Female genital mutilation

Revision as of 18:09, 4 March 2007

Female genital mutilation is the practice of clitoridectomy (often accompanied by trimming of the labia, or other cutting of the genitals), practiced mostly in Africa, over broad areas of Eastern Africa and northern Sub-Saharan Africa. The most extreme forms of traditional female genital mutilation (often involving fusing or sewing together a girl's labia until her wedding night), and the highest percentage of mutilated girls and women, are found in the Nubia (southernmost Egypt) / Sudan / Somalia area.

The rationales offered for this practice have generally been to reduce female sexual desire, and to preserve a girl's virginity until marriage. However, the procedure (especially in its more radical forms) can cause serious health problems. In Muslim-majority areas where clitoridectomy has been traditionally practiced, it has often been given an Islamic justification by local religious leaders, but in large areas of the Islamic world (i.e. everywhere outside of Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan, Egypt, and local areas in Yemen) the practice is unknown.

Clitoridectomy and/or labia-trimming have sometimes been euphemistically called "female circumcision", but in correct medical use, the term "female circumcision" refers only to the operation of removing a small flap of skin surrounding the clitoris (analogous to the foreskin in males), without cutting the body of the clitoris itself.

Within the BDSM community female genital mutilation would be considered an unaccptable practice as in almost all cases the receipient would not be able to give informed consent to the process. In BDSM usage, Chastity belts and Chastity piercings are used to control orgasms, without causing irreversible damage.

See also

• Female genital cutting article on the wikipedia
• Informed consent
• Safe, sane, and consensual