandmother. Also the psycho-physical connections and reflections on sexuality are presented.

The First Survey on Genital Stretching in Italy

In 2006 and 2007, the first survey of genital stretching (GS) in Italy was implemented in order to evaluate the degree of knowledge of professionals involved in immigration issues who may be faced with such ritual modifications in the future. During the survey, some obstetrician/gynecologists pointed out that they had also encountered the same morphology in Italian non-manipulated patients. We recorded these cases as physiological stretching. In the survey, the data collection was done by means of a questionnaire, administrated to 272 professionals, consisting of items to measure the knowledge about these expansive modifications; moreover, among the latter 272 professionals, 14 specialists were subjected to a detailed interview, and they described 21 cases of stretching, both ritual and physiological. On the whole, the phenomenon of GS is poorly known by Italian health operators: 93% of the interviewees declared they knew little or nothing about it. The women with labial hypertrophy identified in the survey included 20 Africans with ritual stretching and about forty Western women with physiological stretching. The incidence in the latter sample is hypothesized from 8 to 20%. In conclusion: physiological GS is ignored by health professionals, even when it is stressed by the patients bearing this trait with concomitant psychological discomfort, which may develop into real anxiety, especially in teenagers. Ritually “modified” immigrant women, forced to cope with a Western society of intact women, consider themselves “different” also because of this morphological trait, with a consequent worsening of their feelings of discrimination and marginalization in diaspora, although they seldom ask for surgical reduction of the elongated labia. Thus, labial hypertrophy has a different semantic connotation in Africa and in Italy.

Colour vision deficiencies in secondary school students in Italy

The percentage of color deficiency (assessed by Ishihara pseudoisochromatic plates) among secondary school students from the Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Apulia regions of Italy (1,557, 1,505 and 1,726 subjects, respectively) was found to be 2.95, 3.19 and 3.19%. The rate of colour deficiency was higher for the male sample (4.92, 5.71 and 4.52% for the Venetians, Emilians and Apulians, respectively) than for the female sample (0.69, 0.0 and 1.71%). An analysis for detecting the various forms of color deficiency (assessed by the Farnsworth dichotomous D-15 test) revealed 1/1, 1/1.3, and 1/3 protan/deutan ratios for the Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Apulia regions, respectively. The overall rate of color deficiency in our entire sample of 4,788 subjects was 3.11%. This is below the rate previously found by Kherumian et al., (1959), but it is in accordance with percentages of color deficiency known for some other Mediterranean populations.

At the Roots of Ethnic Female Genital Modification: Preliminary Report

The substitution of the term female genital mutilation with ethnic female genital modification (EFGM) would be beneficial because of its lesser semantically negative connotation and superior expression of the interventions’ expansive/reductive duality. All forms of EFGM have a clear relationship with coupling, and thus with the resulting fecundity (concrete manifestation of procreative capacity). Fecundity is the fundamental element linking the first inhabitants of Africa to their most recent descendants (De Rachewiltz, 1963). All forms of EFGM aim to increase fecundity (in reality or according to cultural assumption) and are accomplished by either enhancement of genitalia (expansive modification, such as elongation of the labia minora) or degradation of genitalia (reductive modification, such as infibulation). Both longininfism and infibulation refer, in their origin, to the same past population, the Bushmen/Hottentots. This group carried the “apron” as a congenital, morphologic feature. This has been preserved through manipulation, for descending from an ancient Khoisanid population.