...Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and male circumcision are two procedures that are practiced in several cultures, and do not always give the male or female a say in the matter. There is a big debate regarding which practice, FGM or male circumcision is worse for the individual to endure. Even though there is much speculation, both continue to be implemented across many cultures. For example, in Africa, especially in Sudan, FGM is practiced and other cultures such as Judaism, practice male circumcision. Although many cultures require these practices, it is necessary to establish that there are many health risks associated with both. FGM has four ways it can be performed, while male circumcision is the removal of the foreskin and there is only one way to go about it. Although female genital mutilation and male circumcision are typically performed...
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...Colleen Sisson Anthropology Cultural Traditions Introduction and Research Question Female genital circumcision is something that I have recently been introduced to just this past year. I was completely unaware of this practice and I find it very interesting that male circumcision is so widely recognized in our culture yet this practice is seen to be as such a horrifying practice. It is interesting that there are so many different types and varying degrees of female “infibulation” or circumcision. Being interested the healthcare field and having learned about the cultural aspects of this procedure, I am more accepting of it because as healthcare providers it is important to be culturally competent in our care. This is a very sensitive subject because it is a cultural difference but it is also a potential for harm to allow the continuing or “reinfibulating” of the patient especially after a female undergoes childbirth. Healthcare providers are taught the ethical principle of non-maleficence which is to “do no harm” and when there is research to show that this procedure can be harmful, it is a conflict of autonomy. Autonomy is the principle that teaches us to respect our patient’s rights to make their own independent decisions about their healthcare. The main question posed here would be whether or not there could be acceptance of this female genital mutilation among the western cultures. Defining FGM..what it is..who does it…why do they do it and justify it…what is the...
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...Should Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) be banned? Female genital mutilation or circumcision is referred to as the removal of part, or all of the female genitalia. This involves the cutting of the clitoris (a small sensitive and erectile part of the female genitals) and the two sides of the vulva and the labia majora are fused together by blood clot, leaving small opening to the vagina for passing of urine and menstrual blood. This practice is harmful, purposeless and has many side effects that cause women pain and suffering for the rest of their lives, so I believe that it should be banned for the safety and protection of women. One of the effects of female genital mutilation (FGM) or circumcision is, it leads to risk of life threatening complications. Since the operators do many circumcisions at one time, there is a very large likelihood that girls will contract horrible diseases like HIV and hepatitis because the operators are not well develop, therefore they use the same unsterilized tool on the girls. They may also suffer severe bleeding at the time of the procedure...
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...There is a growing issue with Female Genital Mutilation for young girls around the world. This topic blatantly violates basic human rights but still seems to be the cause of controversy among various cultures. Female Genital Mutilation has been discussed amongst the highest human rights organizations such as World Health Organization, Against Harmful Traditional Practices, and Daughter’s of Eve. While Female Genital Mutilation is illegal in most parts of the world, there are around 18 countries that have little to no regulations against FGM. The practicing of FGM occurs mostly in developing countries, which can stretch across northern Africa, southeast Asia and the middle east. As more and more countries start to outlaw FGM, the question of whether or not new laws prohibiting the practice of FGM is interfering with religious freedom or should push down their cultural belief to stand up for human rights rises. Although it is critical that we recognize other tradition and cultures, the line is surely crossed when we sit back and witness the horrific ways certain cultures try to control women. Defined by the World Health Organization, Female Genital Mutilation,...
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...Female genital Mutilation (FGM) is a procedure that involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons according to the United Nations General Assembly, Interagency Statement on Elimination Female Genital Mutilation. There are different types of FMG and have different procedures involved. This practice is carried out in various parts of the world such as in an Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It is performed on female of all ages starting from infant. According to World Health Organization, between hundred and hundred-forty million girls and women has gone through FGM worldwide. Also, in the majority of the cases, girls that are under age of fifteen...
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...Female Genital Mutilation Introduction I have chosen this topic because I feel like FGM is a way for abusing a women and women abuse should not be necessary. Is also comes under child abuse and I want to tell people that child abuse and women abuse is wrong and FGM has no valid reason to be done. People are unaware of the how painful this act is and they are unaware of the side effect a women have to go through their whole life. Every day at least 200 million girls get cut in Africa. Female Genital mutilation is violation of human rights. What is FGM? FGM stands for Female genital mutilation and is the cutting of the women sexual organs another name for FGM is female circumcision. FGM is not a medical process and is not done for any medical...
