Photo credit: Tantric Awakening
Female Genital Mutilation/cutting is a violation against girl child and women. It involves cutting that intentionally alters or cause injury to the female genital organs. It is often carried out in infancy, sometimes in older children and adolescents. An example of such practice in adolescence was the case of a 15-year-old girl whose genital was mutilated many years ago in my hometown in the southern part of Nigeria. She was thought to have had a high sexual libido which the people believed made her vulnerable to sexual harassment by men. It is an age-long practice of many centuries recorded in ancient Egypt. Those who practice it often believed it to have religious support. However, it is neither recognized in Christianity nor Islam, and no other religion has been heard to support the practice of FGM.
There are four kinds of female Genital mutilation being practised in Nigeria and other parts of the world; the first type has to do with the removal of the covering of the clitoris and at least a part of the clitoris. The second type means the removal of the clitoris and part of the labia minora. The clitoris is the female equivalent of the penis and serves for the purpose of achieving in females. It is very difficult to achieve orgasm by a girl whose clitoris has been mutilated. The third type of FGM means the removal of the clitoris, labia minora, and labia majora. This also involves stitching the vagina opening for the purpose of narrowing, leaving only a hole for urination and menstruation. The fourth type of FGM includes other types of mutilations like pricking, stretching, and insertion of herbs or use of hot iron to burn the vagina. While the practice of removal clitoris is more in Southern Nigeria, narrowing or suturing of vagina opening is more prevalent in Northern Nigeria.
No benefits, only harm to the girl child and women in many ways. It involves removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissue and interferes with the natural functions of girls' and women's bodies. Immediate complications include severe pain, excessive bleeding, and genital swelling, also infections like tetanus, shock or even death. While late complications include problems with urination such as difficulty with urination and infections (so-called toilet infections), vaginal infections with discharge and itching, painful sexual intercourse, decreased satisfaction with sex, difficulty with childbirth, including bleeding and need for caesarean section. It may also result in a need for surgery later in life to reopen already closed vaginal like the case of suturing of the vagina.
There are many reasons given for the practice of female genital mutilation in several cultures and often goes unquestioned; it is thought to be a necessary part of raising a girl child and preparing her for adulthood and marriage. Also, some cultures consider mutilation as a means to reduce woman's libido and therefore prevent sexual promiscuity among the girl child and women. This they believe promotes virginity before marriage and discourages extra-marital affairs. In some cultures where the narrowing of the vagina by stitching is practised, it is believed that the fear of the pain of reopening the vaginal and people finding out about it discourages the girl child or adolescent from engaging in sexual intercourse before marriage. It is also believed that girls are clean and beautiful after the removal of the body parts. However the beautiful the reasons given by several cultures for genital mutilation, none is beneficial or holds true to the girl child.
Female genital mutilation is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. In 2007, The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) condemned FGM and initiated Joint programmes to accelerate the abandonment of the practices. In 2008, World Health Organization (WHO) together with 9 other United Nation (UN) partners following overwhelming evidence of harmful effects of FGM collected over the previous decade issued a joint statement on the elimination of FGM and encouraged increased advocacy for the abandonment of all kinds of female genital mutilation practices. Also, in 2010, a global strategy was provided by WHO in collaboration with other UN agencies to stop all health care providers from performing FGM. Moreso, a resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2012 to eliminate FGM globally. Finally, In May 2015, then President of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan signed a federal law banning female genital mutilation. However, this law is yet to be implemented 3 years after it was signed by the then President.
The persistence of FGM practices continues to endanger the future of the girl child. This article there is a clarion call, a call to speak against this barbaric practice anywhere and everywhere in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large. Let us rescue the girl child and protect her from the dangers of female genital mutilation today and her future as a woman. It has been demonstrated that when the practice of FGM ceases for a while in a community, the practice soon becomes alien to the culture of that community, so the elimination of female genital mutilation is achievable. We can do it, and this we can do by discouraging it at every opportunity. Let those who practice and share similar the sentiment of the benefits of FGM know that there is no benefit but only harm to the girl child and her future as a woman. Let them also know that it is against the Nigerian law to practice female genital mutilation. Every 6th February has been dedicated as the international day of zero tolerance for female genital mutilation. Let us end female genital mutilation now.
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