Today, let's cut the chase and talk about a social evil called Female Genital Mutilation.

Wondering, What is Female Genital Mutilation?

Let us tell you, Female genital mutilation (FGM) is “The partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or causing another injury to the female genital organs (private parts) for non-medical reasons.”

FGM is inhumane, brutal torture that is being practiced in various families and communities around the world without any questions. The practice has stood for decades on not just one but a no. of social and cultural pillars. To mention some:

                         

FGM is a social norm and so it is believed that removing the body parts which are unclean and dirty makes the girl more beautiful.
The main aim of FGM is to ensure no premarital virginity loss or marital fidelity. It is to control the women's sexuality and prevent her from any extramarital sexual acts.
 It is believed in certain communities that being cut increases marriageability. Seriously!??!
 People also believe that the clitoris indicates maleness ( now males too are impure, great!)and so it must be removed for the purpose of purity.

                     
In all, there are four different types of FGM:

i. The partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or the area surrounding and protecting the clitoris.

ii. The partial or total removal of the clitoris as well as labia. This is the most common type of FGM and accounts for up to 80 percent of cases.

iii. The third type involves the narrowing of the vaginal orifice by creating a covering seal through the cutting and apposition of the labia. This may be done with or without the removal of all or part of the clitoris. This type of FGM – often called infibulation – constitutes 15 percent of all procedures.

iv. The final type involves all other harmful procedures done to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, including pricking, piercing, incision, burning,
branding and scraping.
               
             
Traditionally, the procedure was carried out by women with no medical training. Anesthetics and antiseptic treatment are not often used and the practice may be carried out using basic tools such as scissors, knives, scalpels, pieces of glass, and razor blades. Iodine or a mixture of herbs is often placed on the wound to tighten the skin in and around the vagina and stop the bleeding. In recent years, the procedure has been medicalized in some regions and it is carried out in health care facilities by trained health care personnel. The age at which female genital mutilation is carried out varies
from one region to another. It is carried out on infants just a few days old, children, adolescents, and, occasionally, on mature women. In some cultures that practice FGM,
women are re-infibulated (re-stitched) following childbirth.

There are thousands of girls out there who are forced to experience this kind of pain unaware of what is happening to them. The only thing they know is that it is in their 'culture' and it has to be followed.
            
FGM is performed mainly on children and adolescents and has a ritual origin. The procedure is painful and traumatic, with no health benefits. It violates a series of human rights principles, including:

1. The principles of equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex.

 2.The right to life (when the procedure results in death).

3.The right to freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

4. The rights of the child.

FGM is a manifestation of gender inequality, and the empowerment of women is of utmost importance to the elimination of the practice.

Just as we have together banished several social evils including dowry, domestic violence, no education for girls, and prostitution, we have to banish FGM as well and remind, those hurt, that humanity is still alive.

Peace out :)☮️