LAS VEGAS, April 19 – Las Vegas-based, non-profit organization CLITORAID, which helps victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) receive reconstructive surgery, released a statement today in response to accusations of non-accountability, insensitivity to women’s rights, concerns of African cultures and questions about the overall safety and effectiveness of the surgery it sponsors.

Professor Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, assistant professor of politics at the University of San Francisco, and Caille Millner, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, spearheaded what CLITORAID representative Nadine Gary called “a vicious attack of misinformation and distortion of truth.”

“Their statements, especially in Millner’s April 14 article “Wrong Approach to Genital Mutilation,” led to an online petition that cost CLITORAID the participation of its fundraising partner,” Gary said, adding that adult toys retailer Good Vibrations of San Francisco “was bullied into canceling its summer fundraising campaign on behalf of CLITORAID after receiving a petition signed by over 200 people.”

“The funds from Good Vibrations would have purchased medical equipment for our new hospital in Burkina Faso,” Gary said. “Now that won’t happen. It’s so unfair. The allegations are baseless – and some are just plain stupid.”

As an example, Gary said both critics lambasted CLITORAID for its fundraising slogan “Adopt a Clitoris” as though the phrase was meant to be taken literally.

“This slogan was intended to pique curiosity and attract donors,” Gary explained "and thanks to it, we manage to fund the building of our hospital as well as training of our surgeons and operating on a few women here in the US".

“Patients’ names are kept confidential and in no sense whatsoever was anyone adopting or trading body parts. But that’s what these people implied. They don’t seem to know the difference between a figure of speech and reality. Meanwhile, not even one woman awaiting clitoral repair surgery through CLITORAID has complained about the slogan. In fact, none of them have ever even mentioned it!”

As for the allegation that CLITORAID is insensitive toward women and toward members of local African cultures still practicing FGM, Gary pulled no punches.

“Brutal, violent acts like female genital mutilation don’t call for sensitivity,” she said. “They demand immediate action, and that’s what CLITORAID is doing.”

She likened the call for sensitivity toward those in Africa who perpetuate and condone FGM to those who were “sensitive” toward slave owners or Nazis.

“Slave owners in the American South thought Northerners were insensitive to their needs,” Gary said. “And it wasn’t considered polite in Nazi Germany to ask what was happening to the Jews. Both situations demanded blunt, effective, immediate opposition, not sensitivity toward the perpetrators and their supporters.”

She said the same principle applies for eliminating FGM and restoring clitoral functionality through surgery for as many victims as possible.

“This is a senseless, horrible act that causes excruciating pain and sexual deprivation for millions,” Gary said. “While other organizations just discuss and wring their hands, CLITORAID acts. Our first hospital dedicated to clitoral repair surgery will open in Burkina Faso in 2011. And some women assisted by CLITORAID have already had the procedure done successfully here in the United States, at our head surgeon’s Colorado clinic.”

Gary said the San Francisco article was especially disturbing because it demonstrated “blatant prejudice toward Raelians.”

She pointed out that Raelianism is an officially recognized religion in the United States.

“Millner dissed Clitoraid because its founder, Maitreya Rael, teaches that all life on Earth was created scientifically by extraterrestrials,” Gary said. “But acceptance or rejection of that belief doesn’t change the fact that Clitoraid’s clitoral reconstructive surgeries and related therapy are done by professionals. And those professionals are not Raelians. They volunteered to work with Clitoraid because they know the surgery is effective and that women are waiting for it. They wanted to help.”

Gary said Larry Ashley, Ed.S., LADC, LMSW, LPC CPGC, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas, university professor and sexual trauma counselor, sees each Clitoraid-sponsored patient, and that renowned sexual therapist Dr. Betty Dodson created the post-surgery sexual therapy program that complements the procedure.

“This great team of volunteer professionals is made up of non-Raelians who have chosen to work with Clitoraid,” Gary said. “I notice our critics neglected to mention them.”

Regarding the surgery’s safety and efficacy, Gary said the reconstructive procedure sponsored by Clitoraid was devised by surgeon Dr. Pierre Foldes in France, where cost of the treatment is reimbursable under the country’s universal health care system.

“Dr. Foldes isn’t affiliated with the Raelian Movement in any way, nor is he even affiliated with Clitoraid,” Gary said. “But Dr. Marci Bowers, Clitoraid’s head surgeon, trained directly under him. Dr. Bowers is also a non-Raelian, and she is training other physicians to perform the procedure. The surgery is safe and effective and it’s performed in accredited hospitals.”

Gary said critics of Clitoraid should practice what they preach.

“Millner and Professor Kamau-Rutenberg say Good Vibrations should have exercised due diligence before associating with Clitoraid, but they didn’t do their own. These two women should have known better. They turned the truth about Clitoraid completely upside down out of their own prejudice and a lot of ill-founded assumptions. In the process, they hurt many good people. And those they’ve hurt most are the FGM victims on our waiting list.”