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...the past 60 years, Female genital mutilation (FGM), the process of altering female genitalia, has been condemned by the Western world for a being an inhuman and oppressive tradition in need of abolishment. At the age of puberty, women living in communities that practice FGM are subject to a forced circumcision procedure that often leads to lifelong physical and psychological implications. As such, anti-FGM discourse universalises the image of the ‘normal” female body by framing female circumcision as a barbaric human rights violation. In doing so, the Western world often fails to acknowledge the practice’s deep rooted cultural significance that have made women “prisoners of ritual”. It will be argued that in order to adequately resolve...
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...Maria Lwantale Stephanie Wilhelm English 112 April 20, 2013 Genital mutilation: Negotiating Human Rights and Culture! I come from a small country called Uganda. We perform certain acts not because we want to, but as culture dictates. I remember being oblivious to genital mutilation, but all this changed during my years in high school because I attended boarding school. As adolescents, we enjoyed talking about our sexuality and bodies. One sunny Saturday evening, as we sat down in our dormitory, one of the girls asked if anyone had under gone genital mutilation just like her. Diana yelled out loud: “It was one of the most embarrassing and painful experiences I have ever gone through.” She said that it is held in a group setting and the act involves cutting off one’s labia minora. I was in total dismay! My family chose to stubbornly ignore certain cultural acts and this is one I am happy to have skipped judging from the information I know right now. The second time I heard of it was during my last year in high school. We had a social studies class that everyone used to enjoy so much because it had some very interesting topics. Interesting and controversial topics just like female genital mutilation. The topic at hand one chilly morning was female genital mutilation. I was prone to being absent minded and being mentally absent from class. Just hearing the three words woke me up. Ms. Kelly Miti described it as the cutting off of a few of a woman’s sexual parts which I found...
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...Female genital mutilation is a horrendous injustice that occurs everyday in this world. Female genital mutilation is wrong for several reasons. It is wrong because women can experience physical health consequences, psychological health consequences and it is a form of gender discrimination. In societies that practice female genital mutilation women will never be considered equal they will always be considered below men. According to the World Health Organization, “Female genital mutilation constitutes all procedures which involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or any other non-therapeutic reasons.” Firstly, female genital mutilation causes serious health problems to women who have been mutilated. Women who have the most sever mutilation will suffer from health problems for their whole lives. The procedure is often carried out with crude tools used for mutilating the genitalia. Examples of these tools are scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass, or razor blades (World Health Organization). In addition, the mutilation usually occurs in an unsanitary room. These unsanitary conditions can lead to the spread of HIV and infections of the genitalia and surrounding areas. Anesthetics are rarely used and relatives must hold down the female screaming in pain while she is being mutilated. On account of this severe pain the female usual goes into shock, the massive blood loss does not help either. Female...
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...Junior Research Paper There are wide variations of traditional and religious practices worldwide, from the Japanese tea ceremony, to circumcision in underdeveloped countries. These customs, have been around for centuries and continue to be important aspects of everyday life. However, as today's society continues to progress, these traditions are questioned. The dreadful reality and unjust qualities of the practices have been revealed, as more information and research is conducted. Circumcision is a custom, highly common amongst women in 3rd world countries, and is used for numerous cases. Circumcision is the surgical process of removing skin surrounding the tip of a newborn male sexual organ. This surgical process is legal, and commonly safe in different parts of the world, including the United States and other developed countries. “For some families, circumcision is a religious ritual. Circumcision can also be a matter of family tradition, personal hygiene or preventive health care.” Circumcision may be a risky process, but the benefits far exceed the risks if done properly. Improved hygienics, is a huge beneficial factor of male circumcision. The process makes it easier for males to cleanse...
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...Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology Vol. 4(5), pp. 117-122, May 2012 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JPHE DOI: 10.5897/JPHE11.194 ISSN 2141-2316 ©2012 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Female genital mutilation in Southeast Nigeria: A survey on the current knowledge and practice Ibekwe Perpetus C.*, Onoh Robinson C, Onyebuchi Azubike K., Ezeonu Paul O. and Ibekwe Rosemary O. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Federal Medical Centre, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. Accepted 9 April, 2012 Female genital mutilation (FGM) has been recognised as a major reproductive health problem and a dehumanising practice that has resisted change especially in developing countries. The study reviews the current knowledge and practice of FGM in Southeast Nigeria. This is a questionnaire based descriptive study involving women of reproductive age in Abakaliki, South east Nigeria. A semistructured questionnaire was distributed to 320 women by simple random sampling. Information sought included the socio-demographic characteristics, and personal information on FGM with regards to knowledge and practice. Two hundred and sixty (81.3%) were appropriate for analysis. The mean age of the respondents was 28.6 years ± 5.4 SD. Most had formal education, with tertiary education contributing 60.8%. A high percentage was aware of FGM, and the problem associated with it was 91 and 72%, respectively. Half of the respondents (49.6%) were genitally mutilated while almost the...
