FGM: Female Genital Mutilation Must be Outlawed Worldwide

1457 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The role of women in the world

Female Genital Mutilation, shortened to FGM in most medical texts, is “collective name given to several different traditional practices that involve the cutting of female genitals.” FGM is a common cultural practice in many parts of the world, especially Africa and Asia that was established hundreds of years ago. There are many different types of FGM, ranging from clitoridectomy, to cutting and infibulations (Skaine 7). Even though these procedures are accepted in the areas they are practiced, FGM has become a human rights discussion resurfacing in recent years because the procedures serve no purpose. Female Genital Mutilation is an unethical practice that should be outlawed throughout the entire world. FGM, specifically infibulation, is believed to have started in Arabia and then spread to Africa through a well-established trade route. FGM has never been considered a hygienic practice because most of the procedures make hygiene more difficult (Pieters). The sole purpose of FGM is to make sexual contact unsatisfactory for the woman, no matter what the motive is. Some girls go through FGM procedures at a young age to calm their fathers’ nerves and others undergo the procedures so she won’t stray from her husband. In Egypt, 97 percent of women have undergone a Female Circumcision procedure sometime in their lives while only 82 percent approve of it. An Indonesian study showed that midwives performed from about 68 to 88 percent of all procedures (Skaine 42). Most of the time, girls that receive a Female Circumcision don’t even get a chance to voice their opinions because they are too young when the procedure is performed. While Female Genital Mutilation procedures serve their purpose, to take away sexual satisfaction, every advers... ... middle of paper ... ...problem is viewed by the public. According to the Womankind Worldwide organization, in order to achieve the abolition of FGM two things must happen: “FGM needs to be firmly [placed] on national governments’ agendas and there must be clear laws specifically criminalizing FGM” (Womankind Worldwide 32). Until those two things happen, Female Genital Mutilation will continue to be a worldwide concern. Developed nations must help the countries “lagging behind” to smooth the progress of eradicating FGM (Skaine 79). The frequency of genital cutting in individual countries makes the practice seem irrelevant in many parts of the world; however the practice is a worldwide human rights concern. A person’s body should not be deformed, unless for hygienic or medical reasons, without the individual’s permission therefore any form of Female Genital Mutilation should not take place.

Show More
Related

  • Macklin's Ethical Relativism In A Multicultural Society

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    G brings his 12-year-old daughter, Aliya, to Dr. Jordan’s office with the request that he perform the procedure on her. Although traditionally the procedure is performed without anesthesia or antiseptics, Mr. G says that he wants his daughter to have access to these, because he does not want her to suffer and wants her to be safe. Dr. Jordan does not find these concessions satisfactory, however. He believes that the practice, even with anesthesia, reflects an unacceptable disfigurement, repression, and control of women. Mr. G and his daughter insist that they want the procedure carried out; if not, they will seek the traditional method when they return to their home country for a planned visit.”

    Read More

  • Female Circumcision: Rite Of Passage Or Violation Of

    1501 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Analyzing Edgerton's Argument

    1094 Words  | 3 Pages

    Female genital mutilation is mostly practiced in Islamic and African cultures, claiming young girls as t...

    Read More

  • Female Circumcision As An Example Of Ethnocentrism In Western Culture

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Personal Issues In Intersexion: A Documentary About Being Intersex

    781 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her article “Should There Be Only Two Sexes,” Anne Fausto-Sterling discusses the implications of this genital surgery. She states that infantile genital surgery “causes extensive scarring, requires multiple surgeries, and often obliterates the possibility of orgasm” (80). Fausto-Sterling explains the consequences of these surgeries in order to argue against them. She instead says that intersex individuals should be allowed to make their own decisions regarding their bodies after being well-informed about the choices they have. The individuals interviewed in the documentary confirm the consequences Fausto-Sterling discusses and her conclusion. One person discusses how doctors had removed her clitoris and performed multiple surgeries to widen her vagina during her youth; however, these surgeries have caused sex to be painful and eliminated the possibility of orgasm. Another individual talks about how multiple childhood surgeries had led to significant pain and infections, resulting in scarring. These stories are not uncommon among the interviewed individuals, and all of them express the belief that genital surgery should be a choice made by the intersex individual later in life rather than by others early in life. While they concede that some intersex individuals may feel differently,

    Read More

  • Cultural Relativism as Applied to Female Genital Mutilation

    2751 Words  | 6 Pages

    "I remember the blade. How it shone! There was a woman kneeling over me with the knife. I bit her; it was all I could do. Then three women came to hold me down. One of them sat on my chest. I bit her with all my might." These words reflect Banassiri Sylla’s account of her experience undergoing female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM), at the young age of eight in the Ivory Coast. This disturbing description of her struggle makes it hard to understand why any culture could support such a practice. Yet, it is estimated that about 132 million women and girls in about thirty African countries have undergone the same, or at least similar, cultural procedure as Banassiri. According to the World Health Organization, about two million girls undergo female genital mutilation every year and the percentage of women circumcised is as high as ninety-eight percent in countries such as Djibouti .

