Genital mutilation victims enjoy new pleasure and dignity, thanks to science.

(BLACK PR WIRE)LAS VEGAS, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Honoring Feb. 6 as a worldwide "Zero Tolerance Day" for the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), Las Vegas-based Clitoraid.org announced that its first five U.S. clitoral reconstructive surgeries will be performed Feb. 17 at the Trinidad, Colo., clinic of Dr. Marci Bowers, who has volunteered her services.

"Five women who endured hideous mutilation in their native African countries will finally recover their pleasure and dignity," said Clitoraid spokesperson Nadine Gary.

Bowers, a world-renowned surgeon, has appeared on Oprah Winfrey and other TV shows. She is an expert in gender reassignment surgery and other sex-related procedures.

Gary emphasized that these first surgeries are only the preamble to a much larger project -- completion of a "pleasure hospital" in Burkina Faso, West Africa, where thousands of FGM victims will have the procedure done for free, performed by volunteer surgeons.

"Rael [www.rael.org], the international spiritual leader and Clitoraid's founder, launched this project," Gary said, adding that the revolutionary surgery gives hope to some 150 million FGM victims worldwide. As children or adolescents, each underwent the horror of having her clitoris brutally sliced off by a female family member.

"The intent behind this barbaric practice is to curb the female sex drive at puberty, thus ensuring virtuous, virgin brides and faithful wives," Gary said. "It's incredibly painful -- done without an anesthetic, using a knife or razor blade or even broken glass."

The mutilation leaves deep physical and emotional scars, including a sense of shame.

"It even shatters the victim's marriage, since she won't be sexually aroused," Gary explained. "And it slashes her self esteem, which in turn affects her children. That's why we follow up post-surgery with an intensive sex reeducation program designed by sexologist Dr. Betty Dodson. The reconstructed clitoris needs specific daily stimulation to fully recover its pleasurable function. Meanwhile, the patient's psyche must be freed from shame, so she can enjoy those newly discovered, wonderful sensations."

Gary said Clitoraid's ultimate goal is to permanently eliminate FGM.

"We use science to repair the physical damage, and love to understand not only the victims but the circumcisers, who were sexually mutilated themselves," Gary said. "We tell them sexual pleasure is noble and virtuous. It's a fundamental right for all human beings -- women included!"