Genital mutilation, predominantly female gender mutilation has become a serious perplexing matter and dilemma that a majority of young women around the world are facing. Although both genders are disturbed by genital mutilation, it primarily affects infants up until women that are twenty-five years of age. Genital mutilation is frequently performed in about twenty-five African countries. Genital mutilation is communal and expressed in Somalia, Mali, Egypt, Sudan, etc. Genital mutilation is predominant and widespread in a majority of rural areas as well as villages throughout Africa. Astonishingly, genital mutilation is likewise dominant in the United States, Canada and England. This is owed to the fact that many immigrants from contributing …show more content…
Genital mutilation encompasses the partial or complete removal of external genitalia for non-medical purposes. Genital mutilation is an ample defilement of an individual’s sexuality. Not only is genital mutilation an invasion of a females sexuality, it also attacks and raids her rights, wellbeing, condition and veracity. The key determination of genital mutilation is carried out in order to control a woman’s sexual cravings. Numerous countries supposes that the complex act of genital mutilation acts to confirm that a women upholds and preserves her virginity before she is married and it is also believed to intensify a males sexual pleasures. Genital mutilation is used and seen as a “right of passage”. When it comes to females and it is seen as an act of womanhood. In some countries, it is seen in a hygienic aspect, believed to keep and provide females with a sense of purity. Various Middle Eastern countries believed that gender mutilation stipulates a smoother exterior as well as a façade. It is believed to make females “clean” in a sense. Additionally, gender mutilation is completed in anticipations to sustain females from abstaining from
In the story written by Frances A. Althaus’s “Female Circumcision: Rite of Passage or Violation of Rights? She explores female circumcision within African Culture and the health complications after the ritual is completed. Female circumcision is the practice of partial or total removal of the female external vaginal area and is still practiced in several countries today , dut was ruled as illegal in America in 1997. Females did not have the option to chose if they wanted to have the procedure performed, mothers often made that decision for them. The practice is to transition a girl into womanhood and to ensure that virginity is not lost before marriage, prevention of infidelity and
In Chapter Thirteen, “Grassroots vs. Treetops” of Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn the act of genital mutilation is discussed. It starts off by giving gory details on genital mutilation, stating that every ten a girl is mutilated. Despite the medical problems surrounding female genital mutilation, it thrived in parts of Africa as a serious problem for young girls. FGM is sometimes described as a female circumcision, it’s cultural significance is to reduce sexual trends and to make the girls more marriageable. However, often these procedures are done with no new medical supplies and are performed with dirty materials leading to infection and sometimes death for girls partaking. A woman in Illinois is doing her best to stop female genital mutilation by working closely with each village and getting to the main source of the problem. Most people were under educated about what was wrong with female genital mutilation, it was a cultural rite of passage. But through working with each individual village, this woman could help ban female genital mutilation is thousands of villages and increased school attendance at the same time.
Empathy… the ability to share and understand the feelings of another person. The idea of empathy helps us interact with each other better and makes people gain a deeper emotional quotient which can improve society in a soulful way. Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” suggests that empathy is an important skill that a person can develop over time but that it is hard if not impossible to have empathy when someone contains prejudice. Lee uses characters like Scout in multiple situations such as when she and Jem were judging Boo Radley without showing empathy to him, when Scout changes throughout the novel and starts to learn empathy as she forgets prejudice, and how Atticus teaches
Female genital mutilation (FGM) also known as female circumcision is a tradition passed down from generation to generation occurring all around the world affecting millions of women and young girls. FGM is controversial matter most prevalent in Africa (Ahanonu and Victor, 2014). To this day it’s estimated that about 28 African countries still practice this ritual including Nigeria (Ahanonu and Victor, 2014). In the past twenty years there has been a worldwide increased interest in FGM due to its multiplicity and lifelong effects. Some people believe FGM violates basic human rights where others believe this ritual is required to increase their chances of marriageability and that this practice is a transition from adolescents into adulthood
Female Genital Mutilation is practiced in parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East as a way for girls to be inducted into womanhood. This medical procedure is extremely controversial for it goes against many westernized feminist ideologies. Though seemingly hurtful and damaging towards the women in these cultures, there are still large amounts of girls who willingly chose to have this done to them. This conflict of opinions of what is right and what is wrong to do to women’s genitalia has been contested for a long time, and the answer to this question has not been solved. For one, the answer of what is moral in this situation is different and divided among all different cultures and societies
For class today, we read two brief articles on genital mutilation. In class, we also watched V-Day: Until the Violence Stops. Female genital mutilation is the removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. It is performed with a blade with or without anesthesia. I have been aware of the idea of male circumcision before, but I had honestly never thought about female circumcision before the reading. It shocked me to learn that certain cultures did not want women to have sexual desires. As a teenager growing up I did not know enough about my own body, I could only imagine what it was like to not understand your own body and not understand why your community would want you to have a FGM procedure done. Leyla Hussein explained that she
Female genital mutilation may be currently reaching a changing point in its history. It is a cultural practice that is considered to have long standing importance but female genital mutilation presents to most developed nations a need for education and a need to clarify ethical dilemmas regarding it. In most cases, the push for female genital mutilation to be eradicated comes from within individual cultures and communities but internationally there is also support for eradication of this problem. The main dilemma is that most groups that actively practice female genital mutilation see it as a necessary or even obligatory ritual that defines them as a culture and gives their culture or religion autonomy. It is (at the time that this paper was written) illegal to perform female genital mutilation on a child in the United Sates but not on an adult woman, which includes anyone who is who is older than 18 years old. However, ultimately, female genital mutilation is unethical regardless of who it is performed upon, so the United States’ health care providers and the laws governing them need to step beyond their traditionally followed roles on this issue. In fact, health care providers ought to join the ongoing worldwide efforts to completely eradicate female genital mutilation. Health care providers
