In a deeply disturbing revelation, it has been uncovered that genitalia from girls mutilated in Ivory Coast are being sold for use in “magic” and other rituals. Extensive interviews with former faith healers, circumcisers, social workers, researchers, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) highlight a thriving trade in female genitalia for the powers they supposedly impart. This trade is severely hampering the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM), which has been banned in the Ivory Coast for more than a quarter of a century. Despite the ban, one in five Ivorian women are still being cut, with the figure rising to one in two in parts of the north. A ground-down clitoris can sell for up to $170, equivalent to a month’s earnings for many in the country.
Labe Gneble, head of the National Organisation for Women, Children, and the Family (ONEF), states that genitalia cut from girls in illegal “circumcision” ceremonies are used in several regions of the West African country to “make love potions” or magic ointments believed to help people “make money or reach high political office.” Moussa Diallo, a former witch doctor, regularly smeared himself with a lotion made from a clitoris cut from a girl subjected to FGM. Diallo stopped using the unctions a decade ago but confirmed that dried clitorises are still “very sought after for mystical practices.”
Diallo, who now campaigns against FGM, often accompanied circumcisers into the forest or to homes where dozens of girls would be circumcised. He described how the clitorises would be dried for a month or two and then pounded into a “black powder,” sometimes mixed with plants, roots, bark, or shea butter. This powder could be sold for around “100,000 CFA Francs if the girl was a virgin” or “65,000 if she already had a child,” or bartered for goods and services.
Despite some circumcisers’ claims that cut clitorises are buried, thrown into a river, or given to parents, one in the west admitted some end up being used for magic. Witch doctors use them for “incantations” and sell them afterwards. Another circumciser said some colleagues were complicit in the trade, giving genitalia to those with ill intentions for occult purposes. The trade in genitalia is considered “organ trafficking” under Ivorian law and is punishable with fines and several years in prison. However, no one has ever been indicted for trafficking, partly due to the secrecy surrounding sacred practices.
The practice of using clitoris powder as an aphrodisiac or to increase field fertility persists in some regions, despite being scientifically baseless. Gynaecologist Jacqueline Chanine dismisses the notion that a clitoris can impart magical powers, yet the practice remains widespread. Dieudonne Kouadio, an anthropologist, found a box of the powder in Odienne, confirming the ongoing trade.
The trade is a significant reason FGM continues in the Ivory Coast, where the rate of cutting is generally falling but still exists at concerning levels. The dry season, from January to March, is the favored period for circumcisions. The only social work center in the region reports that while cutting continues, it is difficult to quantify as it happens secretly, often behind traditional festivals unrelated to the practice, with circumcisers from neighboring Guinea—where FGM rates are over 90%—perpetuating the practice.
