1 / 17

Female Genital Cutting

Female Genital Cutting. Martin Donohoe. Female Genital Cutting. 135 million women affected worldwide (2 million girls/year) Most in Africa (e.g. 98% of women in Somalia, 80% in Egypt, 50% in Kenya) Outlawed in Egypt - 2007 Rare in Asia, Western hemisphere. Female Genital Cutting.

ferdinand
Télécharger la présentation

Female Genital Cutting

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Female Genital Cutting Martin Donohoe

  2. Female Genital Cutting • 135 million women affected worldwide (2 million girls/year) • Most in Africa (e.g. 98% of women in Somalia, 80% in Egypt, 50% in Kenya) • Outlawed in Egypt - 2007 • Rare in Asia, Western hemisphere

  3. Female Genital Cutting • All socioeconomic strata and all major religions • Reasons: gender/cultural identity, hygiene, fertility, child survival, maintain virginity, enhance male sexual pleasure • Formerly used in U.S. and U.K. as treatment for hysteria (“floating womb”), epilepsy, melancholy, lesbianism, and excessive masturbation

  4. Female Genital Cutting • Has been called female genital mutilation • Not female circumcision • i.e., male equivalent would be penectomy • Ranges from clitoridectomy to total infibulation (removal of clitoris and labia minora, removing labia majora and stitching rough edges together, and leaving a small opening posterior for urine and menstral blood)

  5. Female Genital Cutting • Represents cultural control of women’s sexual pleasure and reproductive capabilities • surgical “chastity belt” • c.f. virginity exams by physicians in Turkey

  6. Female Genital Cutting • Type I - removal of clitoris • Type II - removal of clitoris and part of labia minora (80% of procedures) • Type III - modified infibulation - 2/3 of labia majora sewn together • Type IV - total infibulation – labia majora cut, rough edges sewn together (15% of procedures)

  7. Female Genital Cutting • Procedures sometimes include: • Incisions/scarification of perineum and vaginal walls • Introduction of corrosives and herbs into vagina

  8. Female Genital Cutting • Most commonly carried out between ages 4 and 10 • physicians perform about 12% of operations • Midwives, barbers, relatives • Often done under non-sterile conditions and without anesthesia

  9. bleeding infection dyspareunia painful neuromas keloids dysmenorrhea infertility decreased sexual responsiveness shame fear depression Female Genital CuttingComplications/Sequelae

  10. Management of Female Genital Cutting • Sensitivity/understand cultural identity issues • Deinfibulation • Immigration Issues

  11. Female Genital Cutting • UN, WHO, and FIGO have condemned • Illegal to perform in U.S. under child abuse statutes • ?“cultural imperialism”?

  12. ?Cultural Imperialism? • Other outlawed “cultural practices”: • Slavery • Polygamy • Child labor • Denial of appropriate, life-saving medical care to sick children

  13. References • Adams KE. What's Normal: Female Genital Mutilation, Psychology, and Body Image. JAMWA 2004;59(3):168-170. Available at http://jamwa.amwa-doc.org/index.cfm?objectid=2A3A132A-D567-0B25-5985AC5574B1C538

  14. References • Donohoe MT. Individual and societal forms of violence against women in the United States and the developing world: an overview. Curr Women’s Hlth Reports 2002;2(5):313-319. • Donohoe MT. Violence and human rights abuses against women in the developing world. Medscape Ob/Gyn and Women’s Health 2003;8(2): posted 11/26/03. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/464255

  15. Contact Information Public Health and Social Justice Website http://www.phsj.org martindonohoe@phsj.org

More Related