Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons." FGM is practiced as a cultural ritual by ethnic groups in 27 countries in sub-Saharan and Northeast Africa, and to a lesser extent in Asia, the Middle East and within immigrant communities elsewhere. It is typically carried out, with or without anesthesia, by a traditional circumciser using a knife or razor. The age of the girls varies from weeks after birth to puberty; in half the countries for which figures were available in 2013, most girls were cut before the age of five. Around 125 million women and girls in Africa and the Middle East have undergone FGM. Over eight million have experienced Type III, which is most common in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan. The practice is an ethnic marker, rooted in gender inequality, ideas about purity, modesty and aesthetics, religious beliefs and attempts to control women's sexuality.

Muslim-Majority Countries & FGM Prevalence

There are over 50 Muslim-majority countries across the globe. The practice is heavily concentrated in specific regions rather than being universally applied across the Islamic world.

• Africa: Some of the highest prevalence rates globally are in predominantly Muslim African nations such as Somalia (98%), Guinea (97%), and Djibouti (93%). High rates are also found in Egypt and Mali.
• The Middle East: FGM is practiced in varying degrees in countries like Yemen and Iraq.
• Asia: Indonesia and Malaysia have significant populations where FGM is practiced; in Indonesia, for example, around half of young girls undergo some form of the procedure.
• Exceptions: The vast majority of the world's Muslims living in South Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East generally do not practice FGM.

Global FGM Statistics

According to the most recent data compiled by UNICEF and the World Health Organization:

• Global Survivors: Over 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM.
• Regional Breakdown: The largest share of the global burden is in Africa with over 144 million cases, followed by Asia with over 80 million, and the Middle East with 6 million.
• At-Risk Populations: Around 4 million girls are subjected to the practice globally every year.
• Demographics: While the procedure affects women of reproductive age, it is increasingly targeting young girls between infancy and age 5.

You can explore the latest global reports, country-specific profiles, and demographic trends by visiting the UNICEF Female Genital Mutilation Statistics dashboard.

Misogyny and Female Oppression

Domestic Abuse Chart

Misogyny is the hatred of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women and girls, functioning as a mechanism to maintain patriarchal social roles and gender inequality. It manifests through sexism, belittling, objectification, violence and rape, often rooted in societal upbringing, cultural norms and religious upbringing.

Misogyny can be manifested in numerous ways, including sexual discrimination, denigration of women, violence against women, sexual objectification of women, forming rape gangs to attack "infidels", forced Female Genital Mutilation and even reveal itself in toxic femininity which sources from an assortment of socially groomed mind control behaviors. Women as well as men, can embody misogynistic behaviors which enforces subconscious compliance to self imposed misogynistic attitudes such as toxic femininity that appears in such anti-female archetypal forces as the Princess Code, Dark Mother and Lunar Woman.

Misogyny has been characterized as a prominent feature of the mythologies of the ancient world and in various religions, this was set in place to program slaves on the earth many thousands of years ago by the alien invaders introducing violent religions as a form of Mind Control of the surface population. See Archontic Deception Strategy and Archontic Deception Behavior.

FGM is Sexual Torture of Girls

As defined by the WHO, female genital mutilation pertains to a custom that involves partial or complete removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs performed for nonmedical (nontherapeutic) reasons. There is no medical benefit from this practice, which has been “euphemistically called female circumcision” or female genital cutting. Moreover, significant immediate and lifelong complications can result from this practice including severe pain, significant bleeding or hemorrhage, infections, urination difficulties, difficulties in defecation, increase in viral blood-borne infections, infertility, dysmenorrhea, inability to have sexual intercourse, infertility, sexual dysfunction, childbirth complications, newborn deaths, shock, and death.

This procedure is generally carried out by “traditional” nonmedical practitioners. Frequently, no anesthetics are given before, during, or after the procedure and nonsterile nonmedical instruments, such as “a razor blade, a piece of glass, or knife is used to cut the most sensitive part of the body.” The age of the girls undergoing this procedure ranges from 7 days to puberty or adolescence, contingent on the culture. Initially, female genital mutilation was a remote practice, associated only with Africa. Now it is prevalent not only in Africa but also in the Middle East and in Asia, and because of global migration even in Western countries. Social and cultural traditions including the perception within the community that men will only marry women who have undergone female genital mutilation are impediments to stopping this practice.

The procedure has been described by experts such as Ms Ras-Work, “It is torture. It is inhuman. It is degrading treatment of women. It is against the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Woman, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and so many other conventions… There is no excuse for genital mutilation to live with us.”

As with other forms of exploitation and abuse, the actual incidence is unknown because of the hidden nature of the crime. Worldwide, as many as 3 million girls are at high risk of undergoing this brutal procedure, and there are from 100 to 140 million girls and women who are living with the consequences of female genital mutilation. About half a million girls and women who currently reside in Europe, and up to 400,000 girls and women in the United States, have been subjected to this procedure.

Although some progress has been made, countries such as Ethiopia have been praised for their efforts that have resulted in a decline in the prevalence of female genital mutilation; and 30 countries (19 African states and 11 European nations) have enacted legislation against the practice of female genital mutilation; there is still a high prevalence in many regions. Of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years, nearly 98% and 91% (prevalence) had been subjected to female genital mutilation in Somalia in 2006 and in Egypt in 2008, respectively.

See Also

Genital Mutilation

Moloch

Sexual Misery

Dark Mother

Golum

Invocation for Sacred Sexual Embodiment