Women who have vaginal/clitoral piercings.....

[TheFecklessFairy]

are, next month, to be classified by the Department of Health as having undergone FGM. What the actual??

Hmm, I don't like this. I have had up to eleven piercings down there, and the difference between that and FGM is that I consented and wanted that. They are not even comparable.

I don't like it at all, along with the new rules about female ejaculation etc, it's kind of scary what is happening to female sexuality right now.

I like piercings. And that's my choice. I take precautions, I look after my body, and I enjoy the result. Telling me I can't do that, because I am female, I don't like that.

"new rules about female ejaculation" FanFuckingTastic what new rules?

It was a little while ago, regarding online pornography.

Hmmm interesting - I'm off to Google...

I'm not sure that rules for pornography are particularly relevant to this.

This will surely seriously blur the statistics.
And not in a good way at all.

As well as being a serious encroachment on women's own freedom.

How can they be so stupid?

Is there a petition or something?

Hellooooooo! Did anyone bother to read Bore's post? The wording is "piercings done within an abusive context". Let's all put our Daily Mail away now shall we?

Thank you Argy!

You're welcome, Bore. Love the name by the way!

But how would they know? You go in for a smear and have a piercing, how do they know its an abusive one? Same as brusings or any other dubious but possibly innocent injuries, they have to subjectively decide if they think you are being abused based soley on their opinion.

Anyway, I'm thinking of having one in protest

I am almost thinking about having one in protest no way, never ever

What a poorly thought through proposition
But cannot say I am surprised. Shocked, yes; surprised, not so much

"But how would they know? You go in for a smear and have a piercing, how do they know its an abusive one? Same as brusings or any other dubious but possibly innocent injuries, they have to subjectively decide if they think you are being abused based soley on their opinion."

To be fair, (assuming this is the case) if "you" in this sentence is a white woman with 20 other visible piercings, then a genital piercing or three is unlikely to have been done in an abusive context. If, however, "you" is a black or asian woman with no other, or only culturally stereotypical piercings, common sense may go out the window.

Also, if 100+ people posting on this thread have missed the "piercings done in an abusive context", what's to say your average overworked nurse reading a bulletin wouldn't miss it, and just see "piercings"? What's to say said nurse wouldn't be a piercing bigot, and think all piercings are mutilation anyway? What happens if the nurse/doctor/whatever is overzealous, or just wants to cause trouble for someone?

Hopefully this link to the petition against this will work;

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/75889

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/75889

Ah bugger! See if this works;

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/75889

What i don't understand is why people aren't more up in arms about this.... I just searched on Twitter, and just found s few individuals mention it- no big feminist/fgm campaigning organisations picking up on it?

That shocks me too OneDay. There is a feeling of it being a completely 'done deal'.

Wondering who we could tweet with links to get their attention. I'm new to tweeting and never really understand how campaigns get started on there

That's probably the key to getting this changed - celebrity endorsement or some such.

Maybe someone like Jodie Marsh here? I don't use twitter so have no idea how it works though.

Actually even scarier was the obstetrician who was prosecuted recently (and thankfully got off) for FGM, because he repaired a third degree tear caused in childbirth, in a woman who had previously had FGM done to her. The Crown Prosecution Service considered that in repairing the tear the doctor was re-doing FGM! Thankfully common sense prevailed. But if ANY cutting and suturing of the female genitalia is reclassified as FGM we will all have BIG problems when it comes to having our bits repaired after childbirth.

I think the key statement here is (as detailed by BoreofWhabylon about 200 posts ago ) 'in the context of abuse' a genital piercing can be prosecuted in the same way as some other forms of FGM.
And I totally agree with that - if a woman or girl HAS to have a genital piercing done as a matter of cultural norm and has little or no choice in the matter, then that is abuse.

What I don't get is why this needs to be detailed specifically??
Surely anything at all done to anybody's genitals that is not consensual and consists of a violent act is 'abuse' - I don't get this 'clarification' tbh.

That doctor wasn't charged for repairing a childbirth tear in a woman who happened to have had FGM- he was charged because there was some controversy over whether he'd re-stitched her FGM back together above and beyond repairing the damage done by childbirth. He was out of his depth and improperly trained and didn't understand what he was doing. It wasn't a deliberate act which is why he got off.

The case will have absolutely no impact whatsoever on stitching vaginal tears in women without FGM.

"I think the key statement here is (as detailed by BoreofWhabylon about 200 posts ago wink) 'in the context of abuse' "

But this leaves it open to personal interpretation by an HCP and will be heavily influenced by the preconceptions and beliefs of the individual.

And once that juggernaut has started, it can be very hard to stop.

I'm not convinced that I could go for a smear test without risk of being dragged through a deeply upsetting process. To protect me (& my child's) life I now have to find another way of accessing basic health checks. That is a disgusting state of affairs.