By
Betty A. Dodson

In 1990, I was invited to speak at a conference titled: “Say Yes to Masturbation”. It was in Montreal Canada sponsored by the Raelians, a world-wide organization who follows their prophet Rael. He claims to have been contacted by extra terrestrials, or ET’s. Sort of like Moses receiving a message from God through a burning bush, or Buddha receiving enlightenment while sitting under a tree. Who’s to say these things are impossible, although I tend to lean in that direction.

At the time, my webmaster Grant, always the suspicious academic, said I’d be crazy to deal with “kooks” who believed in flying saucers. Friends worried I’d be kidnapped by this cult and flown off in a saucer never to be heard from again. (I had a few sexual fantasies with that one). Others thought it would discredit my already difficult message about the beneficial aspects of masturbation. In twenty years of dealing with the explosive topic of self-induced orgasms, no one had ever invited me to a conference that endorsed masturbation, so naturally I accepted.

I explained that although I was not a true believer in ET’s, part of me hoped it might be true. As yet, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or any other creation myths had never acknowledged the humble activity of masturbation— except one. In ancient Egypt, the popular religion was based on masturbation and was commemorated in a daily ritual that took place in the Karnak temples built over 4000 years ago: at dawn every morning, priests and priestesses re-enacted masturbation at the shrine of Amun Ra. They believed Amun created the world with his self-induced orgasm. Christianity’s creation myth had God creating the world in seven days.

When I first met Rael over lunch, I liked him immediately. I was charmed by his relaxed manner with all things sexual. His followers were also comfortable with the subject of sexual pleasures. At one point I teased Rael about setting up a meeting so I too could meet a few ET’s and visit a flying saucer. He explained he had no way to contact them directly and I chided him: “Oh, so you’re not like the Catholics who can go through a priest to reach God”? Rael claimed the Elohim, the plural form of the Hebrew word for God, are ET’s who created us. They want him to build an embassy so they can safely land and communicate with us. So far there is way too much violence on planet Earth. We can all agree on the importance of reducing violence. Obviously more sexual expression would help people honor all living things starting with the human body— the opposite of body loathing and waging wars with killing machines like America is doing.

The conference was in French. They had an instant translation of what I was saying to a large audience wearing head phones, just like the UN. The Raelians are hated and feared by many and have received death threats, so we each had a body guard. Mine was a big handsome kid I wanted to bring home with me. They are also loved by many others the world over.

Several years ago, I was contacted by Sylvie, a lovely French Canadian Raelian who was working on Clitoraid. When I discovered their mission was to help African women who had their clitorises removed, I wanted to know more. When she claimed these women could experience orgasm again through a surgical procedure followed by learning to masturbate, I said “Yes” to Clitoraid. Later I began to wonder if the operation really did work or was it simply cosmetic by eliminating excessive scar tissue. Dr. Foldes, a French doctor in Africa who was performing the surgeries was difficult to reach. Before I was able to contact him, my masturbation information was already on Clitoraid’s website. Whether this was a scam or real, I believe in copyleft. That means anyone can use my information as long as it’s attributed to me.

When Dr. Foldes taught his surgical technique to Dr. Marcie Bowers, a Colorado surgeon working with the transgendered community, it was easy to contact her. After we spoke on the phone, I was convinced this was the real thing. Dr. Bowers said the operations success depended on a woman’s age, amount of scaring, how much of the clitoral stem remained, and the success of her post-op recovery. The physical therapy depended upon a woman’s motivation to massage her vulva and practice masturbation. During all the years I’ve taught women about orgasm, the part about practicing masturbation is essential. Western women the world over have been sexually damaged through negative messages from organized religions that instill genital shame. Many are unable to accept their vulvas as normal or beautiful. Added to this is a lack of sex education and information which leads to unwanted pregnancies, sexual abuse, and lack of orgasms. These women have been genitally mutilated psychologically.

I knew that a battery operated vibrator would be a great help for African women the same as they have helped my demographic of women. My business partner Carlin and I agreed that Good Vibrations would be a good choice to donate vibrators, so I contacted Carol Queen. In no time there was a shit storm on her end. An African American academic feminist teaching at San Francisco University objected to our interference in a culture that we supposedly know nothing about. Good Vibrations pulled out. The store depends upon the good will of a community that has its share of nit picking academic sex negative feminists. Since dodsonandross is a website we have all the freedom in the world to do and say what we choose. It’s called freedom of speech!

Something to be concerned about is a Pope who pays large sums of money to cover up his own priest’s sexual abuse of young boys. So far Clitoraid has demonstrated that some women can be restored through surgery. Meanwhile, I continue to share my information in person or on our website to all women who have been damaged through organized religions. The first prize for religious cults goes to Muslims with Catholics next. Third prize goes to Fundamentalists with other Protestant cults falling in behind. Honestly, I’d prefer ET’s to these other religious cults. At least ET’s would be more advanced in their thinking.