    Read More

  • Fgm: Female Genital Mutilation

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    life around it, there is nothing you can do or say that will get them to change;

    Read More

  • Female Circumcision Essay

    1273 Words  | 3 Pages

    Girls who are circumcised are more likely to be limited in their adolescent exploration thus forming a type of oppression from normal teenage activities. It is essential for teenagers to discover their own bodies and explore their sexuality in order to form a sense of self, this does not imply that young teenagers should commit sexual acts, exploring simply implies that teenagers should know their body and its functions, young women should know their own bodies including their own genitalia especially when females begin their first menstrual cycle. However, later in a female's young adult life sexual acts should not be the taboo subject that it is. Instead women should embrace their sexual life, “FGM is carried out as a way to control women’s sexuality, which is sometimes said to be insatiable if parts of the genitalia, especially the clitoris, are not removed. It is thought to ensure virginity before marriage and fidelity afterward, and to increase male sexual pleasure.” (UNFPA), female circumcision is used in order to deprive women from their sexuality. Female circumcision is no more than a way to control woman, because of this teenagers who have undergone female circumcision are being forced to submit to religious believes that they themselves may not agree with, “The controversial tradition of FGC sets these immigrants apart from the mainstream culture and may complicate their efforts to adjust to life in the United States and cause intergenerational conflict in some families. For instance, parents may consider it important for their daughters to be cut, regardless of the girls’ wishes, as a way to maintain their identity with the family and its cultural community of origin.” (Akinsulure-Smith 358). The effect of being a circumcised female in adolescence in the Unites States is greater than

    Read More

  • Female Genital Mutilation: A Violation of Human Rights

    3259 Words  | 7 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Female Genital Mutilation Analysis

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Female Genital Mutilation

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    knew what would happen to her the day her mother called her out of her

    Read More

  • A Stance on Abortion

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Female Genital Mutilation

    1756 Words  | 4 Pages

    Some countries have banned Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) but some societies continue to perform this procedure. Likewise, coming from an anthropological perspective, I understand why cultures and societies perform Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). But as a young woman and a Westerner, I feel as though the girl should have a choice, and worry about the negative consequences of having the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) surgery. In conclusion, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) leaves non-Westerns wondering who came up with this procedure. Works Cited Anonymous, Female Genital Mutilation.

    Read More

  • Social Workers Power

    497 Words  | 1 Pages

    Local authorities have the mandate to safeguard and promote the welfare of girls and women in their boroughs. I strongly believe that FGM is used as power and control over women. Over 140 000 women and girls have undergone this procedure here in the UK so now social workers must notify the police if they discover that such an act has been performed. This only relates when it has been disclosed by a child under 18 or the social worker has had visual confirmation. Failure to report this leads to disciplinary measures. Cultures that practice this argue that FGM guarantees purity before marriage, men enjoy sex with circumcised women and that uncircumcised women are unclean, whilst others not supporting this state that it has serious health and mental implication these vulnerable girls. There is a lot of pressure for parents to circumcise their girls because the role tradition plays in their lives. There is also the pressure to fit it. Parents feel that if they do not do this other people from their community will see them as not following culture and condemn them. Parents are even taking their children back to their home countries for examples countries like Ethiopia in order for the girls to be circumcised. The procedures are carried out mostly by the grandmother or someone older who is known in the community (HM Government,

    Read More

  • Analysis Of This Sex Which Is Not One

    752 Words  | 2 Pages

    Luce Irigaray, ’ article, “This Sex Which is Not one,” can be succinctly summarized by the following key points. First, the author mentions the way women are seen in the western philosophical discourse and in psychoanalytic theory. She also talks about the women’s sexuality in many ways. ”Female sexuality has always been concepualtized on the basis of masculine parameters.” Women are seen in qualitatively rather than quantitatively. “Must this multiplicity of female desire and female language be understood as shards, scattered remnants of a violated sexuality? A sexually denied?” Freud mentions that the clitoris is a small penis. The female parts are always seen as a commodity for men. Women don’t need men’s object to pleasure themselves

    Read More

More about FGM: Female Genital Mutilation Must be Outlawed Worldwide

Open Document