Female Genital Mutilation, commonly referred to as FGM, has been essential to most African cultures for as long as 2,000 years. However, in the past decade, outside pressures have turned the Female Genital Mutilation ritual into something taboo rather than something to be anticipated. International concern, education on health risks and an increasing interest in human rights are all causes of the decrease of FGM.

There are four different classifications of Genital Mutilation. None of the operations use sterilized equipment (mostly broken pieces of glass or tiny razors) or anesthetics and the “doctor” is not licensed. It is generally nonconsensual and women sit on the girl’s arms, legs and torso (if she is not an infant) in order to hold her down while the elder does the procedure. Class I and II represent 85% of the world’s FGM and class III represents 15%. Class IV is not particularly counted in many statistics since it is not widespread. However, it includes basically any type of modification of the female genitals that has not been included in the first three groups (i.e. stretching, burning, incisions, or the introduction of inhuman substances to the vagina).

Class I is referred to as a Clitoridotomy, Hoodectomy or a Sunna Circumcision. This involves the splitting of the Clitoral Hood and the United Nations Population Fund has said that it is comparable to male circumcision. Clitoridotomy is performed on more adult woman than children or teenagers-which is unusual in most cultures that perform FGM. Class II, or Clitoridectomy, is the partial or total removal of the external part of the Clitoris and sometimes the Labia Minora. This is performed on young women to usually cut the pubic nerve and permanently numb the genitals to stop masturbation. Clitoridotomy and Clitoridectomy are usually talked about together since both of their main causes are to stop masturbation. Masturbation was, and still is, seen as unhygienic and morally dirty in the African culture.

Class III, Infibulation or Pharaonic Circumcision, is perhaps the most severe of the four and carried out on two to six year old girls in order to marry them off by the time they are twelve to sixteen. The “operation” is usually done by a “gedda” or an old woman of the village who’s job it is to circumcise the young girls. All the external genitalia is cut off and sewed up leaving only a tiny hole for urine and menstruation to pass. The girl’s legs are tied together for two weeks while it heals. Once she is married her husband will cut the healed skin open in order to have intercourse. After every childbirth the woman is forced to be sewed back up again.

FGM is strictly a social and cultural practice and is not religious in any form. The tribes who practice(d) it stated that they do it for a number of reasons. They believe that circumcision makes women beautiful, prevents vaginal cancer, makes women more feminine (since the clit “resembles a penis”), reduces a woman’s desire to cheat, be a lesbian, and masturbate. Women perpetuate the ritual by carrying it out on their own gender while the men support and defend it.

United Nations and Female Genital Mutilation have had a troubled past. Africa was not keen on the fact that the UN was referring to it as mutilation so they requested that it be called genital cutting. However, needless to say, calling it cutting didn’t change the UN’s general opinion and in the late nineties UN pressures caused many African countries to outlaw all or some types of FGM. Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, Tanzania, and Togo are a few that made laws banning FMG in their country. Yet, some countries like Egypt and Nigeria have not and people are forced to use other parts of the law or constitution to try to stop it. Nigeria’s constitution states that “no person shall be subjected to torture or inhumane or degrading practices” which many FGM abolitionists have said should and does include Female Genital Mutilation. Also note that FGM was never categorized as a problem until an increasing number of women started to run to other countries for protection which in turn caused the UN to discuss FGM.

It should also be understood that while it is banned in these countries it does not mean that it’s not happening. Families are still forcing their young children to go through these operations because of cultural traditions. In Kenya, Pamela Kathambi attempted to do the ritual on her own and ended up dying, shocking her fellow villagers. It was illegal in Kenya when she performed it but she was ashamed of herself because other girls made fun of her for not being circumcised. Some still believe that circumcision saves a female’s honor and is a ritual that you have to go through to become a woman. Many women are trapped in tradition and are forced to live up to the ideals of their village even if it harms them.

Health problems are also causing many to stop FGM. It is not uncommon for hemorrhaging, infection, keloid scars, diseases (from dirty instruments), infertility, damage to the urethra and painful intercourse. Also infant death rates seem to raise the more damaging the mutilation is. According to a report done by the World Health Organization, Class III’s death rates are at 50% and if they survived they were 31% more likely to require a cesarean delivery, 66% chance of a baby needing resuscitation, and 55% more likely to have a child that died before or during birth. Psychological problems have also been prevalent in the young woman who went through the procedure. Depression, anxiety, trust issues, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and, in some cases, becoming a selective mute is not uncommon.

Many organizations like Target Human Rights, World Health Organization and PACT have helped educate African citizens not only on literacy but also on the women’s reproductive system. Plus, they also tell of the physical and psychological trauma produced by the mutilation ritual. This has caused some countries to produce alternative rituals. An example of this is in Tanzania the girls are coached through “seven intense days of training…by elders” instead of going through the FGM procedure. “The girls got their new kaniki, slippers, new earrings and beads. The community ate and drank through the night-just like any other rites of passage celebration,” reported the article. The girls also learned dances, chants and other womanly duties for their culture.

Some of these organizations actually turn to the media for help. Communicating for Change created a documentary called Uncut-Playing With Life which is showed in Africa and India. Stella, a very famous circumciser in Africa, was one of the main characters. However, after she viewed the film, she quit her profession because she said she never knew how much pain she was inflicting on the young girls. An Indian paper called The Tribune released a review about the film stating that “media reports say in another scene of the film Omorogie is seen excising the female genitals of an eight-day-old baby, a scene which angered and revolted the audience, moving many to tears.”

Countries that receive many immigrants from Africa are also having serious problems with Female Genital Mutilation. Germany, that does ban FGM, reported that 6,000 or more African girls are “potential victims” for FGM. The doctors and nurses of Germany were not educated in Female Genital Mutilation and were “helpless” whenever a woman came in suffering from a forced procedure. Many German doctors have started organizations to educate about FGM and possibly stop it as well as offering therapy to the woman that have been through it since outside of Africa FGM is usually considered child abuse.

While this seems like a battle that can never be won considering the tradition runs deep in most of these African tribes, it is obvious that international pressures and health problems have caused a counter-culture. The tradition is dying out slowly but surely, and in certain places of Africa women are starting to hold more positions of political power since a substantial amount of men are dying in war and genocide. Women and human rights as well as education are becoming more important in the African culture as more countries provide them with the items they need. Alternative rituals still have a chance to be more widespread and it’s been estimated that in a decade FGM will be an alternative ritual to something much more humane and safe.