LAS VEGAS, April 9 – “I was repeatedly raped and also circumcised* by my employer,” a female U.S. resident recently told CLITORAID (www.Clitoraid.org), a nonprofit organization that helps victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) receive surgery that restores the capacity for sexual pleasure.

(*Female circumcision” is a polite term for FGM, a brutal act typically performed on victims during childhood. In this case, the excision was performed on a grown woman.)

“The surgical technique brings clitoral roots back to the surface,” said Brigitte Boisselier, PhD, who heads CLITORAID. “Those receiving this surgery have the chance to reach orgasm like any other woman.”

She said that although CLITORAID receives thousands of e-mailed messages and phone calls, “the inquiry from the woman raped and mutilated by her boss is probably the most disturbing account ever received on the CLITORAID Web site.”

The victim (her name is omitted to protect her privacy), told CLITORAID that while working in Saudi Arabia in her early 20s, she was genitally mutilated and repeatedly raped by her employer.

“He said women aren’t supposed to have a clitoris and that it’s condemned by the Holy Koran,” she said. “I had to comply. Otherwise, they would have murdered me.” When she later married, she kept the details from her husband. “He just knows it was part of a practice that was required during a medical examination and done without my consent,” she said, adding that although she can’t afford the repair surgery right now, she “will do whatever it takes to put money together and put this nightmare behind me.”

“Like most who contact us, she can’t afford surgery,” Boisselier commented, adding that although CLITORAID’s lead surgeon, Dr. Marci Bowers, performs the procedure for free, the hospital charges a fee.

CLITORAID was founded by Rael, leader of the Raelian Movement, with the goal of offering clitoral repair surgery to all FGM victims who want it. The program addresses all aspects, including counseling. But money is scarce.

“I wish I could tell all who inquire to come to Trinidad, Colorado, where Dr. Bowers operates,” said Nadine Gary, Clitoraid’s patient coordinator. “But we have only a few private sponsors to help pay travel expenses and hospital fees. We need more!”

FGM to become ‘a horrific, historical fluke’ as word of reversal surgery spreads
LAS VEGAS, Mar. 23



A 33-year-old victim female genital mutilation (FGM) was ecstatic when she made an after-midnight phone call to Clitoraid head patient coordinator Nadine Gary in mid March. “I was feeling so good, I didn’t want to let go at first,” she told Gary. “It was a strange sensation, and then suddenly I was overtaken by this incredible feeling that lasted several seconds! I had my first orgasm!”

Mariame (whose last name is omitted here to protect her privacy), an African immigrant, had undergone clitoral reconstructive surgery in Trinidad, Colo., nine months earlier. The procedure was performed by Clitoraid’s head surgeon, Dr. Marci Bowers, who volunteers her services to help FGM victims.

In childhood, Mariame and millions of other women were forced to endure the ancestral tradition of clitoral cutting, an act of extreme cruelty typically performed on little girls by their female relatives. Anesthesia is rarely used and the pain is excruciating.

“Over 135 million women and teenagers worldwide are currently living through the consequences of this horrific act of brutality,” Gary said in a statement released this morning. “They can’t experience the physical pleasures of relationships that most women take for granted, and many of them also feel inadequate and ashamed of their plight. Clitoraid wants to help as many of these victims as possible, and to make FGM obsolete by offering and publicizing the surgery that reverses the damage. When you can restore what was taken away, there’s no point in doing the horrible deed in the first place.”

Las Vegas-based Clitoraid, a nonprofit organization, was founded in 2004 by Rael, founder and spiritual leader of the International Raelian Movement.

“He wanted FGM victims like Mariame to receive the surgery they need to achieve sexual pleasure and regain their sense of feminine dignity,” Gary said. “That’s why Clitoraid is currently building a hospital in Burkina Faso, West Africa, for the sole purpose of offering the surgery and related therapy to FGM victims free of charge. Dr. Bowers and other volunteers will take part in the hospital’s opening next January.”
But the surgery alone is not enough, Gary said.

“We have to teach them how to get their sense of pleasure back and to overcome their inhibitions,” she explained. “That’s why therapy is equally important. At Clitoraid, we realize that mind and body have to be treated together, so we’re very grateful to Dr. Larry Ashley, a university professor and sexual trauma counselor who volunteered to give individual sessions to each of our patients.”
She added that Mariame had also benefited from a fun, educational workshop inspired by sexual therapist Dr. Betty Dodson.

“The workshop helped her recover her clitoral sensation and overcome her shyness about sex,” Gary explained. “And it helped her accept and welcome the look of her newly repaired clitoris and to trust that it really could give her pleasure now.”

Also helpful to Mariame were vibrators and other sensual toys donated by Clitoraid’s new partner, Good Vibrations, an adult toys retailer based in San Francisco. “Vibrators are instrumental for helping FGM reversal patients recover clitoral sensation,” Gary said. “They reestablish nerve pathways, something the patients can’t achieve solely through finger stimulation.”