Oh my word....

[Creampastry]

Just listening to the radio and hear that every hour a female is treated at a medical facility (doctors, hospital etc) in the U.K. for FGM....

I assume the majority will be girls and young women .... but 1 every hour.... it's disgraceful.

[Janey50]

TinselTwins Well said. While I can sympathise with male victims of circumcisions that have gone wrong,I do get fed-up with this topic nearly always being hijacked by the 'What about the boys?' brigade. Fgm is an issue in it's own right,that needs addressing on it's own platform. Sorry,rant over.

[25bottles]

I'm not sure I understand exactly what FGM is. Someone said uptgread that they have their vaginas sewn up. How do they have sex if it is sewn up?

[SleepOhHowIMissYou]

The cliterous and labia are cut away 25bottles and the girl is stitched together. An opening is left for menstruation but often the opening is not wide enough for sex and the girl is cut open for her husband.

Sometimes just the cliterous is removed though.

[riceuten]

I doubt it's doctors, but if it is, they should be struck off.

I don't see religious leaders publically condoning this, and I know the practice exists across a variety of religions (not just the one that the gutter press are obsessing on).

There is a widely held (but completely wrong headed) belief that the government, or lefties, or hand wringing liberals condone this practice; they don't, and if you think they do, and can actually supply evidence of any of the last 3 doing so, I would be considerably enlightened.

So, it comes down, effectively, to culture. The perpetrators are the ones who require prosecution - grievous bodily harm, at least.

[SleepOhHowIMissYou]

It's entirely cultural Riceuten. There's nothing in the Koran or Hadith about FGM, and there are posters at an East London Hospital that make it clear that the practice doesn't feature in Islam's teachings.

I think the confusion arises because of the high number of Muslim girls who are mutilated in this way.

[25bottles]

Yeah I'm Muslim and have never met anyone who has had this done. I wasn't even sure what it was.
My midwife did ask me casually if I had been cut. I said what do you mean, during labour? She said no beforehand. I had to gather my thoughts to understand what she meant because she was so 'whatever' about it.

[riceuten]

The reason I bring it up is that is seems exclusively identified in the public's mind with one religion (which I know not to be the case).

[busyboysmum]

My friend's mum died at only 42 from complications due to FGM. She had 6 children from the age of 15 - 25 and then got urine infection after urine infection. We do need to do something about this barbaric practice.

[busyboysmum]

I remember seeing this girl talking about how the Muslim community leaders put a lot of pressure on her parents to have the procedure carried out. The police helped her get a restraining order against her parents. She was so brave -

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3636077/Rescued-legal-Muslim-girl-father-plotted-forced-marriage-stranger-online.html]

Sorry it's the Daily Mail but her story is faithfully recounted here.

[exaltedwombat]

I'd check those statistics. But one a month is too many.

[exaltedwombat]

Also, please stop mutilating boys' foreskins. Though FGM can be radical, sometimes it removes no more than male circumcision does
.

[Prawnofthepatriarchy]

Exaltedwombat, please don't derail with irrelevant comments about male circumcision. It's in no way comparable. Even the least invasive type of FGM are equivalent to the removal of the glans penis. The most extreme type can only be compared to the excision of the entire penis, with tucks taken into the scrotum.

I recommend you do some Googling on FGM, maybe do an image search, to get an understanding of the issue.

[averylongtimeago]

www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/06/anti-fgm-campaign-red-triangle-uk-global-day-opposition
Coincidentally this was on a ranger guide leader forum on FB I am on.

For anyone with any doubt that fgm is in any way or form justified, mild, watch and learn.

[Superwomaninmysparetime]

I'm not sure Herroyalfattyness
If one could argue/agree that non-medical male circumcision is MGM, possibly if the procedure Is carried out with medical pain relief.. unlikely as it's not an out lawed practice? although I do think it's unnecessary pain for boys. but with FMG the families and doctors who carry out this know it's illegal, hence why it's done in secret, with no medication and the victim being held down while they are cut... with long term effects..so terrible 😕 See the info on types of cutting 😔

[Galdos]

That's 8,760 females a year. How many boys get their willies snipped every year, when they are too young to have a view? Granted, it is less destructive than FGM (and likely carried out with a different intent) but it is still needless mutilation of children.

