Of Bolitas and Male - Genital Mutilation

By Zofeen Ebrahim

Monday’s session on ‘harmful practices’ came with its own set of surprises. The session was chaired and moderated by Dr Pilar Ramos Jimenez. Ironically, she was the only woman on the panel, the only one who insisted (by design or otherwise) on calling circumcision mutilation and the only session where no women presented any paper, but three men and that too, on issues related to male genitalia…

Call me uninitiated or ignorant, but ‘bolitas’ – penile implants – came as a shock. Though one has yet to see the tool (thing) or how long these remain alive in the penis, for those who are as ignorant as I am, these are round and made of plastic.

But more shocking is the hazardous practice of how ‘bolitas’ are inserted – a sharpened ballpen cap, along with the ‘bolitas’, is washed with alcohol; the area of the penis (underneath or top of the penis near the glans) is also washed with alcohol; then holding the penis and stretching its skin, the provider (usually a non-medical provider and taking place in a nook and for free) punctures the area to create a slit halfway through without the use of anaesthesia.

While all this may seem too graphic (and it is meant to be), on a more serious note this practice, as explained Romeo Lee of De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines, while presenting his paper ‘Adoption, Provision and Effects of Penile Implants (bolitas) in the Philippines’ comes with its own set of complications. Four out of every 10 respondents reported to throbbing and biting pain and penile inflammation and pus.

Do women know their partners have had bolitas inserted? According to studies, most were not informed of the adoption. Why do men get bolitas inserted? It is erroneously believed to give the partners intense sexual pleasure. According to the study, when women were asked to confirm, only one reported it gave her pleasure because it ‘tickled’. Others reported to obstruction in penetration; infection each time her partner had ‘bolitas’ inserted while one woman observed her partner had become more aggressive in bed.

The other session was no less shocking. Primus Lake presented a paper on ‘Healthy Circumcision Programme: A Strategy to Eliminate Negative Impact of Traditional Circumcision of the Atoni Meto in West Timor’. The reasons cited and myths attached as to why adult male Christians with low literacy practise circumcision (apart from it being a tradition and a healthy practice conducted in an extremely unhealthy manner) are various and interesting – the body of an uncircumcised person smells like an un-castrated male goat, an uncircumcised person will never satisfy his sexual partner because of premature ejaculation, will get older quickly, the child born from an uncircumcised father will often get sick.

Once circumcision is done (and you are in for more shock), the man has to have three types of compulsory intercourse — and not always with his partner. The first one, and here is a shocker, when the wound has not recovered (after seven days) with a known female partner, preferably a widow or a prostitute as opposed to virgins as they are assumed to have larger vagina. The second intercourse takes place to refresh the body as much bleeding has occurred and for the third intercourse, a young female is sought.

The Foundation of Bina Insan Mandiri in collaboration with Plan International, Indonesia, decided not go into a long-winded debate of whether or not to have circumcision, or fuel a debate, or even wish it way within the communities in the 33 villages they initiated work.

However, what they did was to stress upon carrying out a healthy circumcision programme that is not in direct contradiction with reproductive health, religious and moral views or gender equity. According to Primus Lake, the programme is a success story not just with traditional circumcision executors taking part in training on healthy circumcision but slowly and surely changing the mindset of the people.