What does it mean for a girl to cut it off?

Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) means piercing, cutting, removing, or sewing closed all or part of a girl’s or woman’s external genitals for no medical reason.

What is female circumcision in Ethiopia?

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and within communities from countries in which FGM is common.

What are the four types of FGM?

Types of FGM

Type I – Clitoridectomy. Partial or total removal of the clitoris (a small, sensitive and erectile part of the female genitals) and/or the prepuce (the clitoral hood or fold of skin surrounding the clitoris).
Type II – Excision.
Type III – Infibulation.
Type IV – Other.

What is mutilation mean?

1 : an act or instance of destroying, removing, or severely damaging a limb or other body part of a person or animal the mutilation of a body They were men who had been sexually damaged by disease, accident, or deliberate mutilation.—

Is mutilation a crime?

Maiming has often been a criminal offense; the old law term for a special case of maiming of persons was mayhem, an Anglo-French variant form of the word. Maiming of animals by others than their owners is a particular form of the offense generally grouped as malicious damage.

Is male circumcision mutilation?

In many cases this is done without good medical justification, for example to force the infant to conform to the expectations of a particular religion. Just as we call sex without consent ‘rape’, circumcision without consent or reasonable justification should be called ‘mutilation’.

What is the purpose of mutilation?

FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered acceptable sexual behaviour. It aims to ensure premarital virginity and marital fidelity. FGM is in many communities believed to reduce a woman’s libido and therefore believed to help her resist extramarital sexual acts.

Where is FGM illegal?

The Government made a number of commitments for new legislation to tackle FGM. 5. Under the 2003 Act it is an offence for any person in England, Wales or Northern Ireland (regardless of their nationality or residence status) to perform FGM (section 1); or to assist a girl to carry out FGM on herself (section 2).

How does FGM affect childbirth?

2 June 2006 | Geneva – A new study published by the World Health Organization (WHO) has shown that women who have had Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) are significantly more likely to experience difficulties during childbirth and that their babies are more likely to die as a result of the practice.

Is FGM legal in the US?

With the passage of the federal law ban, the Female Genital Mutilation Act, in 1996, performing FGM on anyone under age 18 became a felony in the United States. However, in 2018, the act was stuck down as unconstitutional by US federal district judge Bernard A.

What does clitoridectomy mean?

1. Clitoridectomy: partial or total removal of the clitoris, and in rare cases, only the prepuce. 2. Excision: partial or total removal of the clitoris and labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora.

Which country has the highest rate of FGM?

In a 2013 UNICEF report covering 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East, Egypt had the region’s highest total number of women that have undergone FGM (27.2 million), while Somalia had the highest percentage (prevalence) of FGM (98%). The world’s first known campaign against FGM took place in Egypt in the 1920s.

How long do you go to jail for FGM?

It replaced the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985, extending the ban on female genital mutilation to address the practice of taking girls abroad to undergo FGM procedures, and increased the maximum penalty from 5 to 14 years’ imprisonment.

What is FGM crime?

FGM is a criminal offence. It is a form of violence against women and girls, and in the latter case it is child abuse. All CPS decisions – whether to charge or to advise no further action (NFA) – must be approved by a Director of Legal Services and all cases notified to the DLS Team upon receipt from the police.

What is the penalty for FGM?

Legislation, policy and guidance. It is illegal to carry out FGM in the UK. It is also a criminal offence for UK nationals or permanent UK residents to perform FGM overseas or take their child abroad to have FGM carried out. The maximum penalty for FGM is 14 years’ imprisonment.

What form of abuse is FGM?

child abuse

What is FGM in safeguarding?

Definition. FGM comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs. It is illegal in the UK and a form of child abuse with long-lasting harmful consequences.

How do you know if you have FGM?

Signs that FGM might have taken place: Difficulty or discomfort walking, standing or sitting. Complaints of pain between legs. Spending longer than normal in the bathroom or toilet (due to difficulties urinating) Appearing quiet, anxious, or depressed.

What is meant by breast ironing?

Breast Ironing also known as ‘Breast Flattening’ is the process whereby young pubescent girls breasts are ironed, massaged and/or pounded down through the use of hard or heated objects in order for the breasts to disappear or delay the development of the breasts entirely.

Does female circumcision affect fertility?

In Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania, circumcised women had lower childlessness, lower infertility by age, and higher total fertility rates than women who were not circumcised; the reverse pattern prevailed in the Central African Republic.

What are the side effects of FGM?

Short-term health risks of FGM

Severe pain. Cutting the nerve ends and sensitive genital tissue causes extreme pain.
Excessive bleeding (haemorrhage). Can result if the clitoral artery or other blood vessel is cut.
Shock.
Genital tissue swelling.
Infections.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Urination problems.
Death.

What is female circumcision in Malaysia?

Female circumcision is an old practice, of removing some external parts of a female’s reproductive organ. It is observed in Malaysia and many other countries around the world including Africa. In Malaysia, the National Fatwa Council issued a religious edict in 2009 making it mandatory.

Is FGM legal in Malaysia?

6 There are no laws concerning FGC in Malaysia and the Malaysian Medical Council is silent on this subject. The department of religious affairs of Malaysia had issued a fatwa (opinions on Islamic law) in 2009 that FGC is wajib (mandatory) for females with the exception of medical reasons.

Is FGM illegal in the UK?

Female genital mutilation ( FGM ), sometimes known as ‘female circumcision’ or ‘female genital cutting’, is illegal in the UK. It’s also illegal to take abroad a British national or permanent resident for FGM , or to help someone trying to do this.

Has anyone in the UK been prosecuted for FGM?

First prosecutions As of 2015 there have been no convictions in the UK for performing or arranging FGM. By contrast, in France over 100 parents and two practitioners had been prosecuted by 2014 in over 40 criminal cases.

Is FGM illegal in Scotland?

The law on FGM The Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005 made it a criminal offence to have female genital mutilation carried out in Scotland or abroad, and increased the maximum penalty from five to 14 years imprisonment.