British Officials Uncover Hundreds of New Cases of Female Genital Mutilation in the UKThe British National Health Service-- in a first-of-its-kind, just released study-- has documented 467 "newly identified cases" of girls and women who had been genitally mutilated. Half live in London.
Previously, 1, 279 such girls and women were
known to be receiving post-mutilation treatment. However, estimates suggest
that up to "170,000 women and girls living in the UK may have undergone
FGM."
This is simply not acceptable.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is not at
all like male circumcision. Not only is the capacity for sexual pleasure
destroyed, complications
are routine and include bleeding, painful urination, cysts,
dangerous and recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, the growth of
scar tissue that make marital intercourse a nightmare and that turns
childbirth into an experience of danger and torture. It increases the
likelihood of newborn deaths. In addition, some girls and women develop
fistulas and become incontinent. They are doomed to defecate and urinate
without control. Absent effective surgery, this is a life-long condition which
leads to the woman being shunned by her family.
And then there is a life-long post-traumatic
stress disorder that normally accompanies the experience of having been
forced into such suffering, usually by your mother or grandmother, and at the
hands of a female specialist.
This is a grim picture indeed. But matters
are far worse in non-Western countries. Earlier this year, the World
Health Organization estimated that 125 million women have
been genitally mutilated. They confirmed that this hellish procedure renders
absolutely no health benefit and, on the contrary, harms its victims beyond
measure and violates their human rights. As we know, the practice is common
in 29 countries: in the Arab Muslim Middle East and in parts of Muslim,
Christian, and animist Africa. According to UNICEF, "91% of married Egyptian women between 15-49 have been
subjected to FGM."
Related Topics: Gender, Islamic
Gender & Religious Apartheid
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Saturday, October 18, 2014
British Officials Uncover Hundreds of New Cases of Female Genital Mutilation in the UK
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