Female Genital Mutilation

As you are reading this article, there are between eight and ten million women and girls in the Middle East and in Africa who are at risk of undergoing one form or another of genital cutting. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), also known as female circumcision, or female genital cutting, has been practiced for several thousand years in almost 30 African and Middle Eastern nations. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates between 100 and 132 million women and girls worldwide have been subjected to FGM and an estimated 2 million are at risk each year. Every day innocent girls go through excruciating pain everyday without even knowing why. Some die and others are cursed to live a life full of health complications. But where is this practiced and what exactly is FGM?

FGM currently occurs in 28 African countries and is found among some ethnic groups is Yemen, Oman, and the United Emirates, as well as parts of Malaysia and Indonesia. Within practicing African countries, prevalence ranges from 5% to almost 100% of women affected (Female Genital Mutilation). There are also increasingly found in Europe, Australia, Canada, and the USA, primarily among immigrants from these countries. FGM is illegal in most western countries, and , now, in many African nations, although laws are ignored and it is still practiced, either secretly in private homes or clinics, or by sending unsuspecting girls back to the parent's home country for a "vacation", to get circumcised.

FGM involves the removal of genital tissues from girls and it is performed in different ways, depending on the culture or location where it takes place. There are 4 different types of FGM that are practiced throughout the world today. Table 1 lists the 4 types of FGM and a brief description of each. In the Nursing magazine, Margaret Brady mentions how that out of all,

Inbulation is the type of FGM most often performed in African countries- usually by untrained women working under primitive conditions and without anesthesia. The cutting instrument may be a razor blade, scissors, kitchen knife, or a piece of broken glass. Thorns, catgut, or horsehair may be used to hold the raw skin edges together. The same un-sterilized instruments may be used for many procedures, so blood borne pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus and Hepatitis B virus are easily transmitted (50-51).

When women have their babies, they have to be cut open and then sewn up again. Side effects of this operation include hemorrhage, shock, urine retentions, urinary infections, etc. FGM has long-term physiological, sexual, and psychological effects (FGM ). Descriptions of this procedure are horrible to describe because it just innocent girls who have no idea what is going on that get awaken in the middle of the night at dawn and left off to some place in a yard.

"Here she is surrounded by the other adult women who hold her down to the bare ground. She is confused, frightened and shocked all at once when the operator approaches and cuts into her genitals. The struggle that follows compares to that of a trapped animal. She screams and struggles until she is exhausted. There is a piercing pain and agony with every bloody cut in some settings, dust and ashes may be used to stop the bleeding and 'help healing' and then they shut the girl's legs together (Female 40)."

FGM is usually carried out by male traditional healers, traditional birth attendants or elderly women in some rural communities. It's a shame for these girls and women to have to go through so much pain and to then have to face a life full of health problems. But why??

Table 1

4 Types of Female Genital Mutilation

Type of FGM Description

Sunna Circumcision The first and mildest type of FGM. The term

"Sunna" refers to the tradition as taught by the prophet Muhammad. This is the process in which the tips of the clitoris and/or its covering (prepuce) are removed.

Clitoridectomy The second type of FGM involves the entire removal of the clitoris, as well as the labia minora and majora.

Infibulation or Pharanoic the third type of FGM is basically Circumcision Clitoridectomy followed by sewing up of kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkthe vulva secured with thorns, catgut, or thread. A small opening is kept to allow the passage of urine and menstrual blood. On kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkthe wedding night the woman is cut open to kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkallow intercourse and then closed again kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkafterwards to secure fidelity to the husband.

Pricking or burning this type of FGM consists of pricking, kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkpiercing, or incising of the clitoris and kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk labia; stretching or cauterization by burning kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkthe clitoris and surrounding tissue.

Source: Female genital Mutilation in Africa, the Middle East, & Far East.. 3 Mar. 2002

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