Preview

Female Genital Mutilation Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1170 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Female Genital Mutilation Research Paper
I want you all to close you eyes. Imagine a blade. Now run your fingers across the blade. Are your fingers bleeding? Does it hurt? Now imagine your family holding you down. The blade creeping between your legs, you scream but no one cares. You beg your family, your mother, your father to help but then it happens. Now open your eyes. In Somalia alone, 98 percent of women experience Female Genital Mutilation at one stage in their lives. FGM is the destruction of women and girls sexual organs for non-medicinal reasons. This act is practice globally in 29 countries and due to immigration, FGM has spread to western countries such as Australia. This brutal act is illegal and violates human rights laws. But then why do we still do it? Because of this, women are not seen as women, not seen as …show more content…
This horrific practice has absolutely no health benefits, reinforces gender inequality and violates Human Right laws that needs to be abolished now!

Female Genital Mutilation is also known as FGM which is a practice that causes brutal physical and psychological harm. FGM affect the body in extreme ways beyond imagination. It can destroy, traumatise and even kill the person, leaving them in horrific states. But let me put it in a way you can understand. In most cases, it is done without consent, you are not asked. You are not informed. Imagine being pulled out of school one day and your parents tell you ‘its time’, would you know what’s going on? They take you somewhere far from civilization where your screams can not be heard, they hand you

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The woman is not able to experience sexual pleasure and will not have the ability to be sexually interested in any man, making them less likely to cheat on their husbands, and therefore less likely to disgrace her family. In the Handmaid’s Tale, handmaid’s do not have their own names, but are instead named as the possession of another man. They are unable to be their own person. Offred is not her own person but is instead “Of Fred.” Cultures that practice FGM, view women as property of men, who must be sure to stay quiet, out of trouble and not dishonor the man’s name. Women are treated as “inferior partners” in life("Female Genital and Sexual Mutilation."). Women are unable to be their own person, and make their own decisions. FGM encourages the idea of women as property and lessens the value of a woman as a human being. In cultures that practice FGM, men prefer their wives to have undergone FGM because the man will be able to see that the women is still a virgin. The FGM process ensures that the woman has remained pure and untouched. Sexual Intercourse for women who have undergone FGM is not pleasurable. Studies have shown that women with FGM are twice more likely to report no sexual desire and painful sexual intercourse (Berg, Denison, “A Traditon in Transition”). This will make women much less likely to seek sexual pleasure from their husbands much less any other…

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Horrifying, isn’t it? This procedure is female circumcision, or Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). There are four types. Type 1 is the removal of the clitoris and surrounding tissue. Type 2 is excision of the inner labia and clitoral tissue. Type 3 is the most prevalent in Somalia and the most extreme. Not only is the labia and clitoral tissue cut and removed, the outer lips are sewn shut with only a small hole left for urine and menstrual fluid. Type 4 is everything else; branding, piercing, cutting, stretching, vaginal cutting, etc. Though, most of the world is making great strides to prevent it from happening, it is estimated that over 125 million women between 18 and 49 still had this done to them. In Africa and Asia it is still very prevalent. In Somalia, over 97.8% of women between 15 and 49 have had their genitals cut and sewn.…

    • 691 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Female genital mutilation is the term used for operations or removal of all or just part of the external parts of female genitilia.This practice has for a long time come under increasingly intense international scrutiny from the news media, feminist and human rights organizations. The main reasons for continuation of FGM are firstly, as a rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood; a circumcised woman is considered mature, obedient and aware of her role in the family and society.Secondly, FGM is perpetuated as a means of reducing sexual desire of girls and women, thereby curbing sexual activity before and ensuring fidelity within marriage.…

    • 1934 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Half The Sky

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When Kristoff asked if given compensation equivalent to her FGM sessions, she immediately defended herself that she would stop the practice. Prof. Bertini mentioned that the FGM practice is based on several beliefs biased against women. Thoughts of preserving women’s chastity until and loyalty during marriage rationalize the stitching up of the reproductive organ. Preventing women’s promiscuity is another reason for removing some of the parts of the female anatomy. The practice is heavily embedded in the culture, passed on to succeeding generations; as grandmothers went through FGM, so did the mothers, and the daughters, and potentially their future daughters if no political intervention takes place.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rape is wrong; it violates another person’s will! It not only violates another person’s body involuntarily but what makes them the person they are. It changes that person; they live in fear and shouldn’t have to. Rape in my opinion is a Power crime, because the person committing it does not want the other person’s permission. They want to show the other person they have the power to take it without permission. To me Rape is so much more then wrong, and damages so many people daily. Clitoridectomy, this article as the first time I had ever heard of this ritual. Once again, I cannot imagine I think a woman’s body and what is done with it and to it is her decision alone. I think this ritual is kind of degrading the woman, as rape does also. Letting her know she has no power and control. This in my opinion is sad, and could probably cause a lot of damage to who the woman is not just physically but mentally…

