Thursday 7 June 2012

The Big Question

With all the medical, emotional, and physical complications that come with female genital mutilation, it's a wonder why this even exists.  What on Earth possesses these women to make their daughters undergo this horrible procedure that they too have suffered through and know the consequences of?

Why is this happening?

There are many different social and cultural reasons why FGM happens.


The most common reason is attempting to control a girl's response to puberty.  Often when a young woman reaches the adolescent stage of her life she starts to learn more about her body, and naturally the reason her body is the way it is. Usually around this time girls and boys start interacting with each other and relationships of a more mature nature form, which will eventually lead to sexual activities. It is almost always frowned upon when this happens in any community, as many adults feel it is more respectful to only react sexually to stimuli at an older age. This is why female genital mutilation procedures happen at a younger age, preferably before adolescence. The surgery that the girl has to take when getting her circumcision is so painful and scarring that it creates a feeling a fear in regards to being sexually active. The victim will usually be too afraid to have sex because of the pain it will most likely cause her, therefore controlling the sexual response to puberty.

FGM is also practiced because of social/cultural beliefs. There is usually a social pressure to conform to what the other members of the community do, as is in every culture. Since so many of the women have undergone the surgery and most girls are forced into doing it, it would feel almost wrong to not suffer through it as well, so that they do not become a "black sheep."
From the mother's perspective, female circumcision is considered to  be a vital part in raising a girl properly, to prepare her for potential suitors. Men feel that a a girl is more attractive when she is circumcised, in this way they have control over the women because it makes the women feel like if they do not get a circumcision they will never get married.


A common misconception of FGM is that it is also practiced for religious reasons when in fact, it has nothing to do with religion at all. It has been noted that there is absolutely NOTHING in the Qu'ran about the need for girls to get circumcised, or for women to purify themselves through altering their bodies (same goes for writings in the bible). It might be said that FGM is a religious practice to make it seem more tolerable for others, since arguing with religious practices is often a hard battle to win. But it is in fact a tradition carried out simply for cultural reasons.

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