Female genital mutilation (FGM) is when a girl's genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed for no medical reason. It is also known as female circumcision or cutting. It is usually carried out on young girls between infancy and 15 years old, most commonly before puberty starts.
Sometimes religious, social and cultural reasons are given to justify FGM, however it's a dangerous practice and can cause long-lasting health problems that continue throughout a child's life, including: incontinence or difficulties urinating. frequent or chronic vaginal, pelvic or urinary infections. menstrual ...
Removal of, or damage to, highly sensitive genital tissue, especially the clitoris, may affect sexual sensitivity and lead to sexual problems, such as decreased sexual desire and pleasure, pain during sex, difficulty during penetration, decreased lubrication during intercourse, and reduced frequency or absence of ...
The practice can cause severe pain and there may be immediate and long-term health consequences, including physical problems, mental health problems, and complications in childbirth. Girls and women who have undergone FGM are at risk of suffering from its complications throughout their lives.
Girls are potentially at risk when / if, for example: they are born to a woman who has undergone FGM. they have an older sibling or cousin who has undergone FGM. one or both of their parents and/or elder family members consider FGM integral to their cultural or religious identity.
FGM is most often carried out on young girls aged between infancy and 15 years old. It is often referred to as 'cutting', 'female circumcision', 'initiation', 'Sunna' and 'infibulation'.
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) can affect a woman's mental health long after the procedure, into her adult life. Women with FGM/C often show signs of psychological trauma: anxiety, somatization, depression, post-traumatic stress and other mood disorders.
Some women experience sexual dysfunction, such as painful sex, lack of desire, bleeding, or inability to experience penetration as a result of FGM and its associated infections.
Signs FGM might have taken place
Having difficulty walking, standing or sitting. Spending longer in the bathroom or toilet. Appearing quiet, anxious or depressed. Acting differently after an absence from school or college. Reluctance to go to the doctors or have routine medical examinations.
Psychosexual reasons: 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.
Other anthropologists believe that FGM was practised among Equatorial African herders to protect young female herders from being raped, or an “an outgrowth of human sacrificial practices, or some early attempt at population control”.
Type III is the most severe type of FGM, known as infibulation, which involves the narrowing of the vaginal orifice with the creation of a seal that is formed by cutting and then stitching the labia minora and/or the labia majora with or without excision of the clitoris.
It is most often carried out on young girls between infancy and age 15. In every form in which it is practiced, FGM is a violation of girls' and women's fundamental human rights, including their rights to health, security and dignity.
FGM is a form of child abuse. The child is often forcibly restrained while the painful procedure is performed by someone who has no medical training and uses scalpels, scissors, knives, or razor blades, without giving the child anaesthetic or antiseptic treatment.
Available data reveals that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is mostly practiced in the western, eastern, and north-eastern regions of Africa and in some countries in Asia and the Middle East.
Female Genital Mutilation comprises all procedures involving the removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Most often, FGM is practiced on girls and young women under 18. FGM is not prescribed by any religion and has no health benefits.
At Penn Medicine, one of our renowned plastic surgeons pioneered reconstructive surgery that restores genital function and form after FGM/C. The procedure improves the appearance of patients' genitals, may increase sexual function and helps restore physical and emotional well-being.
Type 3 FGM/C may cause some girls and women to have painful menstrual periods. Some women are left with only a small opening for urinating and menstrual bleeding. They may not be able to pass all of their menstrual blood. This can cause pain and periods that are longer than normal.
FGM has no health benefits. It can lead to immediate health risks, as well as long-term complications to women's physical, mental and sexual health and well-being.
Every woman has the right to have sexual health and to feel sexual pleasure for full psychophysical well-being of the person. In accordance with other research, the present study reports that FGM/C women can also have the possibility of reaching an orgasm.
“Changes in the microfauna that result, means the vaginal environment may become unfavourable to sperm, and also less able to guard against constant infection leading to further inflammation – all of which reduces fertility.”