Clitoraid

{{Short description|Raelian non-profit project}}

File:Clitoraid event.jpg, July 2006]]

Clitoraid is a non-profit project started by the Raëlian movement to combat female genital mutilation.

The project was started in 2005{{cite web |url=http://raelianews.org/news.php?item.208 |title=Clitoraid at the AVN Porn Convention in Las Vegas |publisher=Raelia News |date=23 January 2007 }} or 2006.{{cite web |url=http://sfappeal.com/2010/05/good-vibrations-and-the-clitoris-saving-alien-cult/ |title=Good Vibrations And The Clitoris Saving Alien Cult |publisher=SF Appeal |last=Blue |first=Violet |date=19 May 2010 }} The Raëlian movement sees sexual gratification as a positive thing and Clitoraid has sponsored clitoral reconstruction for African women and sought to build a hospital in Burkina Faso{{cite news |url=https://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/02/hospital |title=Raelians Rocket From Clones to Clitorises |magazine=Wired |first=Eliza |last=Strickland |date=19 February 2008 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213070438/http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/02/hospital |archivedate=13 February 2010 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=http://www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/34181 |title=Deploring death of teenage Kenyan FGM Victim |date=23 April 2014 |publisher=Newstime Africa |access-date=6 May 2014 |archive-date=6 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306101606/http://www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/34181 |url-status=dead }} where they can also receive post-operative instruction in masturbation.{{cite web |url=http://raelianews.org/news.php?item.225.6 |title='Pleasure hospital' in Burkina Faso to restore clitoral functioning for women mutilated in childhood |date=16 May 2007 |publisher=Raelia News |accessdate=6 May 2014 }} Clitoraid has an Adopt a Clitoris sponsorship program,{{cite web |url=http://raelianews.org/news.php?item.159 |title=Adopt A Clitoris |date=15 May 2006 |publisher=Raelia News }} which it has promoted at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.{{cite web |url=http://raelianews.org/comment.php?comment.news.411 |title=Clitoraid at 2011 Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas |last=Fretwell |first=Alonzo |date=31 January 2011 |publisher=Raelia News }}

In 2010, on the encouragement of sexologist Betty Dodson, the San Francisco-based sex shop chain Good Vibrations pledged financial support to Clitoraid including asking customers to make donations; the company rescinded the offer after protests that the effort was misplaced, especially from Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco.{{cite news |last=Millner |first=Caille |url=http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Wrong-approach-to-ending-genital-mutilation-3267623.php |title=Wrong approach to ending genital mutilation |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=14 April 2010 }} In 2013, Clitoraid designated the week of 6–12 May as "International Clitoris Awareness Week".{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/02/international-clitoris-we_n_3202780.html|title='International Clitoris Awareness Week' Takes Place May 6-12 (NSFW)|last=Moye|first=David|date=5 February 2013|work=The Huffington Post|accessdate=24 April 2014}}

The 2014 opening of the Kamkaso Hospital or The Pleasure Hospital at Bobo-Dioulasso was delayed by the Burkina Faso Ministry of Health.{{cite news |last=Lloyd-Roberts |first=Sue |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/fgm-clitoraid-and-the-pleasure-hospital-us-sect-the-ralians-quest-to-restore-women-scarred-by-female-genital-mutilation-in-burkina-faso-9195795.html |title=FGM, Clitoraid and The Pleasure Hospital: US sect the Raëlians' quest to 'restore' women scarred by female genital mutilation in Burkina Faso |newspaper=The Independent |date=16 March 2014 }} Clitoraid blamed the Catholic Church.{{cite web|url=http://www.clitoraid.org/news.php?extend.160|title=Catholic Church prevents March 7 opening of Clitoraid's 'Pleasure Hospital' - Clitoraid.org Restoring a Sense of Pleasure and Dignity|author=Clitoraid Inc.|work=clitoraid.org|accessdate=21 May 2015}}

In 2015, in response to a dispute over the circumcision of a four-year-old boy in the US, Clitoraid issued a press release supporting the mother who did not want the circumcision. They also called on the United Nations to ban the practice: "Bodily harm is against the fundamental rights of all children, and we can't understand when a so-called civilized country such as the United States would allow its male babies to be so readily mutilated legally!"{{cite web|title=Press release: "Clitoraid supports Florida mother who faces prison for refusing to have her little boy Genitally Mutilated. Clitoraid asks U.N. to ban childhood Genital Mutilation worldwide for both genders"|url=http://www.clitoraid.org/news.php?extend.176.2|website=Clitoraid|accessdate=6 August 2015}}