[Margaret Pilkington]

I think you are both right in what you say.
Male circumcision is done for medical reasons(and in some religions it is a requirement cited for hygiene reasons), but female circumcision is nothing like this at all. It isn't for hygiene, it is to make the womans sex life poorer(but enhance the male experience) reducing her sexual pleasure means that she is much less likely to want to indulge with any other man.(or indeed any man)
It causes great difficulty in childbirth often necessitating a surgical delivery, it can be responsible for serious bladder and kidney infections, infertility and it increases the risk of death in newborns.

I cannot understand any mother holding down her child to allow this to take place(it can be done any time from infancy up to puberty).