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lack of understanding of female circumcision (in a social context) has led to it’s becoming a subject of much controversy and debate in political, academic and religious fields, mainly by Westerners and Europeans.…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Religion is often confused with social customs. By definition, religion is an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a God or a group of Gods (Religion Merriam). Social customs, on the other hand, are activities that are considered normal or expected in a particular area (Social Customs). There is not much relation between these definitions. In Africa, it is believed that many of the Islamic countries practice Female Genital Mutilation, also known as FGM (Female Genital). As defined on World Health Organization’s (WHO) website, FGM is a procedure that involves partial or total removal of the…

    • 1797 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    This counter argument is not a relevant one and is problematic because it does not negate the system that promotes violence against women nor the cultures that permit these violent acts to continue. In the documentary “The Cruel Cut”, the narrator and several guest speakers talked about their experiences with FGM and how the actual act was…

    • 232 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the United States, this practice is seen as abhorrent and is strongly fought against in feminist movements. However, in African populations, females choose to have this operation and are proud of this change. It is a sign of womanhood and respect of their culture, not a disgraceful mutilation (Khazan, 2015). Understandably, domestic feminists fight against involuntary FGC, but it’s important to recognize that this topic is not as important in African feminist movements, and in many domestic cases, they incorporate African statistics to show the prominence of this operation…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Westernization In Canada

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages

    As the world becomes globalized, countries are trailing behind their cultures and their identity, for them to be cohesive with the Western ideal. The alteration in clothing style, religious beliefs, family roles are few of the examples of the impacts of which Westernization has had on developing countries. With that said, a medical practice common in developing countries such as Uganda, Sudan and Iraq, is female circumcision (Keilburger, 2013). Often linked this practice to Islamic teachings, it is incorrect as in this religion, merely male circumcision is encouraged, proving the fact that this practice roots to generations of cultural beliefs (Keilburger, 2013). “The communities where FGM is practiced explains Dr. Shaw, place high value on virginity, so the custom is seen as protection for young girls from premarital sex”. (Keilburger, 2013: 1) Adding on, developed nations across the world including Canada do not allow for such treatment to be performed on women as it is believed here to be inhumane and child abuse (Keilburger, 2013). Despite scarce records of such mutilation to occur to Canadian women in secrecy, there are laws preventing physicians, doctors and…

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fran Hosken illustrates the procedure as "the use of thorns to hold the bleeding sides of the vulva together, or a paste of gum Arabic, sugar, and egg is used. The entrance to the vagina is thus obliterated which is the purpose of the operation. The legs of the girl are tied together immediately after the operation, and she immobilized for several weeks, until the wound of the vulva has closed, except for a small opening that is created by inserting a splinter of wood or bamboo." Female Genital Mutilation has been practiced on girls as young as six-months-old. Fran Hosken also reports that at least 84 million women and girls are mutilated today in the Continental Africa, the Persian Gulf, and the southern part of the Arab Peninsula. The mortality rate due to female genital mutilation is extremely high; but no accurate records are kept comments Fran Hosken. Women and young girls are forced to undergo this experience for numerous reasons. One of the major reasons is for acceptance because a woman is considered dirty and polluted unless she is mutilated. These myths are constructed to validate and continue the female genital mutilations, from which men derive power and control over women as a group reveals Fran Hosken. "Research shows that genital mutilations are increasingly performed in the modern sector in Africa, including hospitals, often on small babies, stripped of all traditional rites," writes Fran Hosken. Women of no age should have to undergo this tortuous procedure. This procedure is used to place value on young women. Young women in underdeveloped countries are often married off to families with money to bring wealth to her…

    • 1519 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Female Circumcision medically referred as a clitoridectomy. It is a surgical procedure to alter or remove female genitalia. In other countries such as the UK (United Kingdom), this procedure is known as “Female Genital Mutilation” and is currently illegal in the United States. In the UK there are an estimated 137,000 women affected by this procedure.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ethical Relativism

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Cited: Female Genital Cutting Education and Networking Project. Nigeria: First Ladies and Female Genital Mutilation. 12 November 2009. 14 November 2009 <http://www.fgmnetwork.org/index.php>.…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even though abortions are illegal it doesn’t stop women conducting their own, with 68,000 women a year dying through unsafe abortions or suffering from long term health complications such infections and genital trauma, all of which are consequence of the current legislation. Reasons why women choose to abort this way is due to that they don’t have access to the facilities that insure safe procedures therefore are left with a no choice but to put themselves at a risk. Another consequence of the current legislation is that women are not held equally within the law, as it restricts women of the rights over their bodies, yet there are no current laws that exhibit these same unjust controls over men. This failure by the government to recognise this, has caused “gender-specific harm”, as it confines women to either two groups when antenatal, that being either pregnant or deviant. Therefore, not only causing mental and physical consequences, for women but social…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    All over the world female cutting, or circumcisions, are being performed for various reasons with numbers currently reaching around 140 million alive and affected (Crockett 2015). With that high of a number and the numbers increasing around three million more affected per year a large world-wide controversy has been started (Crockett 2015). In most circumstance the reasoning for female circumcisions is religious and part of one’s culture and heritage (Crockett 2015). Some are required to have it performed and the procedures and after effects are painful (Crockett 2015). That hasn’t stopped some countries from banning it like others have, deeming it an act of violence towards girls and women (Crockett 2015). So is female cutting actually an act of violence or should the bans be lifted and why is it performed exactly?…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays