"I was genitally mutilated at the age of ten. When the operation began, I put up a big fight. The pain was terrible and unbearable... I was badly cut and lost blood... I was genitally mutilated with a blunt penknife. After the operation, no one was allowed to aid me to walk... Sometimes I had to force myself not to urinate for fear of the terrible pain. I was not given any anesthetic in the operation to reduce my pain, nor any antibiotics to fight against infection. Afterwards, I hemorrhaged and became anemic. This was attributed to witchcraft. I suffered for a long time from acute vaginal infections." - Hannah Koroma, Sierra Leone
Female genital mutilation is also known as FGM. It is the practice of cutting away a part of or all of a girl’s external genitalia. It is a practice that is preformed mainly on children and adolescents who are about four to fourteen years old. In some countries like Ethiopia, more than half of FGM is performed on children who are under a year old.
There are an estimated seventy million girls who have been mutilated in Africa and Yemen, more and more have been found all over the world. They have been found in Australia, Europe, Canada and even in USA. The people who do FGM actually have a very high status in their communities and they are paid very well.
The reason why FGM is practiced is to control or reduce the sexuality of the females. They also want to maintain their society their own way. They also think that the female genitalia is dirty and ugly so they cut it off. They also do it for religious reasons.
FGM violates the most basic human rights. It discriminates against women and it violates their right for equal opportunities. They are at risk for health problems. It is very degrading and cruel.
It is irreversible. It can cause death because of severe bleeding which causes hemorrhagic shock and neuroginic shock as a result of pain and trauma. There is also always the risk of infection, it will be even worse if they are in a third world country. Most girls enter a state of shock because of the severe pain, trauma and just sheer exhauson from screaming.
Female genital mutilation is just depressing. Nobody should ever be put through that. This is degrading and they should never have their rights as a woman taken away from them. We need to join the fight and somehow help stop Female Genital Mutilation.
Wow, this article is very tense. I never knew that the operation still exists, and what's even worse that theres 70 million operations! I dont understand why they continue to practice that kind of operation, because they dont really have the right materials to use and/or mediciations to give prior the operations. Something has to be done about this, UNICEF perhaps?
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy that this is still practiced in other countries. FMP is against human rights, and there should be consequences given to those who hurt these women and ruin their identity.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe that half of children in Ethiopia under the age of one goes through FGM. Some cultures do this due to religion reason; I personally do not understand the whole picture of the religion reasons why they do FGM.
Also, they don't provide the medication to these children. They suffer pain they don't deserve to go through. I agree with Meems, something needs to be done. UNICEF needs to take some action. These young girls do not deserve this.
Oh my god, this is very sick for people to do that to the women. When I was reading this, I felt like I was ready to faint because I could not imagine myself in this situation. Poor those women! This is new information for me to learn and thank you for sharing your blog with FMG. People who do the FMG should respect the women's bodies because it is not their bodies that they can do whatever to those women. I don't like this at all. It has to stop this now to help the women because they are suffering from losing a lot of blood and losing their private parts for what? They deserve to be the respect of their bodies, period.
ReplyDeleteThis definitely violates the rights of women.. Because of FGM women are afraid of speaking up for their rights, therefore, men will just push them down until they get buried underneath the ground. Nobody deserves to live like that.. If men want think that FGM reduces a woman's sexuality or that a women's privates are dirty, they might as well stay away from them or cut off their testes rather than seeing women go through hell just for them to fell satisfied.
ReplyDeleteWomen have just as much rights as men, and they should not sacrifice their lives because nobody is really doing much about it.. More people should be exposed what happens to women in other countries, and people should be given the opportunity to help out so deaths like these can be prevented.