Female genital mutilation, or FGM, has become one of the most monstrous issues facing young women around the world today. FGM is preformed on young girls to prevent a women’s potential promiscuity. It involves removing or mutilating a female’s genitals. FGM is more commonly preformed on females between the ages from four years to, in some cases, 25 years.
FGM is most commonly practiced in 26 of 43 African countries. According to the PATH organization report, FGM is prevalent in Somalia, Zaire, Mali, Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, and the Central African Republic. FGM is also found among ethnic groups in Oman, the UAE, Yemen, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia. According to the statistics collected by WHO, 93.7% of Eritrean women, 98% of Somalian women, 97% of Egyptian women, 89%of Sudanese women, 93.7%of Malian women, and only 5% of women from Zaire have undergone some form of FGM. FGM is more common in rural areas and villages than it is in urban cities in these countries. These countries leaders and governments condemn the practice of FGM, however, no formal action or initiative has taken place to stop it from occurring. FGM is becoming more common in the US, Canada, and England due to the rise of immigrants from FGM practicing communities.
FGM is carried out as a means to control a woman’s sexual desires. It ensures virginity and fidelity before marriage and it also increases a male’s sexual pleasure. In addition, FGM is viewed as a rites of passage ritual that allows women to enter womanhood. Some societies view it as hygienic to preform FGM since female genitalia resembles that of a male.
There are also socio-economic reasons for preforming FGM. For example, in communities where FGM is a prerequisite for marriage, women are dependent ...
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... end FGM. The World Health Organization is working to strengthen the health sector. They are providing guidelines, training and policy to “ensure that health professionals can provide medical care and counseling to girls living with FGM.” WHO is also generating knowledge about the causes and consequences of FGM procedures, and are working to end the practice so that future generations are safe from such a brutal surgical procedure. Last but not least, WHO is working to increase advocacy and developing publicity.
Female genital mutilation is not an issue that will blow over immediately; it requires extreme measures, strategies, and persistence. As a major community health issue, it is imperative that FGM procedures be publicized and made aware of. We must form a foundation that increases advocacy and pushes for legislation that will benefit women around the world.
It examines questions about cultural practices and why some/all people accept them and whom that might be benefitting or harming (ibid). In other words, it examines the behaviors, consequences, social factors, and above all the power structures in play. In Althaus’ article, she postulates that one reason that female circumcision is used is to increase the sexual pleasure of men (Althaus, 131). Here we can see the strong presence of a patriarchal society. Recall the purpose here is not to actually criticize this practice but rather seek the underlying interests or motivations of implementing it. The strong presence of a patriarchy indicates that women in a way are indeed used as means to serve the interests of men both sexually and also by providing a child. This brings about the winners (men) and the oppressed
Female genital mutilation is mostly practiced in Islamic and African cultures, claiming young girls as t...
Female genital circumcision (FGC) is a cultural ritual that is performed to the vast majority of women within the countries of Sudan, Kenya, Mali, Benin, Togo, and parts of the Middle East. Female genital circumcision also termed as female genital mutilation is used based upon a person’s beliefs. This ritual has been highly controversial for many years especially in the western society, due to the health risks that women may have to go through. Doctor Gruenbaum, and anthropologist who studied FGC in Sudan, has researched this topic and believes that outsiders need to have an open mind about diverse cultures. I believe that this procedure should not be illegal; however, education about the risks of the procedure should be enforced in the countries where this takes place, in order to create a safer environment for the ritual to be performed in. The goal of this essay is to know what Female Genital Circumcision is and different types of FGC and why this is performed and why it is important for outsiders to not have ethnocentric views when dealing with this. This essay also deals with why it should be medicalized instead of enforcing laws to ban this years long tradition in all African countries. When challenging female genital circumcision, we are also challenging the people who perform this procedure, their culture, values and beliefs.
Is female genital mutilation a cultural practice or a delinquency? Female genital mutilation better known as female genital cutting is a operation performed based on religion and cultural causes. However, entirely of the victims gone through this sacrifice explain it as a crime.
... make women more susceptible to HIV/AIDS and other sexual diseases. This injustice needs to be solved on a global context.
