Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, FGC has remained an unsolvable issue stretched across the diverse fields of public health policy, law, social work, women’s studies, demography, epidemiology, history, political science, and anthropology. It has garnered an onslaught of international scrutiny and criticism, especially since the United Nations Decade for Women (1975-1985) when the topic became incorporated into discourses on international human rights and women’s health and empowerment.
Contentious political standpoints influence the terminology used to describe the practices of FGC. The practices used to be grouped under the heading “female circumcision,” but this term has been criticized for it euphemistic quality and comparison to male circumcision. Many activists employ “female genital mutilation,” but this term implies judgment and condemnation. The label “genital surgeries” has been disputed for its legitimizing quality. “Female genital cutting” is argued as a less value-laden term though little agreement on terminology exists.
What Is FGC?
FGC is not a singular practice; it is a collection of different practices that partially or completely alter or remove a female’s external genitalia for non-medical reasons. While the variation of practices lie on a continuum and are not entirely distinguishable from one another, the World Health Organization has classified four major types:
- Type I, clitoridectomy, involves the removal of all or part of the clitoris.
- Type II, excision, combines Type I with the removal of part or all of the labia minora.
- Type III, infibulation (or pharaonic circumcision), removes most or all the external genitalia and sutures the remaining skin together, leaving only a small opening for menstrual blood and urine. Before intercourse and childbirth, the suture is cut open, a practice known as de-infibulation. Re-infibulation generally occurs after each birth or when a woman becomes divorced or widowed. There are modified forms of infibulation practiced, but it remains the most radical of the types.
- Type IV includes a variety of lesser-known practices.
Origins and Prevalence
Female genital cutting is a widespread practice, spanning a broad region of Africa and varying widely among ethnic groups. It has also been documented in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Arab peninsula, and among immigrant communities worldwide. Its global prevalence is uncertain since some countries do not have reliable estimates. The most common forms of cutting are clitoridectomies and excisions; infibulation is confined mostly to Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and small parts of Kenya, Nigeria, and Mali.
Ethnic boundaries are more important than national boundaries in understanding the distribution of FGC in Africa. Ethnic groups adjacent to one another do not necessarily both engage in FGC, and the practices of FGC have even begun to draw socioeconomic class boundaries within ethnic groups.
The origins of FGC (and the importance of knowing its origins) are debatable among scholars. Political scientist Gerry Mackie has supported a single-source diffusion theory, arguing that infibulation began in ancient Sudan as a practice to control female fidelity. Others support a dual source origins theory, and some scholars believe knowing its origins will not explain its continuing practice today.
Conclusion
A traditional female circumciser most often performs FGC; however, the reasons behind the cutting and the age-ranges of the girls or women undergoing the cutting, vary among cultural groups. Today, the WHO estimates that between 100 and 140 million girls and women worldwide have undergone “female genital mutilation,” and that each year three million African girls are at risk.
Shell-Duncan, Bettina and Ylva Hernlund. “Introduction.” Female “Circumcision” in Africa: Culture, Controversy, and Change. Eds. Shell-Duncan and Hernlund. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000.
