FGM, that’s Female Genital Mutilation is a hilarious crime for many countries like India. Female Genital Mutilation is also known as Female Circumcision.
FGM is a process in which there is a removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. Female Genital Mutilation practices are chiefly found in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East and within communities from communities where it is shared.
FGM practiced as a ritual in some of the countries. It has conducted from days of birth to puberty and beyond.
Most of the girls cut before the age of five.
Female Genital Mutilation involves eviction of the clitoral hood and clitoral glans, removal of inner labia, deletion of outer labia, and closure of the vulva.
FGM practice is rooted in gender inequality, attempts to control women’s sexuality and ideas about purity, modesty, and beauty. There are types of FGM:
TYPE I FGM:
It is the partial or total removal of the clitoris and prepuce. It involves the removal of the clitoral hood only. FGM performed alone. In it, the circumciser pulls the clitoral glams with her thumb and index finger and cuts it off.
TYPE II FGM:
It is the complete or partial removal of inner labia. It involves with or without removal of the clitoral glans and outer labia.
TYPE III FGM:
It is then a sewn closed category. It includes the removal of the external genitalia and the fusion of the wound. The inner and outer labia are cut away, with or without removal of the clitoral glans. According to the 2008 estimation, over 8 million women in Africa are living in type III FGM.
TYPE IV FGM:
Type IV FGM is another painful procedure for female genitalia for non-medical purposes. It includes pricking, piercing, incising, scraping, and cauterization. It is every day in southern and eastern Africa.
COMPLICATIONS IN FGM:
- Severe pain
- Shock
- Hemorrhage
- Tetanus or infection
- Urine retention
- Ulceration of the genital region
- Injury to adjacent tissue
- Wound infection
- Urinary infection
- Fever
- Septicemia
HEALTH PROBLEM IN FGM:
Chronic genital infection:
With continuous chronic pain and vaginal discharge and itching, cysts, abscesses, and genital ulcers may also appear.
Chronic reproductive tract infection:
May cause chronic back and pelvic pain.
Urinary tract infection:
If not treated, such infection can ascend to the kidneys, potentially resulting in renal failure, septicemia, and death.
Painful urination:
It occurs due to an obstacle in the urethra and recurrent urinary tract infections.
Vaginal problem:
Discharge, itching, bacterial vaginosis, and other infections.
Menstrual problem:
Barriers in the vaginal opening may lead to painful menstruation, irregular menses, and difficulty in passing menstrual blood, particularly mong type III FGM women.
Keloids:
It occurs due to uncontrolled scar tissue can form at the site of cutting.
HIV:
Given that the transmission of HIV facilitated through the trauma of the vaginal epithelium. It allows the direct commencement of the virus, and it is reasonable to presume that the risk of HIV transmission may be increasing due to an increased risk of bleeding.
WHO wrote:
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) also violates a person’s right to be healthy, security and physical integrity, right to be free from ill-treatment and uncaring, inhuman or demeaning treatment, even the right to life when the action results in death.”
So there should be an end to FGM practices, and it should be treated as a crime and not as a ritual.