Unlike male circumcisions which were practice for religious purposes, female circumcision is done for social convention and is practiced as a way to prepare girls for marriage, as well as conform to societal norms of femininity. Female circumcisions are often motivated by what would be considered proper female behavior and as a way to promote virginity as well as cause pain during intercourse to uphold these beliefs. Much like male circumcision these societal beliefs about sex and purity, have affected these cultures in their convictions that circumcision must be performed to be pure and free of
Yirga, Kassa, Gebremichael (2012). Female Genital Mutilation: Prevalence, perceptions and effect on women’s health. International Journal of Women’s Health, 4, 45-54.
Pain, shame, lack of ability to reproduce. Marie, who suffers from each of these symptoms, is one of the many women from Africa who have suffered from female genital mutilation. When Marie was only two years old, she had her clitoris and labia cut off. Since then, she has moved to New York yet is still suffering from the many consequences you get from female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation, also known as FGM, is a very common procedure primarily done in Africa for cultural beliefs. There are no known beneficial medical reasons as to why people would get the procedure done. FGM became a thing several decades ago by African tribes and is only now being brought up into the light as people realize that it is not a necessity in life. Once you go through the procedure, you have to live with the symptoms for the rest of your life and the situation down there does not heal at all. Since the topic is fairly new in the newsstands, not a lot of people know how to address women who have gone through this and how they can help them from here on out. FGM is spreading throughout the world rather rapidly because women finally decided to start speaking up for themselves. Several countries are trying to determine the long-term outcomes of FGM and improve the situation for the near future.
Many feminists in the Western Culture have this ethnocentric idea that female circumcision is “female mutilation” portraying it as a “barbaric tradition” and “violence against women” (“Yes to Female Circumcision?”). According to Fuambai Ahmadu, a Sierra Leonean-American anthropologist, female circumcision is an initiation that symbolizes matriarchal power. The practice is “synonymous with women’s power, their political, economic, reproductive, and ritual spheres of influence” (Ahmadu, pg. 14). By having no regards to the cultures and traditions of these small-scale societies, we are invalidating their beliefs and presenting ethnocentric
Many question whether female circumcision (FGM, genital cutting, etc.) is a form of abuse, is it a humane and morally acceptable practice and how can we fix this horrendous practice? These assumptive thoughts are typically made through the eyes of outsiders, female circumcision is many things and must be looked at through such a lens. Despite, all of this female circumcision is still framed very commonly between these three views, female circumcision is abuse, is a result of patriarchal societies, and is a cultural and religious practice.
Expecting to completely eliminate abortions from the face of the earth by making them illegal and getting rid of the facilities that provide them is an awfully absurd idea due to the fact that abortions will never cease to exist. Induced abortions have taken place all over the world, and “societies have [been struggling with] the issue of abortion for millennia” (Abortion). Within countries where abortions are essentially illegal, many turn to unsafe abortion methods, usually performed by unskilled practitioners (Chapter 5). These procedures are “often unsanitary… and [result] in the death or mutilation of many women” (Abortion). In areas where these services are not attainable, many women are prompted to seek out specialists to assist them in dangerous and surreptitious methods of abortion such as repeated blows to the stomach and the insertion of bizarre objects in the vagina and cervix. However, abortion-related deaths are usually quite rare in developed countries where the service is both legal and accessible. It is estimated...
Yao, J., Murray, A.T. and Agadjanian, V., 2013. A geographical perspective on access to sexual and reproductive health care for women in rural Africa. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 96, 60
The first solution that should be suggested is for more efforts to be required by civil society groups and government agencies for greater awareness on gender issues and rekindling efforts of all stakeholders in the quest to formulating policies and programs towards reduction of gender inequality. Specifically, both education and health programs should be emphasized. These programs could greatly benefit women because it can improve access to services for both women and men by removing financial barriers, bringing services closer to local communities, and tackling HIV/AIDS. This would lead to men having a deeper understanding of how protecting their wives and women in general is important, such as always wearing a condom during sex, which would lead to women having a lower chance of contacting
Female circumcision, also known as Female genital mutilation, or female genital cutting is a custom that has sparked controversy among many people belonging to other cultures not accustomed to the practice. Within the argument lay a series of debates surrounding the issue as culture and tradition clash with human rights over whether or not this practice should be allowed. Advocates against the practice draw on the prevalence, perceptions, and reasons for conducting FGM to combat what they believe is a human rights issue.
...se awareness about the harmful health and consequences of child marriages (Human Rights Watch). International organizations should be made to address the consequences of child marriages and also to prevent them from occurring. Lastly, a nation policy should be developed to help women gain help and knowledge about reproductive health if they need it (Human Rights Watch).