I agree with the OP that within Somali society, women/girls are both the instigators and victims of FGM.
Now obviously FGM has its routes in male views of chastity and whatnots and it was said by some theorists that the practice began in what is now the lower Nile valley area several millennia ago?
@EternalLightX you say that FGM is based on how society views women in certain parts but in regards to modern-day Somali society (what OP is on about i assume)
which segregates the genders from birth and were the mothers (not fathers) advise their sons to seek a girl who's cut, then it seems the main focus should lay on women
.
So yes it is based on patriarchal/male societal views however, these views are enforced and prolonged by the female relatives surrounding the young impressionable minds of Somali men.
Here's an illuminating post by a Somali FEMINIST that shows that (anecdotally at least) it is the men who are against this practice at times:
http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2011/04/29/somalia-and-its-discontents/
In my own experience, it was my father and uncle who objected to this practice, and saved my siblings and I from the unjust fate experienced by many Somali women, while my mother supported it.
Now, I personally never heard of FGM until recently and like any sane individual who wasn't brainwashed, i was disgusted that this barbaric practice still exits. Likewise i assume many young Somali men (especially ones who grew up in the west) never really knew about this till later in their lifes.
Ironically, even this Somali school girl anti-FGM campaigner from Bristol who probably gets tons of funding from state coffers never heard of FGM till later (although she seems to be a hard working individual who is combating FGM as her personal duty so don't hate):
“Despite growing up in a Somali family Fahma said she had never heard of FGM until her friends discussed it at the age of 14.”
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Global-support-young-campaigner-FGM/story-20673290-detail/story.html
And according to one of several xalimo campaigners, Leyla Hussein said that she faced the
worst abuse from fellow Somali women who were against her activities:
“I have been spat on, shouted at and attacked by men in balaclavas. I have had to have three different types of alarm fitted at my home. I do not let many people know where I live now. The worst offenders have been Somali women. Women from my own community.”