FGM is wrong wrong wrong (imho) but evidently up to some 17,000 parents think otherwise. To my mind, a clear example of where we should draw the line at disregarding 'cultural differences.'

[Andrewofgg]

It may not be in the best interests of the victim to prosecute her parents; the cutter, if in the UK, should certainly be prosecuted but often she is not.

But if it becomes known that one young woman has been butchered like this and she has younger sisters, the parents should be required to produce those sisters, month in, month out, until adulthood, for medical examination - if possible by a woman doctor but no guarantee, if Dr Anne is ill and Dr Betty is on leave it may be Dr Charles - with the certainty of prosecution and preferably imprisonment if they do it again.

[Prawnofthepatriarchy]

Even if it were done under strict medical conditions, with anaesthesia and expert surgeons, the long term effects of FGM would be appalling, Superwoman. Infibulation, where the insides of the labia minora are roughened and then sewn together so that the scar tissue so created seals the vagina, with a small hole left to allow menstrual blood and urine to escape , would be hugely damaging and mutilating under the best of circumstances. It's the nature of what is done that makes it mutilating. The place and conditions in which it is carried out don't make it any less mutilating, though fewer girls would die.

The procedure is carried out by older women, and it's women who promote the practice. In an innovative attempt to change thinking, health workers have been working with Masai boys and young men, teaching them that their brides will be far less likely to die in childbirth, will be healthier and will be more interested in sex if they have not gone through FGM. They seem to be having success with the strategy. If the bridegrooms start demanding "whole" brides, the tradition may crumble surprisingly quickly, as a girl's value lies solely as a wife. We can but hope.

One of the secondary problems with FGM in Africa is that it often results in incontinence after childbirth, because injuries are far more likely. A woman who is incontinent, particularly of faeces, will be ostracized and banished to a hut away from her village. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

[MrsHathaway]

But if it becomes known that one young woman has been butchered like this and she has younger sisters, the parents should be required to produce those sisters, month in, month out, until adulthood, for medical examination - if possible by a woman doctor but no guarantee, if Dr Anne is ill and Dr Betty is on leave it may be Dr Charles - with the certainty of prosecution and preferably imprisonment if they do it again.

Andrew, do you really think anyone should be subject to routine intimate examinations against their will? Because if you do, I have some advice for you, and the second word is off.

[dansmum]

It is the betrayal of trust..that these girls know their mothers and aunties and community friends allow endorse or are present when it is taking place...and they know how painful and dangerous and unecessary it is because they themselves have been physically violated in the same way. There is no religious text promoting the practice..it is historical patriarchal behaviour disguised as'cultural' activity.

I wonder how many fathers, if they had to be present or carry out this practice on their own daughters would be able to carry it out? Terrifying.

[Boulshired]

We do not have this with other things that relate to women and men. If we talk about cervix and ovarian cancer it is not sidelined with what about testicular cancer. We separate them and tackle them in the most effective way with campaigns that relate directly to the subject matter.

[Andrewofgg]

MrsHathaway I am looking for the lesser of two evils. And I think such examination is a lesser evil than FGM and perhaps you think otherwise. And we can both be in good faith about it. I am happy to follow your advice when on reflection I am obviously wrong but this is not one of those occasions.

[MrsHathaway]

Unconsented medical procedures constitute assault.

Obviously a lesser assault than FGM but not remotely acceptable.

Presumably you also agree with the Economist that a symbolic nick performed by a surgeon in sterile conditions should be recommended?

I respect your opinion on many topics, Andrew, but what you are proposing is actually barbaric even though it has protective, benevolent motives.