Genital mutilation why

Recently a mother in London became the first person in the UK to be found guilty of carrying out FGM on her three-year-old daughter. She will be sentenced on 8 March. Image source, Getty Images. This woman in Mombasa, Kenya shows the razorblade she has used on girls' genitals.

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. She is now an anti FGM campaigner. What is Female Genital Mutilation?

Unicef estimates more than million girls and women have suffered FGM in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, but also within migrant communities where FGM is common - in Spain, 18, girls are considered to be at risk. Bishara became an anti FGM campaigner after struggling to cope with her mutilation. There are four types of FGM. Why does it happen? Some Kenyan Maasai women voiced opposition to a FGM ban because of fears that uncut girls would not be able to get married or become promiscuous.

Where is FGM practised? Therefore figures are based on estimates. The reasons behind the practice vary. Many communities practice genital mutilation in the belief that it will ensure a girl's future marriage or family honour. Some associate it with religious beliefs, although no religious scriptures require it. FGM has no health benefits and often leads to long-term physical and psychological consequences.

Medical complications can include severe pain, prolonged bleeding, infection, infertility and even death. It can also lead to increased risk of HIV transmission.

Women who have undergone genital mutilation can experience complications during childbirth, including postpartum haemorrhage, stillbirth and early neonatal death. Psychological impacts can range from a girl losing trust in her caregivers to longer-term feelings of anxiety and depression as a woman. Progress to end FGM needs to be at least 10 times faster if the practice is to be eliminated by While the exact number of girls and women worldwide who have undergone FGM remains unknown, at least million girls and women aged 15—49 from 31 countries have been subjected to the practice.

There has been significant progress made in eliminating the practice in the past 30 years. So, wow. I guess the biggest question for me is what do they see as the benefit? Are there any benefits?

And it is in some other cultures. Also, for us, we believe that bodies are natural and perfect. Not everybody believes that. Some people in Africa believe that bodies are androgynous and that all male and female bodies contain male and female parts. And for a female, the covering of the clitoris is a male part. The idea of becoming a wholly formed female includes being cut—having any part that is somewhat male-like removed from the body.

Khazan: That actually makes logical sense to me. We have shaving your legs, or wearing makeup. We have weird things that we do that are less painful. Khazan: So this was in Is this group still doing this? Khazan: What other reasons do people have for doing this in other countries? Khazan: And where is the support for this practice coming from? If we look at the data across Africa, the support for the practice is stronger among women than among men. So, the patriarchy argument is just not a simple one.

Female circumcision is part of demarcating insider and outsider status. Are you part of this group of elder women who have power in their society? Khazan : What, medically, are the harms? Why are people trying to stop this? Things like infant death, hemorrhage. Khazan: Do these communities know about the medical consequences?

Shell-Duncan: One of the things that is important to understand about it is that people see the costs and benefits. It is certainly a cost, but the benefits are immediate. For a Rendille woman, are you going to be able to give legitimate birth? Or elsewhere, are you going to be a proper Muslim? Are you going to have your sexual desire attenuated and be a virgin until marriage? These are huge considerations, and so when you tip the balance and think about that, the benefits outweigh the costs.

Early on in the campaigns, one of the strategies was to educate people about the medical risks, which were, by and large, not really news to them. Some of the campaigns talked about infibulation, which was not the most common form of FGC. Infibulation is the most severe form. They partially open it for intercourse and to give birth. The other thing that can happen is that increasingly, one of the big trends in West Africa is to go to health-care providers and have the circumcision performed there.

In certain places, it was banned in health-care facilities. So then, nurses would take their annual leave and go to their home communities and perform it. Their nomination marks an important step in the fight against FGM, empowering young people to play a role in their own communities. Launch the search. Female genital mutilation: where, why and consequences. Created: - Share this page:. The Restorers, a group of five students from Kenya who have developed an app helping girls deal with female genital mutilation.

It's always about men's control over women's bodies in a debate in the European Parliament on 18 December Share this quote:. Facebook quotes.