By Own Correspondent- Recently married *Natasha Zigomo* is at a crossroads.

Her dreams of marital bliss and happily ever after came crushing down on her honeymoon.

With tears falling down her cheeks, she opened up on her ordeal.

“I have always known my fiancée as a very traditional kind of person but I did not know that the issue of elongated labia minora was important to him. He said he was disappointed that I did not have elongated labia minora. It was the first time that I heard about it.”

Growing up in a family where issues to do with sex was taboo and was never discussed, Zigomo said her husband had told her that she was supposed to go back home and “prepare” her body for marriage.

“He told me that he was giving me a second chance to make things right.”

She was not however sure if she would go through the process.

“I am yet to understand why I must disfigure my body just to please him. The process is very painful. Maybe I just have to let go the marriage and find someone who understands and appreciates me the way I am.”

One of the many traditional body modifications and vaginal practices, labia minora elongation is an act involving the manual stretching of the inner folds of the external genitalia, the labia minora, and sometimes the clitoris.

Sometimes done with the aid of certain oils, crèmes and utensils, the stretching is done using fingers and only stopped when the desired length, which usually ranges from 2 to 5 inches, is reached.

However, the length varies and differs depending on personal preferences and sometimes cultural connotations.

Mbuya Beta from Chitungwiza who sells herbs that speed up the elongation process of labia minora said:

“Traditionally, it was recommended that girls start elongating their labia minora before they started menstruating.

However, these days because we have some women who were disadvantaged and were never told about these things when they were still young, we even assist those who are married and are older.”

She showed this reporter several herbs that can be used during the process of elongating one’s labia minora.

“One can use these herbs. You prepare a cigarrete and smoke it while holding the labia minora and then as you puff, they get longer. The challenge with this herb is that if you puff too much, they may grow too long and the process is irreversible.

You can also use petroleum jelly, pfuta tree oil (castor bean tree), roast groundnuts or burnt bat’s wings mixed with oil. A bat’s wings stretches and likewise, when you use it, the labia minora will get longer.”

A married woman with three children from Budiriro whom we shall call Mrs Nhingi after she refused to disclose her identity saying discussing such bedroom issues was taboo according to our culture said she had decided to elongate her labia minora after her husband continuously mocked her during sex.

“Yes its true, it’s all about the man and not about me or what I want or am comfortable with. I did it because I wanted to “please my husband”.

I thought that if I have them, it would stop him from being promiscuous. I wanted to stop him from looking at other women.

I was groomed to prepare my body to fulfil male expectations on the characteristics of their genitalia, arouse him and increase his sex drive. It is never about me.”

Several women interviewed confirmed Mrs Nhingi’s sentiments adding that the motivations to engage in vaginal practices such as elongating one’s labia minora was socially and culturally driven.

“I only did it to serve and augment sexual compatibility with my spouse and to promote marital stability,” said Mai Ryan.

A sex worker who operates at Chigovanyika in St Marys who identified herself as Irene said she used her elongated labia minora to lure clients as most men loved them.

“Flaccid enlarged lips also increase the potential control over intercourse and with the nature of my job, there are clients who want to force themselves on me and rape me, I just fold my labia minora inside my vagina and he will not penetrate.

In some instances, I just use them to pleasure my clients when I fold one of them inside, my vagina becomes smaller and tighter. My clients love this and they keep coming back for more. But they have to pay more for such a service,” she chuckled.

But how safe is this in terms of HIV transmission?

Irene confirmed that most men when they noticed that she had elongated labia minora, they refused protection.

“They want skin to skin because they enjoy it when there is contact with elongated labia minora so most refuse protection. I end up thus sleeping with them without the condoms. Most even offer more money. I know the importance of protection but i am only human.”

According to a joint report from UNICEF, UNFPA and IOM on gender-based violence in Zimbabwe, the authors document that labia minora elongation is a common traditional practice in some areas in Zimbabwe including Mberengwa and Mudzi districts.

In the report, labia minora elongation is included as a harmful traditional practice along with rape, lobola (bridewealth), denial of access to education, forced early marriage, wife inheritance, and prostitution.

While many reasons are mentioned regards why women and girls elongate their labia minora some of which include claims that the practice beautifies the genitals, improves hygiene and personal grooming and that it helps women prepare for sexual intercourse, Sekuru vaDelan from Unit D in Chitungwiza is of the view that there is need to change such harmful cultural practices that disadvantaged women.

“Women must have a choice on what to do with their bodies. It is not fair to make them go through painful eperiences just so that they can please a man who may not even appreciate them even after they have elongated thier labia minora. We need to change our mentality regards some of these practices because some of us do not believe in it

Said a 22 year old university student from Kuwadzana:

“It is tradition yes and much as it may have good intentions, the tragedy is that you will never know if the man that you are going to marry wants them or not. Most of the girls are just doing it to fulfil culture yet some among our generation don’t even place any value in it.”

Labia minora elongation  is a female genital modification practice categorized among the types included in the fourth group of female genital mutilation. However, the World Health Organisation, stops short of explicitly listing labia elongation as Type 4, which “includes all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area.”

States the UNICEF in its latest Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) report published in February 2020:

“At least 200 million girls and women alive today living in 31 countries have undergone female genital mutilation, which refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”

“It is a violation of girls’ and women’s human rights. While the exact number of girls and women worldwide who have undergone female genital mutilation remains unknown, at least 200 million girls and women have been cut in 31 countries with representative data on prevalence.

However, the majority of girls and women in most countries with available data think female genital mutilation should end and there has been an overall decline in the prevalence of the practice over the last three decades, but not all countries have made progress and the pace of decline has been uneven,” said the UNICEF.

According to The Global Library of Women’s Medicine’s Welfare of Women Global Health Programme report titled “Female genital mutilation – the UK perspective”-, female genital mutilation appears to be a manifestation of gender inequality that is deeply entrenched in some social, economic and political structures.

Said the report:

“Female genital mutilation represents society’s control over women and it is claimed that the procedure improves women’s purity and modesty, and many think that it is aesthetically pleasing to have the procedure.

Where it is widely practiced, it is supported by both men and women usually without question, and anyone departing from the norm may face condemnation and harassment.”

The United Nations (UN) general assembly has declared female genital mutilation a violation of women’s rights.

According to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 1990 Article 21: State Parties to the present Charter shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate harmful social and cultural practices affecting the welfare, dignity, normal growth and development of the child.

“State parties shall ensure the protection of the rights of the child to freedom from all forms of violence, harmful practices, including corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment and female genital mutilation.”

The African Child Policy Forum however reports that female genital mutilation is reportedly not practiced in Zimbabwe.

“However, the International Parliamentary Union has no first-hand official information on
this subject,” revealed the Forum.