I knew it was practiced in parts of Africa, but not in Muslim-controlled nations in the Middle East. In Egypt especially the government checks for hymen to be intact (virginity tests) and now want to make female circumcision obligatory. When I saw <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Type_IV_circumcision.jpg" title="Type_IV_circumcision.jpg" rel="nofollow">this picture</a> (<em>not safe for children</em>), I felt all kind of pains even though I don't have female parts.

Egyptian journalist <a href="http://twitter.com/monaeltahawy" title="Mona Eltahawy" rel="nofollow">Mona Eltahawy</a> has been very vocal about this. I hope she writes a response to this post, hopefully giving us more information.