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Running Head: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

Female Genital Mutilation

LaMeisha S. Scott
Wright State University

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Running Head: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

Female Genital Mutilation

Young girls all over the world are suffering! They are being held down by their elders
screaming and crying because of the intense pain they are undergoing. They are getting their
genitals removed in a process that is known as female genital mutilation. Young girls will have to
continue to undergo this extreme pain until one day these young girls and their communities
decided to put a stop to this madness!
Over one hundred million women have had some type of female genital mutilation.
Female Genital mutilation is when a part or parts is removed from the genitalia for non-surgical
purposes (Harris, Terry, 2013). Female genital mutilation has been practiced for many and many
years. Egyptian mummies are shown to have this procedure done (Harris, Terry, 2013). In the
most recent years female genital mutilation is performed on young girls from an infant to the age
of fifteen (Harris, Terry, 2013).
There are four different types of female genital mutilation. The most common three forms
are clitoridectomy, excision, and infibulation (Gruenbaum, 2006). As of 1995 the World Health
Organization introduced a forth type of female genital mutilation, which is known as type four
(Pereda, 2012). Clitoridectomy is the least severe and infibulation is the most extreme
(Gruenbaum, 2006). In type one, clitoridectomy, only the clitoral prepuce, the foreskin, is
removed without the whole clitoris being removed (Pereda, 2012). In type two, excision, the
prepuce, clitoris, and all or parts of the labia minor is removed (Pereda, 2012). In type three,
infibulation, the whole external genitalia is removed and then stitched together so that there is
only a small opening for urination and menstruation (Pereda, 2012). In type four the vagina is cut

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Running Head: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

and herbs are inserted in the vagina so the vagina can become more narrow or tightened (Pereda,
2012).The different forms that are practiced in each country vary from one sociocultural context
to the next (Gruenbaum, 2006).
There are multiple reasons that females believe they should practice female genital
mutilation. The negative reasons of why not to practice female mutilation outweighs the positive
reasons of why to practice female genital mutilation.
Female genital mutilation is used because it is often instituted as a form of birth control
(Kentenich 2008). Female genital mutilation is also used because it makes the women seem
marriageable to their husband because it proves a sense of virginity (Kentenich, 2008). Some
communities consider women that have been through the procedure of female genital mutilation
as being transformed from a child into a young lady (Kentenich, 2008). Another reason female
genital mutilation is performed is because it makes the women feel a sense of cleanliness which
shows women have good hygiene (Kentenich, 2008).
Women that perform female genital mutilation as a sense of birth control could use other
methods of birth control. Female genital mutilation isnt the only way to prevent you from
having a baby. People who have been mutilated actually have kids and then they get the
procedure again shortly after the child is born (Kentenich 2008).
Women that practice female genital mutilation to seem marriageable to their husband also
contradicts themselves. There is an extremely large amount of people; males and females, who
have no idea of how their mate actually feels about female genital mutilation (Field, 2014). The
male may be more accepting to their female not having the procedure done more than they think.
Also, most males that want their women to have the procedure done have no idea of the

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Running Head: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

complications or how the procedure is preformed (Field, 2014). If the men in these societies
were educated more about the subject they would accept the procedure less often. For example,
when men get older and have children they see the severity of the procedure and change their
view on the whole procedure (Pereda, 2012). The males that are educated on the subject actually
want female genital mutilation to end (Field, 2014).
Communities consider girls that have been through female genital mutilation as being
transformed from a child into a young lady contradicts itself. As the women that have undergone
the procedure gets older, they face a sense of incompleteness, fear, inferiority, and suppression
(Kentenich, 2008). After women have been genital mutilated they have a higher chance of facing
psychiatric diseases, which include psychosis, depression, neurosis, and psychosomatic diseases
(Kentenich, 2008). If a women feels incomplete after undergoing a surgery that is supposed to
make her feel good shows that the process was not effective. It makes the surgery ineffective
because it does the opposite of its imposed initial reason of completing the surgery.
Women that undergo the procedure to feel like they are clean or that their hygiene is
boosted because of the procedure contradict themselves. Female genital mutilation is done
without sterilized instruments (Pereda, 2012). The procedure is also done in secrecy (Harris,
Terry, 2013). If a procedure is done without sterilized instruments it can cause many infections
making the procedure unclean. If something is done in private it means that you do not want
anyone to know about it, so nine times out of ten the procedure is not safe.
There are many alternative reasons why female genital mutilation should not be
practiced. Some include the complications, uneducated people, difficulty with childbirth and
delivery, and generational change.

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Running Head: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

There are long and short term complication from female genital mutilation, which
depends on the type of female genital mutilation a person undergoes. Some short term
complications are bleeding, infections, severe pain, severe shock, hemorrhage, the inability to
urinate properly, and injury to tissues (Pereda, 2012). Some long term complications include:
keloids, infertility, death, menstrual disorders, and sexual dysfunction (Pereda, 2012).
Hemorrhage results from the unsterile needles that are used in female genital mutilation
(Pereda, 2012). Women have difficulty urinating is because of the excess scar tissue over or
around the urethra shortly after the procedure of female genital mutilation (Gruenbaum, 2006). If
a woman does the stage infibulation when they have their first intercourse it becomes very
difficult as a result of the small opening that is left open (Gruenbaum, 2006).
People should not practice female genital mutilation because the women who practice it
are uneducated about the subject (Eke, 2000). If you are educated on a subject that is harmful to
a womans body but never knew about any of the complications it would least likely make
someone want to get the procedure done. Three women were interviewed for case studies that
have received the procedure and none of them went to school during childhood (Pereda, 2012).
All three of the women grew up in rural environment and when they got older and moved to an
area where they were educated about the subject they were completely against it (Pereda, 2012).
Women who undergo female genital mutilation face serious issues with childbirth down
the line (Kentenich, 2008). It makes it harder for health care professionals to perform
examinations and apply vaginal applications medicinally (Kentenich, 2008). With the female
being mutilated it makes delivery longer causing a higher infant mortality rate because of lack of
oxygen to the infants brain (Kentenich, 2008). Also, women who have undergone female genital

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Running Head: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

mutilation face heavy bleeding which lead to things like death and chronic anemia (Kentenich,
2008). Women who have received this surgery lost more than fifty milliliters of blood than
women who have not received the procedure (Kentenich, 2008). Lastly, women who have
undergone female genital mutilation have an extreme higher rate for having perineal tears
(Kentenich, 2008).
Female genital mutilation as a practice has changed as generations has changed. As
generations have changed the young girls that have received female genital mutilation are done
by the older women in the family such as the grandmothers and the procedure is done against the
young girls will (Harris, Terry, 2013). Women have started to avoid leaving their children with
their older relatives because they are afraid their older relatives will perform female genital
mutilation on their younger children (Harris, Terry, 2013). If women that have received the
procedure are going to the extreme enough to keep their children from their older relatives to
avoid them being cut shows that this procedure is not a procedure girls should go through.
In conclusion, female genital mutilation should not be practiced, it should be prohibited
worldwide. It causes far too many complications and the minimum amount of reasons of why
women undergo this procedure does not outweigh the multiple reasons of why you should not
undergo this procedure. Women go through a lot to deem themselves as beautiful and to seem
marriageable to their husband but you should have to risk your life to get a husband. If in most
countries where female genital mutilation is practiced the communities want to put an end to it
why is this tradition still carried out today and not banned eternally?