Female Genital Mutilation Essay -- essays research papers fc

female person genital MutilationBarbaric practise or Cultural RiteI was shaking out of my shinny with fear. I sat at Netsents head so she couldnt cry out. The circumciser began to cut with a razor blade. She cut everything the clitoris, the inner and outside labia. There was so much blood This is an excerpt from an article that appeared in Marie Claire in April 2003. The speaker is a girl by the name of genet Girma, an Ethiopian, describing the conditions infra which her sister Netsent was forced to have her genitalia removed. Each year, both million girls undergo the devastating and disfiguring practice of genital wounding (Goodwin 157). venereal stark naked, widely known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), is the practice of cutting away parts of the external female genitalia. Although many people may see FGM as barbaric and dangerous, most of those who practice it see FGM as a religious rite and as a deeply grow ethnic practice.The three broad categories of FGM are c litoridectomy, excision and infibulation. The mildest form of FGM, clitoridectomy, is the removal of all or part of the clitoris. Excision includes the removal of the clitoris and the cutting of the labia minora. The most extreme form of FGM is infibulation, the removal of the clitoris, labia minora, and the stitching together of the labia majora. Infibulation leaves fair(a) a small opening in the vagina for the passage of urine and menstrual fluid, and requires binding together of the legs until stitches adhere. Often the removal of the stitches is part of a union night ritual (Taylor 31). If the terrifying nature of the procedure were not enough, the get together Nations kidskinrens Fund (UNICEF) reports that FGM is normally performed by traditional practitioners with crude instruments, much(prenominal) as knives, razor blades and broken glass, usually without anesthetics.The invasive characteristics of FGM and the unsanitary conditions under which it is usually performed c an have serious consequences. Pediatric Nursing writes FGM may face numerous physical complications, including hemorrhage and severe pain, which can cause shock, even death. It also writes FGM may create long-term complications resulting from scarring and interference with the drainpipe of urine and menstrual blood, such as chronic pelvic infections, which may cause pelvic and back pain, dysmenorrhea, infertility, chronic urinary tract infe... ...ce (Ahmad). As WHO has stated, We have to realize that female genital mutilation is a deeply-rooted traditional practice. As such, it can only be abolished completely when attitudes have been changed (Taylor 31). As this narration suggests, in that respect has to be a line drawn in the anchor when discussing the practice of FGM. On one side, in that location are Western idealists who desire that FGM is barbaric and should be abolished, with their own hands if necessary. On the other side, there are the people who believe FGM is a tra dition and a cultural rite, one that should be continued for centuries to perplex. And somewhere in the middle there are those that believe that change must come, but must come only when the countries involved are ready. Change cannot be put upon them. whole works CitedAhmad, Imad-ad-Dean. Female Genital Mutilation An Islamic Perspective. Minaret. 1 May 2003 .English, Veronica. Female Genital Mutilation. Journal of Medical Ethics 27.3 (2001) 203-205.Goodwin, Jan. I Said No to Female Genital Mutilation. Marie Claire 10.4 (2003) 157-159.Taylor, Vivienne. Female Genital Mutilation Cultural Practice or Child Abuse? Pediatric Nursing 15.1 (2003) 31-34.