Female Genital Mutilation Procedures

There are four different procedures that are executed. They are as follows (in order from least to most brutal):

1. Clitorectomy - Partial or total removal  of the clitoris, and in rare cases only the prepuce (a small fold of skin surrounding the clitoris).
2. Excision - Partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora. Excision may or may not include the labia majora.
3. Infibulation - Narrowing of the vaginal opening by creating a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner our outer labia, with or without the removal of the clitoris.
4. Miscellaneous - Any other harmful procedure (pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing).
• Pricking - A ritual/ceremonial "nicking" of the clitoris.
• Cauterizing - Burning the skin of a wound with a heated tool or a corrosive substance. Usually done to tighten the vaginal opening and stop the bleeding and spread of infection.

Since the objective behind FGM is to "smoothen" the female genitalia, almost all girls get an excision; this is one of the reasons why it is very rare that only a clitorectomy is done, as it leaves behind all the parts that make the vagina look "rough" or unsmooth. The idea is that once all the "excess skin" has been removed, the vagina will look much more simplistic, and beautiful.

http://www.middle-east-info.org/gateway/genocide/index.htm

http://witnesshr.blogspot.ca/2012/05/britain-allows-fgm-against-young-girls.htm

 These are examples of some of the instruments that are used when female circumcisions are done; in her left hand is a long handled knife, and in her right is a razor blade. Notice that neither of them look very clean, this is because antiseptics and anesthetics are not always readily available, especially in the impoverish areas that practice female genital mutilation. In other regions, tools can be as barbaric as sharpened rocks/rocks that have been fashioned into blades, or pieces of broken glass. There is no doubt that in those cases none of the tools have been cleaned. The edges of the blades are often jagged, which doesn't allow for a smooth cut when incising the female genitalia.