FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

Female Genital Mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation

Introduction

The female genital mutilation is a crucial element of ritual initiation ceremonies in some communities, since it marks the transition to adulthood for girls. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a popular belief as a means of controlling female sexuality (Adam et al 2010). The origin of these practices is relatively unknown to researchers, but there is evidence of their existence before the advent of Christianity and the Islam, in communities that perpetuate today. The age of girls at the time of mutilation varies by region. Female genital mutilation is performed on infants after a few days, on girls aged 7 to 10 years, and on adolescents. At present, female genital mutilation is widely practiced in Africa. To a lesser extent, FGM is also practiced in Asia, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, in Australia and Latin America and some Western countries (Billing & Kentenich 2008).

Today, organizations working on behalf of human rights in Western countries, in Africa and Asia, consider female genital mutilation as a violation of human rights. These practices are considered unacceptable forms of modification of the physical integrity of the individual, especially as these mutilations are performed on people too young or too vulnerable to give their informed consent. Surgeons describe it as "a crime because of multiple rape, incest, mutilation and ignorance”. Female genital mutilation is illegal in most countries of the world (Momoh 2011).

Types of FGM

The generic term FGM covers several distinct practices. In addition to the mutilation involving partial or total destruction of the genitals causing the lack of sexual pleasure in women, certain forms of female circumcision are considered by their supporters as analogous to male circumcision practices in the sense that both procedures are usually based on the removal of the foreskin and the brake.

Excision is the most common form of FGM. It is also called "sunna" ablation or incision of the hood of the clitoris. Cultural backgrounds are common to the operation of circumcision in men (Billing & Kentenich 2008).

Excision or clitoridectomy is the removal of the clitoris and often the labia minora.  This is practiced in over 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and, to a lesser extent, in Asia(especially Indonesia and Malaysia), the Middle East(including Egypt and Sudan) and in the Arabian Peninsula(including Yemen).

Infibulation or pharaonic circumcision is an excision coupled with the removal of the labia majora, followed by suture alongside the two stumps. Remains only a small opening for the passage of urine and menstrual flow (Momoh 2005). This operation is performed in Djibouti, in Egypt, parts of Ethiopia, in Mali, in Somalia and in northern Sudan.

Introcision is a form of mutilation practiced by the aborigines Pitta-Patta of Australia, consisting of an enlargement of the vaginal orifice by tearing it down (at the perineum) with a sharp instrument. The introcision is also practiced in Peru, especially in Conibos branch of Indian Panos in the north-east (Adam et al 2010).

Other types of female genital mutilation includes perforation, piercing or incision of the clitoris and / or lips, stretching the clitoris and / or labia; cauterization by burning the clitoris and surrounding tissue, curettage of the vaginal opening; scarification the vagina, introduction of corrosive substances into the vagina to cause bleeding or introduction of herbs, still in the vagina, in order to tighten or narrow it (Momoh 2011). The practice is an essentially symbolic and involves no mutilation: ...