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...preventive measures in handicap are different from medical management in type and level. For instance, when a child has a cerebral palsy due to prematurity, he would need drugs and physiotherapy. But preventing prematurity would need, among other things, health education and pregnancy monitoring. Like cerebral palsy, or seizures, sexually abused street children are merely a symptom, but the causes are derived from elsewhere. Of course it [is] the symptoms that have to be dealt with in an attempt to help the children whose cases require special intervention due to the urgent and often difficult circumstances. While Marzouki (2002), concentrates on the need to look at the symptoms to help abused children with proper intervention strategies, this paper still believes in the need to also understand the precipitating factors for child abuse. For it is, only...
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...Fatima Said, of Americas Top Model, defiantly put female genital cutting in the minds of Americans and people around the world. She opened up a topic that many people had no idea about, and now are very interested in knowing more about. This essay will give a brief history of Somalia (Fatima’s home country), and then it will go into female genital cutting in Somalia. Somalia is a country in eastern Africa. The countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya surround it. Somalis are thought to have been decedents from Africans and Arab people. The main languages in Somalia are Arabic, Italian and English. Islam is practiced through out the region. The majorities of Somalis are livestock herders and cultivate the land that they have. (www.cia.gov). Somalia became independent and its own country in 1960, when it got independence from England and Italy. Somalia has not had a stable government between 1991 and 2000. However, during 2000 a parliamentary government was formed but later on expired in 2003. In 2004, a new parliament was organized and a president was elected- Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. Since 1991, Somalia has been overwhelmed with chaos and anarchy. Somalia had gone through a difficult time in 1992 when a drought happened in Africa and was combined with a civil war. Somalia went through an intense famine that killed approximately 300,000 people. (www.cia.gov). There were many efforts done by the United Stated and the United Nations to help Somalia get through the drought and...
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...Guevarra, Richelle Dawn E. February 13, 2013 SOCIO 1- B1 REACTION PAPER ABOUT THE ISSUE ON ‘TURI’ Female genital mutilation (FGM) is known as female genital cutting and female circumcision. It involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The advantage of this circumcision is that it reduces excessive sensitivity of the clitoris and it prevents stimulation of the clitoris which makes it grow large in such a manner that it causes pain. In other words, it helps reduced women sex drive or their desire for sex. However, there are also the so- called disadvantages about this issue, and that involves the removal and damaging the healthy and normal female genital tissue, and interferes with the natural functions of girls' and women's bodies. It can harm girls and women in many ways. Furthermore, this practice is common among Meranao women. Before I write this reaction paper I had to think twice whether these proceedings can harm or benefit the women nowadays to absolutely give a better reason for my choice. So, As a woman and a biology student, I disagree about this practice because it can lead to severe complications especially when not performed properly. It can complicate our pregnancy in the future and caused us to serious physical and mental health risk and higher risk of painful and bleeding complication...
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...Female genital mutilation (FGM) is known as female genital cutting and female circumcision. It involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The advantage of this circumcision is that it reduces excessive sensitivity of the clitoris and it prevents stimulation of the clitoris which makes it grow large in such a manner that it causes pain. In other words, it helps reduced women sex drive or their desire for sex. However, there are also the so- called disadvantages about this issue, and that involves the removal and damaging the healthy and normal female genital tissue, and interferes with the natural functions of girls' and women's bodies. It can harm girls and women in many ways. Furthermore, this practice is common among Meranao women. Before I write this reaction paper I had to think twice whether these proceedings can harm or benefit the women nowadays to absolutely give a better reason for my choice. So, As a woman and a biology student, I disagree about this practice because it can lead to severe complications especially when not performed properly. It can complicate our pregnancy in the future and caused us to serious physical and mental health risk and higher risk of painful and bleeding complication which can lead us to lethality. On the other hand, as a teenager who is aware of the extreme increased in premarital sex and adultery in our country, I would probably agree on this...
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