De-colonising FGM a paper in BMJ

[Imnobody4]

Harms of the current global anti-FGM campaign

Abstract

Traditional female genital practices, though long-standing in many cultures, have become the focus of an expansive global campaign against ‘female genital mutilation’ (FGM). In this article, we critically examine the harms produced by the anti-FGM discourse and policies, despite their grounding in human rights and health advocacy. We argue that a ubiquitous ‘standard tale’ obscures the diversity of practices, meanings and experiences among those affected. This discourse, driven by a heavily racialised and ethnocentric framework, has led to unintended but serious consequences: the erosion of trust in healthcare settings, the silencing of dissenting or nuanced community voices, racial profiling and disproportionate legal surveillance of migrant families. Moreover, we highlight a troubling double standard that legitimises comparable genital surgeries in Western contexts while condemning similar procedures in others. We call for more balanced and evidence-based journalism, policy and public discourse—ones that account for cultural complexity and avoid the reductive and stigmatising force of the term ‘mutilation’. A re-evaluation of advocacy strategies is needed to ensure that they do not reproduce the very injustices they aim to challenge.

https://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2025/09/25/jme-2025-110961

Not if they are a migrant from Egypt or Somalia, for example, where the FGM rate is almost 90%.

I'm confused as to your persepctive here. You seem to be trying to make a cultural defence of this practice - predicated on an an anti-white or western stance? Is this correct?

You seem to be the expert. Is it the case that girls are taken back to their home countries for this 'procedure'?

What do you mean not if they are a migrant? I think you're misunderstanding something here.

It is the case that they are not usually residents of the UK when it took place. So it occurred before they came here.

Or because they did not RECEIVE any ante-natal care, @Squishedpassenger!

I have not read all the thread or article yet but am responding to nicecupoftea to say I consider trans surgeries to be genital and breast mutilation, and also circumcision. But those surgeries are not allowed to be called mutilations.

Very unlikely to be the case as I said earlier. I'd be more inclined to say that it is made up. We have lots of people who book late in pregnancy for various reasons. It would be easy to imagine that one of these women rocked up unbooked in labour with FGM rather than them just being a late booker
.

To be fair to @ApplebyArrows , I don't think that's confusing or contradictory at all. As for

Which people want to pretend that it is "only Western cultures that do bad things"

You need only skim any SM. There's farsands of them! 'Respecting indigenous people', etc. And yes, at root, it's our old friend, the Noble Savage.

Bloody hell that’s awful! I cannot imagine how that must have been for you or the poor woman.

i realise patient confidentiality limits the information that you can share but was there (an eventual) positive outcome come for mother and baby?

As with forced marriage girls are taking out of the country.

47 year old Kaky, living in Nottingham at the time of the crime and Swansea at the time of conviction, was found guilty on Monday 9th September 2024 at Nottingham Crown Court. He had arranged for a child to travel to Iraq from the UK. The CPS confirmed that his plans were uncovered by a witness, who arranged for the victim to travel back to the UK, and reported Kaky to the police. Messages retrieved from his phone showed Kaky intended for the victim to be subjected to FGM and then forced into a marriage. He will be sentenced on the 3rd October 2024.

Sorry, still can't square that circle....two contradictory messages.

Yes, I'm misunderstanding your point. Your point seems either very obscure or else wilfully veiled.

Are you using a case where a child was appropriately safeguarded to argue that British children are regularly subject to FGM? Our safeguarding measures are largely successful and have reduced FGM among people who live in the UK and certainly those born here.

My point is that most of the women, the vast, vast majority of women who have had FGM did not undergo this procedure while they were living in the UK. The media report data in twisted ways to suggest that is the case.

There's already a thread about this, and the headline is misleading.

Of course it isn't a current practice in Glasgow any more than any where else in the UK.

It is about the number of women recorded in a medical situation who have undergone some form of FGM.

And in fact the article is so badly written that you cant tell whether the different figures for each year include some already counted.

See https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5453565-5453565-1200-women-and-girls-subject-to-fgm-in-glasgow-in-5-years?page=1

Women not people only women and girls are forced to endure female genital mutilation.
In this can you not center these poor abused women instead of pandering to the men who identify as women

..and it has been suggested to you twice that girls are taken out of the country for the 'procedure'; same with girls disappearing beack to Pakistan for an arranged marriage during the summer holidays.

I would also expect that there are people offering this. 'service' within the UK too. Given your experience you must have come across such incidents?

Arent women people?

I know what you're trying to say and no, it isn't happening to British born/resident women in these droves. Our safeguarding measures have greatly decreased the incidence of women and girls being taken out of the UK for FGM. We monitor this closely.

And no, that isn't all that common to happen here at all. Very, very rare. It occurs in other countries for several reasons. In some of the countries it occurs in, it usually takes place in a hospital under clinical conditions.

Good grief @Squishedpassenger, you are exhausting.

While I heartily disagree with most of what you have to say and find you deliberately obtuse, this is not what I find objectionable. If you really are here in good faith, can you please limit your posts, maybe reply to multiple people in one post (as I know you are so fond of responding).

Your constant separate posts, to the point where you make up a significant minority in some threads means other voices, opinions, points get lost. It is very difficult to have a meaningful and interesting thread if somebody is crayoning all over it.

If you are in fact here in bad faith and this is your intention, please find a better hobby, it’s boring.

So are men, and by using the word people for a group of women when talking about the number of women who have endured this practice it disguises the fact that this is something that only women endure and makes it sound like men can suffer it too.
When talking about abuse or medical conditions and or treatments that only occur in or to women and girls the correct words to use are women/woman or girls/girl not people.
For someone who claims to be a midwife i would expect you to understand the need for clear language especially when dealing with women for whom English isn't a 1st language or with learning disabilities

I too think they mean labioplasty. And it is indeed an anomaly that you can pay to have your labia cut off in Harley Street, but not in Newham. Now I'm not saying they're the same, but it is still a legal anomaly. I think doctors, and government, should at least consider why cultural pressures that lead healthy women to mutilate their genitalia so they look neat and aesthetic are OK, while cultural pressures to mutilate your genitalia to be 'modest' are not.

Should make it clear I'm not talking about obstetric repair or child abuse.

Wow, you do know not all women disclose it even though they’re all asked? You do realise some women don’t actually realise they’ve had it done? You do realise some people literally arrive in this country at 8 months pregnant? You do realise some people don’t seek antenatal care and pitching up in labour is the first time they’ve been seen by a HCP?

Maybe time for all to opt out of a thread derail.