Female Genital MutilationAnd It’s Health Risks

What is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

• FGM consist of procedures that include incomplete or over-all amputations of the external female genitalia, or any kind of damage done to the female genital tissues for non-medical reasons.

• FGM is mostly done by traditional cutters, who are women.

• A ritual highly suggested by certain cultures.

Who is at Risk?• The process is normally done to innocent children.• These children and females are usually between infancy and

age 15, and rarely on women that are adults. • In Africa, over three million girls have been anticipated to be at

risk for FGM yearly. • The statistics show that this is going on in twenty-nine

nations. • Most of these nations are found in Africa or the Middle East.

The procedure is most typical in the western parts of Africa, and it is also prevalent in some countries in the Middle East and Asia where it is done vastly among refugees from these regions.

FGM RitualDepending on the country, location and ethnic background is how they determine the type of procedure that will be performed on the child after viewing the anatomical extent.

Types of FGM Procedures• Type 1 – Clitoroidectomy: partial or total removal of the clitoris (a small, sensitive and

erectile part of the female genitals) and/or in very rare cases only, the prepuce (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris).

• Type 2 – Excision: partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora (the labia are the ‘lips’ that surround the vagina).

• Type 3 – Infibulation: narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner, or outer, labia, with or without removal of the clitoris.

• Type 4 – Other: all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area.

• The most common procedure is mainly kept between Type 1 and 2. The most severe “cutting” would be Type 3 and 4, where the child is faced with lifelong complications.

No health benefits, only harm.FGM has no health benefits, and it harms girls and women in many ways. It involves removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissue, and interferes with the natural functions of girls' and women's bodies.

Immediate complications can include severe pain, shock, hemorrhage (bleeding), tetanus or sepsis (bacterial infection), urine retention, open sores in the genital region and injury to nearby genital tissue.

Long Term Health Complications

• Urinary Tract Infections

• Bleeding

• HIV in relation to poor hygiene during procedure

• PTSD

• Dyspareunia

• 35% of these women remain childless due to inability to perform sexual intercourse

• Child birth deaths are increasing with women who have FGM

Stopping The Torture

In some nations where female genital mutilation is done, organizers have tried to lessen the physical issues caused by this procedure. They do this by requesting hospitals and physicians to do the operation. This “medicalization” of female genital mutilation offends the worldwide medical community, and is looked at as a way for FGM enthusiasts to carry on with this procedure. Supporters have charged that doctors should not perform female genital mutilation, as their line of work involves them to “not harm” their patients, regardless of traditional customs and practices.

Education Prevails

Recent research shows that women in these regions are beginning to support the international call to end FGM. Some of the greatest important research in current years has been the work done with Muslim scholars to change the awareness that FGM is religiously crucial by the Koran, which is the Muslim bible.

In some nations, ethnic groups have effectively substituted FGM with a ceremonial that does not have anything to do with cutting the genitals. In this manner, the culture reserves its integrity and comes up with new traditions that are not causing any harm to women. On the other hand, as girls are getting cut at ages that are younger and younger, frequently in infancy, these other rites of passage turn out to be less significant.

FGM: A World Issue that needs to end.

• Most nations are not seeing FGM as being an issue, therefore this problem continues to persist. Fortunately, with the help of international campaigns, FGM will be stopped worldwide.

• Many foreign national from these 29 nations, live in the United States. Young couples would marry and move abroad to raise a family; American Children.

• The fight against FGM is happening here in the USA as well.

• http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/Crowley.pdf

• https://youtu.be/32g-HCmdNCc

Stopping Female Genital Mutilation

https://youtu.be/32g-HCmdNCc