Female Genital Mutilation: Health Consequences and Complications

The Evangelist
November 9, 2022
By Idongesit EFFIONG

WHAT IS FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM)

For non-medical purposes, female genital mutilation (FGM) entails the partial or complete removal of external female genitalia or other harm to the female genital organs.

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female circumcision (FC), is the practice of manipulating, changing, or removing the external genitalia in young girls and women. It entails severing or otherwise changing the female genitalia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that FGM is still done in 30 countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and that more than 200 million girls and women still living today have had the procedure.

WHO PERFORMS FGM?

FGM is typically performed by senior members of the society who have been assigned to this responsibility or by traditional birth attendants (generally, but not always, women). FGM may be performed by traditional healers, (male) barbers, members of secret societies, herbalists, or occasionally a female relative among some populations. FGM is sometimes carried out by medical personnel. This process is known as “medicalizing” FGM.

Using a blade or shard of glass, a religious figure, village elder, or a medical expert with insufficient training performs the process.training. The most extreme type of FGM involves the suturing together of the vulva and removal of the labia; research indicates that this procedure may endanger the victim’s life.

What instruments are used to perform FGM?
Special knives, scalpels, scissors, bits of glass, or razor blades are used during FGM. When performing an operation, medical professionals almost never employ anesthesia or antiseptics. In areas where infibulations are common, young women’s legs are sometimes chained together to keep them immobile for 10 to 14 days so that scar tissue can form.

Why is FGM practiced?
The practice’s justifications are diverse. In some instances, proponents of the practice cite religion as a defense even if no religious teachings specifically address it. Rather, it is a result of social or cultural ideals. In some cultures, the clitoris is regarded as a “male” or “unfeminine” organ, and girls without one are supposed to be “cleaner” as a result. Other cultures may practice cutting as a part of a marriage or coming-of-age rite, with the rationale being that enduring circumcision’s discomfort is how one becomes a lady. In still other cases, it serves to discourage pre-marital sex by making it painful, or in the instance of infibulation, impossible, as well as by implanting a connection in the brains of young females.