Female genital mutilation

This is a procedure that partially or completely removes the external female genital organs or that causes injuries to the women’s genital organs, without a medical and health reason to justify it. Generally, the practice looks to repress female sexuality.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified four types of female genital mutilation. Type I and II are the most used:

Type I. Clitoridectomy.  Partial or total removal of the clitoris or the prepuce.

Type II. Excision. Total or partial removal of the clitoris and inner labia, with or without excision of the outer labia.

Type III. Infibulation. Narrowing of the vaginal opening by creating a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner or outer labia. The infibulation can be with or without removal of the clitoris.

Type IV. This refers to any other procedure that causes injuries to the female genital organs and do not have a medical purpose: pricking, piercing, incising, scraping, and cauterizing.

In some cultures, female genital mutilation is considered a rite of passage or a requirement to get married. Some families conduct this practice to keep their honour or for fear of being marginalized.

This procedure entails a harmful practice, a violation of children’s and women’s rights, and it has serious physical and mental health consequences (CDN, CEDAW, 2014). For example, in the short-term, they can produce pain, trauma, ulcers in the genital and surrounding area, haemorrhages, problems urinating, and even death. Long term, it can produce anaemia, cysts, abscesses, keloid, damage to the urethra, menstrual disorders, painful sex, sexual dysfunction, greater risk of HIV/AIDS transmission, infections and complications during birth, and obstetric fistula, among others. It can also lead to behavioural disorders in girls, the mistrust of their caregivers, depression, or anxiety.

Some people also use expressions such as female circumsicion or ablation to refer to this practice. However, their use is not recommended. On the one hand, female circumcision gives the idea that this is the equivalent of male circumcision. However, these are two very different practices, with different objectives and implications to the physical and mental health of girls and women. The word circumcision does not transmit how serious the mutilation is and the fact that it is a violation of women’s and girls’ human rights.

On the other hand, at the end of the 1990s, some sectors began using ablation as a euphemism for mutilation. Nevertheless, from a human rights based approach, the agreed upon and recommended term is female genital mutilation.