"I remember the blade. How it shone! There was a woman kneeling over me with the knife. I bit her; it was all I could do. Then three women came to hold me down. One of them sat on my chest. I bit her with all my might." These words reflect Banassiri Sylla’s account of her experience undergoing female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM), at the young age of eight in the Ivory Coast. This disturbing description of her struggle makes it hard to understand why any culture could support such a practice. Yet, it is estimated that about 132 million women and girls in about thirty African countries have undergone the same, or at least similar, cultural
The horrible practice of female circumcision in sections of Africa as summarized in Female Circumcision: Rite of Passage or Violation of Rights? must be stopped. Female circumcision has been exercised for centuries in Africa and is usually performed without any anesthetic by practitioners with insufficient knowledge of human medicine or anatomy. Female genital cutting is a component for preparing adolescent girls for womanhood and marriage. There are three general types of genital excision: clitoridectomy, excision, and infibulation - the severity is in ascending order. Infibulation is the most severe and is “particularly likely to cause long-term health problems” (Althaus 245). Despite the ample amount of risks and health problems, some practitioners view female circumcision as an “integral part of their cultural and ethnic identity, and some perceive it as a religious obligation” (Althaus 243). The cultural practice of female circumcision requires the scrutiny of the West and should be abolished altogether because genital excision is injurious to women's health, has no health benefits, and is a violation of human rights.
Female Genital Mutilation, is a topic which has caused many controversies worldwide. Female Genital Mutilation is a tradition since antiquity, which occurs in twenty eight countries in Africa, and among certain communities in the Middle East, and Asia. The latitude of this issue is massive. The United Nations estimates that this practice has been performed on about 140 million females, who encounter immediate complications of shock, infections, damage to the urethra, scar formation, tetanus, bladder infections, HIV, along with long -term complications that lead to death (Lauren V, 2011). It is estimated that 3 million girls are at risk annually! During this paper, I will discuss in depth the two ethical theories (Deontology and Utilitarianism). These ethical theories will be a guide, to help understand the moral issues of Female Mutilation, and whether one can view female mutilation to be right or wrong. Aside from the ethical theories, I
Throughout history, there has been a controversial argument on whether female genital mutilation should be banned from Africa. Some people describe female genital mutilation or FGM as a violation of women’s rights and others view it as served for a religious purpose having to do with the Islamic holy book, the Qur’an. Female Genital Mutilation is the removal of all or part of the external parts of the female genitalia. There are three different types of FGM; the first type of FGM is the Sunna Circumcision which is the removal of the tip of the clitoris. The second type is Clitoridectomy which is the removal of the entire clitoris and the adjacent labia. The third type is Infibulation which is the removal of the clitoris and the entire labia including the labia majora and minora. After the removal of the entire labia, the joining of the scraped sides are brought together using thorns or catgut, leaving only a small portion open for menstruation and urinating. Africa has the highest rates of FGM being performed. About 100 million women and girls are affected by FGM and at least 3 million girls are at risk undergoing this process every year. FGM is usually carried out by an elderly woman who is paid fees from the family of the girl undergoing this process (P.a.p.-Blog par. 2, 4). Female Genital Mutilation is usually performed on girl between the ages of three and adulthood. According to the UNICEF or United
When a historian looks over a primary resource there are several questions that they need to think about before they can even begin to do an analysis of it. There are four important questions to be asked. These questions are, what kind of document is it, who wrote it, who the audience was intended for and why it was written, as well as where and when it was written.
There is no hygienic or medical benefit for circumcising a female. Also, a male is circumcised shortly after birth, whereas females experience this procedure at much later ages such as seven or eight. In 2012, the U.N. passed a resolution that condemns female genital mutilation, or circumcision, as harmful to women and girls (Kolodny). This article argues that female genital mutilation should be a crime, not a cultural practice, but even if there was some way to make this practice illegal, how would it ever be enforced in the lawless countries that it is commonly practiced.
Normally, female circumcision (also known as female genital mutilation) is not the topic of discussion most people would talk about, but for once it should be. Female circumcision is the cutting or removal of parts or maybe even all of the female genital region. This can take place during a wide range starting from when a baby girl is first brought into this world all the way until puberty. The genital mutilation can be performed by an elderly woman in the village or if the family is wealthy, the surgery can be done by a professional doctor. After the painful surgery, a ritual is held to honor the young girl for her “rite of passage”. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “there are four main types: clitoridectomy, excision, infibulation,
Imagine this! Being either a young girl or a woman forcefully bound against your will while elders perform a procedure called Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The young girls and women who are forced to have this procedure done not only loses their rights to sexual pleasure but their rights are sliced, chopped, punctured, and finally burnt away. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) otherwise known as Female Genital Circumcision (FGC) is also a controversial topic in Western societies. This paper will examine the history of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), hegemonic perspective on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), health consequences of having this procedure done, how Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) affects women’s sexual function, and women who