Debate On Female Genital Mutilation

Debate On Female Genital Mutilation 1
A DEBATE ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
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Debate On Female Genital Mutilation 2
Introduction
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), female circumcision, infibulation or female genital cutting,
are all words that denote to the prehistoric exercise of taking away all or a part of the female
peripheral genitalia (Parker 2010, p. 506). It is exercised in many African states, Asia, the
Middle East and also in refugee societies where supporters of participating groups live. This
practice is commonly performed on females between birth and 15 years of age. However, for
some communities it is practiced when the female is just about to get married, whereas others get
it done after bearing the first child. There are four types of FGM (Westcott 2015, p. 50). FGM is
usually performed in a sacred manner and it is upheld as a way of upholding a female’s
wholesomeness, decorum and loveliness. There are no recognized health benefits of this practice.
FGM can lead to both short-term and long-term health complications including infections,
problems with urination or menstruation flow, prolonged discomfort, trouble conceiving, mental
anguish, problematical deliveries and even passing away. Even though many governments have
voted for decrees against the practice and several NGOs have issued statements criticizing the
procedures, they continue to be executed.
FGM is a cruel and outdated sacramental. It has also been characterized as cruelty and a mode of
oppression of females. The ethical values that motivate the oppositions to FGM are
independence, generosity and non-maleficence. One may debate that cultural concerns outweigh
the principles of current health bioethics, as health consultants are hardly involved in the
dealings. More important, maybe, is the bigger question of human rights, precisely, a lady’s right
to assent and independence. These are the foundations of anti-FGM direct action. Eventually, it
must come down to the concept of upholding females’ health. The lawful limitations on FGM

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rise from concerns for the long-standing impacts of FGM on a female’s general health and worth
of life.
The kinds of FGM ways differs not only through states, but also inside states, through cultural
sets and inside ethnic groups. The World Health Organization (WHO) categorizes the
modification of the genitalia of feminine newborns, kids, youths and grown-ups into four kinds
(Khaja, Lay, and Boys 2010, p. 687). The first category denotes to the fractional or complete
abstraction of the clitoris and, in very exceptional circumstances, only the prepuce. The second
type mentions the fractional or complete abstraction of the clitoris and the labia minor, with or
minus removal of the labia major. The third category brings up the stitching/tightening of the
vaginal entrance done by the formation of a casing cover. The fourth type refers to all additional
actions used to modify the female genitalia for reasons that are non-medical for example;
incising, pricking, cauterizing, piercing, and scraping and the genital part.
In understanding of the jeopardies and risky concerns that cultures in which FGM is customary
known to be linked with and often openly due to the exercise, its persistent approval and even
necessity raises the ethical demand of why the exercise continues (Kristina 2012, P. 69). One
justification is religiosity, ever since the exercise has traditionally been shadowed out of a logic
of sincere obligation in Islamic, Christian and Jewish societies, even though nothing in the holy
scripts or canons of these religions dictates it, not like male circumcision in Islam and Judaism.
One more justification is the cultural necessity of female cleanliness, shown in the virginity of
wives-to-be and loyalty of wives. A clan’s women are the center and symbol of its honor, so that
means women are custodians of their kin’s asset. Women’s sexual initiative, or their sexual
defilement, deprives their folks of honor, rank and admiration in their societies (Gruenbaum
2015, P. 427). The persistence of FGM, particularly Types II and III, is to decrease the feminine

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energy for sexual fulfilment, and decrease their exposure to rape. This account mirrors gender
labeling, which boosts males’ statuses if they are sexually exploratory, but denounces females
for sexual arrogance or being sexually provoking or investigational. This account fits into a
broader outline of male aggression to women showing or humoring their sexuality. In the second
half of the 19th century in Europe, as well as the United States and in the United Kingdom,
reproductive specialists executed many clitoridectomies, on what were said to be health signs for
disorders linked to sexual syndrome, like hysterics, melancholia, epilepsy, the psychiatric
syndrome of nymphomania, and the psycho-social syndrome of pursuing or originating desire
from sex. By this description, FGM seems to be an extension of a past of social monitoring of
female sexuality, a characteristic of numerous customary cultures of several sacred beliefs.
Reliably with this reason, the exercise has been perceived to drop amongst daughters of
metropolitan, sophisticated females, and, for illustration, amongst Ibo misses in Nigeria, mostly
accredited to the increasing percentage of females’ formal education.
Religious fitting is one part to the mosaic that creates cultural and individual personality
(Gruenbaum 2011). There are numerous religious accounts used to overlook the exercise,
precisely those from Prehistoric or Customary, Islamic, and Judeo-Christian beliefs. It will claim
that culture and religion are characteristically entangled and that both need to be deliberated in a
debate of customs and social rules. FGM, which is every so often regarded as a cruel exercise by
most western countries, is a cultural custom stemming from years of social concept in Africa and
the Middle East. This custom tells a specific cultural distinctiveness. This distinctiveness has
been persistent in both pre-colonial and postcolonial eras. It cannot be merely laid off according
to Westocott (2015). The roots of FGM exist before the Quran and the Bible by thousands of
ages. Most persons point the exercise of FGM to Islam. Yet there are several Muslim people that