ThickFast I will read the article now.
From what I know of FGM, there are different types. One type (where the labia minora are removed) has parallels to labiaplasty. Other types (where the clitoris is removed, or the labia majora are sewn together) bear little resemblance in my opinion.
However, intention is important. To expand on what I said above (about removal of labia minora being similar in both FGM and LP). If I were a surgeon performing a nose job, I would at some point take a tool to that patient’s nose bridge and break it. That doesn’t mean that I then have the right to take that tool down the pub with me, hold someone down and break their nose with it against their will. So the intention is different, and in almost all cases I imagine the FGM is involuntary.
There is also the issue of risk, pain and complications. FGM is, as I understand it, generally performed under dire circumstances with no pain relief, causing risk of further injury, infection, etc. And it undoubtedly causes excrutiating pain, the likes of which I don’t wish to even contemplate. So in that way - not the same at all.
I will mention the huge risk of ongoing medical and sexual complications, emotional trauma etc but won’t go into detail as many others have written far more movingly than I have on the subject.