Female Genital Mutilation
Female Genital Mutilation – Violating Women’s Rights and Bodies
Female Genital Mutilation is often abbreviated “FGM” and is also known as Female Genital Cutting (FGC) or Female Circumcision. According to the World Health Organization, there are 4 major types of practices. The most common one is the Clitoridectomy, a partial or total removal of the clitoris. The Excision is the partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora and/or the labia majora, the inner and outer lips that surround the vagina. Another practice is the narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting, repositioning and stitching the labia and is called Infibulation. The last type includes all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical reasons, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area (WHO, 2013).
Procedures are usually carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15, and occasionally on adult women before they give birth to their first child, get married, or after becoming a widow. About 140 million girls and women have undergone FGM worldwide and more than 3 million female infants and children are at risk for this procedure annually (WHO, 2013). Female Genital Mutilation is most common in the western, eastern and north-eastern regions of Africa, and in some countries in Asia and the Middle East. It is also increasingly found among migrants from these areas, who settled in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America (Forward, n.d.).
The practice is traditionally carried out by circumcisers, who often play other central roles in communities, such as attending childbirths (WHO, 2013). Usually they are older women with no professional medical training. Young girls and women who undergo FGC have to endure extreme pain, since the procedure is often conducted without anaesthesia and under non-sterile conditions (Sipsma et al.,
Female Genital Mutilation is often abbreviated “FGM” and is also known as Female Genital Cutting (FGC) or Female Circumcision. According to the World Health Organization, there are 4 major types of practices. The most common one is the Clitoridectomy, a partial or total removal of the clitoris. The Excision is the partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora and/or the labia majora, the inner and outer lips that surround the vagina. Another practice is the narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting, repositioning and stitching the labia and is called Infibulation. The last type includes all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical reasons, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area (WHO, 2013).
Procedures are usually carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15, and occasionally on adult women before they give birth to their first child, get married, or after becoming a widow. About 140 million girls and women have undergone FGM worldwide and more than 3 million female infants and children are at risk for this procedure annually (WHO, 2013). Female Genital Mutilation is most common in the western, eastern and north-eastern regions of Africa, and in some countries in Asia and the Middle East. It is also increasingly found among migrants from these areas, who settled in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America (Forward, n.d.).
The practice is traditionally carried out by circumcisers, who often play other central roles in communities, such as attending childbirths (WHO, 2013). Usually they are older women with no professional medical training. Young girls and women who undergo FGC have to endure extreme pain, since the procedure is often conducted without anaesthesia and under non-sterile conditions (Sipsma et al.,
References: World Health Organization. (2013). Female Genital Mutilation. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/ FORWARD - Foundation for Women 's Health, Research and Development. (n.d.). Female Genital Mutilation. Retrieved from http://www.forwarduk.org.uk/key-issues/fgm Sipsma, H. L., Chen, P. G., Ofori-Atta, A., Ilozumba, U. O., Karfo, K., & Bradley, E. H. (2012). Female genital cutting: current practices and beliefs in western Africa. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 90(2), 120-127. doi: 10.2471/BLT.11.090886