Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice performed in different parts of the world. Although the type and prevalence may be different, FGM affects the well-being of millions of women and children. According to Wold Health Organization (WHO), female genital mutilation is the practice of injuring or cutting partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-therapeutic reasons (2008).
Before discussing the health consequences of the practice, it is important to explain the different types of FGM. The type of mutilation practiced, the age at which it is carried out and the way in which it is done, vary according to a variety of factors. These include the woman or girl’s ethnic group, what country they are living in, whether in a rural or urban area and their socio-economic background. According to WHO, they can be grouped into four categories. Type I is the excision of the clitoral prepuce with or without excision of part or the entire clitoris. Type II is excision of the clitoris with partial or total excision of the labia minora. Type III is excision of part or all of the external genitalia with stitching of the vaginal opening and is called infibulation and the heterogeneous Type IV includes pricking, incising or piercing of the external genitalia, stretching of the clitoris and or labia, cauterisation by burning of the clitoris and surrounding tissue or any other procedure that is performed to cause vaginal narrowing or tightening (2008). It is usually performed by traditional practitioners with or without anesthesia using a knife, a razor blade or broken glass. FGM has been linked in some countries to necessary rites of passage to womanhood along very serious consequences, resulting in poor hea...
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...irth canal. However, as stated previously, FGM have negative sexual health effects for women having undergone the procedure by the formation of scars after the circumcision causing pain during childbirth. Also, the woman might experience painful sexual intercourse and the man might lose his sexual desire.
In conclusion, the practices of FGM have psychological, physical, sociological, and sexual consequences for women having undergone the procedure. According to UNICEF, the scars left by genital mutilation are both physical and psychological and often permanent. (The frequency of complications increases with the degree of mutilation.). Working with-not against-cultural and community practices, and beliefs, and targeting local, national and international levels of influence, helps to end FGM and protect future generations from experiencing this harmful procedure.
“Before the rape I felt good. My life was in order. I was getting ready to get married. Afterward everything changed. I kind of lost who I was as a person…
Female genital mutilation is mostly practiced in Islamic and African cultures, claiming young girls as t...
Some fear that the removal of the healthy part of an organ is a purely
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has had different definitions in the ‘Scientific World’ and the world of those who embrace the act. According to the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO), Female Genital Mutilation is the act of removing the external parts of the female genitalia, partially or totally for non-medical reasons (WHO) whereas the practitioners see it as the cutting of “extra skin tags” of the female’s reproductive organ. Various reasons have been put forward to support it, ranging from social, cultural and religious reasons, mainly in the so called Islamic communities. FGM is a violation of the rights of the girl child, causes health implications and drastically disempowers the sexuality of women.
There are three kinds of female genital mutilation. Of the three procedures infibulation is the most serious form of female genital mutilation, as the exeternal or genetelia are almost scraped away and the normal urinary and vaginal openings are replaced by small openings in the sealed scar. The opening must be enlarged for sexual intercourse and even for child birth.(Sanderson13-61).Black Women are made to believe that “Infibulation purifies , and makes clean the outer surface of the womb , the enclosure of the home of the child birth , it socializes or culturalizes a woman’s fertility”(Janet Boddy 696). This cultural practice is considered as the gate way for a girl to enter womanhood and wifehood. The consequences of this dangerous process of Female Genital Mutilation are urinary infections, blood poisoning ,painful intercourse ,recurrent vaginal injuries in sexual acts ,and even death due to hemorrhage. Alice
Since male circumcision is a surgery there are certain risks involved. There is a 2-10% occurrence rate of key complications that involve hemorrhage, sepsis, fistula, meatal stenosis, removal of excessive skin and penile loss (5:2239), of which parents should be made aware.
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.
Female genital mutilation is practiced and done cruelty without mercy. As well as, FGM consists of complete removal of external female genitalia. Stated by www.forwarduk.org , FGM is composed of four types . The first type well - known as Clitoridectomy it requires cutting the skin surrounding the clitoris without cutting the clitoris itself. The second type is cutting the clitoris and the skin near it, also some parts of the labia minora or sometimes the labia completely. The third type, is the most dreadful is removal of the external genitalia and sewing the gap of the vaginal opening. This procedure is well- know as infibulation. The tissue then creates a canal of scar above the vigina leaving a miniature hole for urine and period blood. The victim then has severe complication during sexual activity . The Majority of female genital cutting cases are of this t...
2. FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION: AN INTRODUCTION. National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers FGM Awareness and Education Project. Box 2512 San Anselmo, CA 94979
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is an ancient traditional non-therapeutic surgical procedure that involves total or partial removal of the external parts of female genitalia. This paper aimed to define and classify FGM, identifies the prevalence, describes reasons for performing the practice, and concentrates on the problems associated to this practice with regard to women’s health, religious beliefs, and socio-cultural, behavioral and moral consequences. Researches and survey reports that the global actions have been taken to reduce or abolish the prevalence of the practice will be assessed.
Females as a general population have been faced with discrimination across the ages. In recent history, women have begun to assert their freedom and independence from the male oriented traditions that have spanned generations. In industrialized countries the discrimination of women has diminished, but a serious form of violation of human rights occurs sometimes in parts of the world, such as Africa, the Middle East, and even sometimes the United States and other industrialized countries in North America and Europe. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is an umbrella term for three subtypes of crimes committed against women as a part of various coming of age rituals for young girls in certain patriarchal communities in Africa, spreading through migration of a populace through Northeastern and Western Africa and some spread into the Middle Eastern countries. These communities integrated this practice into women through marriage into these cultures, spreading this practice into their daughters and so forth. FGM has been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) into three basic subtypes, each growing more and more disturbing. Subtype number one is a clitoridectomy which is the complete or partial removal of the clitoris, while subtype two it includes the clitoridectomy plus the removal of the labia minora of the young girl. Alone, these two types of FGM composed approximately 90 percent of female genital mutilation. The third subtype is the most gruesome that is the narrowing the vagina opening by sealing the orifice with the use of the labia majora. These medical procedures have been described the WHO working in conjunction with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Un...
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.
In Searching for “Voices”: Feminism, Anthropology, and the Global Debates over Female Genital Operations, Walley discusses the social issues concerning female genital operations as perceived by “westerners”, as well as discusses her ethnographic account of female circumcision. Her main purpose of doing this was to lay the groundwork for “a more productive feminist and anthropological debate” capable of going beyond the binary terms in which female circumcisions are usually discussed. Since female circumcisions are known by a variety of names, such as female genital mutilation and female genital torture, and with her understanding of the negative connotation often associated with those varieties of names, Walley makes the decision to adopt the term female genital operations instead. In 1988, Walley went in the village of KiKhome, in western Kenya as an English teacher and immersed herself in the lives of the people living around the village to better understand the practice of female genital operations as an outsider. One day, some of her students invited her to assist at a female genital operation ceremony. She found out that the participants see circumcision as a rite of passage into adulthood. However, she truly wanted to know the participants’ personal views on the topic rather than the imposed views of their parents and their culture. The four women she interviewed told her that “their custom was good,” and it was something that a person needs to accept with her whole being not to feel the pain. Nevertheless, some of the women told her that they would not want their daughters to undergo circumcision, and that they themselves regretted having done the procedure. Walley finally gave up “searching for real voices,” because what t...
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.