Female Genital Mutilation Research Paper

All over the world females of all ages are exposed to the social injustice and horrible dehumanization of genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation, or FGM, damages both the bodies and minds of the millions of girls affected. The dehumanization of young women and girls through genital mutilation, prominently in Africa and the Middle East, affects individuals, such as Jaha Dukureh, and the population of women and their families in over 29 countries. There is no medical or religious reason for FGM to be practiced, the procedure is the barbaric result of ancient traditions practiced mainly in Africa and the Middle East. There are four overall types of female genital mutilation: a) clitoridectomy, the eradication of all or a section of the …show more content…
When Jaha was but a week old she was burdened with infibulation, the most extreme version of FGM, in which the majority of her labia was sewn up over her clitoris and vaginal opening, leaving only a small opening for her urine and menstrual fluid ("‘I’m Not Whole’ – Female Genital Mutilation Survivor Speaks out"). In the country of Jaha's birth, the Gambia, 76.3% of women ages 15-49 are cut ("‘I’m Not Whole’ – Female Genital Mutilation Survivor Speaks out"). The tradition of genital mutilation is so deeply inscribed into the Gambian culture that girls who have not gone through it are, "not fit to be in the same room with women who have gone through FGM"(Dukureh). Jaha explains that this stigma towards uncut girls is discrimination, making the point, "We're telling women they're not clean because a part of their body is not cut"(Dukureh). At the age of just fifteen Jaha was sent to the United States for an arranged marriage ("‘I’m Not Whole’ – Female Genital Mutilation Survivor Speaks out"). Although she cannot remember the painful torture of her FGM procedure she had many insecurities about it going into her arranged marriage (Dukureh). This feeling is not uncommon explains the UN's FGM expert Mona Amin, "[FGM victims] feel that it's a humiliation for them to go through such a practice." After her marriage Jaha had to be reopened to have sex with her husband; FGM had a direct effect on the complications in both …show more content…
As a direct result of the procedure, victims encounter relentless pain, excessive bleeding, shock, complication passing urine, serious infections, damage to nearby genital tissue and sometimes even death (Nowak). Genital mutilation causes an unexplainable amount of pain in the first few months after the operation and onward. FGM permanently damages the victim’s psyche for the worse and engenders an overwhelming trauma in the girl. FGM also causes complications during sexual intercourse for both the girl and her partner. The closing of the vaginal opening in infibulation makes childbirth extremely difficult; the closing must be cut open and the tearing of scar tissue during labor is a serious risk. Although FGM will not be completely eradicated from the world, we can try to eliminate it from the Western world and bring awareness of this issue to the millions of people who are currently uninformed of this particularly heinous, tortuous, and dehumanizing practice in our

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