DCNOW Joins DMV Area Coalition to End Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C)

By: Miriam Edelman

Warning: This piece includes graphic details. It can be difficult to explain female genital mutilation (FGM) and cutting (FGM/C) without this information.

Note: FGM and FGM/C are used interchangeably in this piece.

DCNOW continues its advocacy against female genital mutilation (FGM) and cutting (FGM/C) by becoming a member of the DMV Area Coalition to End Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C). DCNOW is pleased to work with coalition members.

DCNOW’s President Rose Brunache remarked, “I am glad that DCNOW is a member of the DMV Area Coalition to End FGM/C. Female genital mutilation and cutting is a human rights violation and must end. I am pleased that D.C.’s Female Genital Mutilation Prohibition Act of 2023 is almost law.”

Opposition of National Organization of Women to FGM

The National Organization for Women (NOW) opposes FGM. In 2010, NOW referred to FGM as “a horrific and brutal violation of human rights — cutting off all or some of a woman’s or girl’s genitals so as to make her ‘clean.’” It encouraged people to “urge your members of Congress to support the Girls Protection Act (H.R. 5137), which would make it a crime to transport girls outside the U.S. for the purpose of cutting their genitals.” H.R. 5137 – “To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide penalties for transporting minors in foreign commerce for the purposes of female genital mutilation” did not become law. However, it was a bipartisan bill was 135 Democratic cosponsors and 21 Republican cosponsors.

In 2018, NOW’s press release, entitled “Federal Judge Makes Wrong Decision on FGM Case,” said:

WASHINGTON — The National Organization for Women regrets the unfortunate ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in the first case of female genital mutilation brought under the federal law banning this horrific practice. We believe this ruling to be erroneous for a number of reasons. The cutting of the genitals of girls in Michigan is not just “a local criminal activity,” as the judge described it. Rather it involves interstate commerce in that girls are brought to Michigan from other states by parents who tell them they are going on vacation. This brutal attack on girls has become a matter of cutting tourism and certainly falls under the right of Congress to ban it under the interstate commerce clause. 

We at NOW hope the U.S. Attorney from Michigan, who brought this case, will appeal this erroneous ruling.

FGM

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), FGM is “all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.” Young women between infancy and adolescence are the main victims of this practice, but some adult women have this procedure. Frequently, FGM occurs against the females’ will.

FGM is condemned throughout the world. Medical professionals globally view FGM as violence against woman and a violation of women’s rights. FGM on children is also considered to be child abuse. According to the WHO, “FGM also violates a person's rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.”

The four types of FGM are Clitoridectomy, Excision, Infibulation, and all other procedures (i.e. – Pricking, piercing). Clitoridectomy is “the total or partial removal of the sensitive clitoris and its surrounding skin.” Excision is “[t]he partial or total removal of the clitoris plus the removal of the labia minora, or inner skin folds surrounding the vagina.” Infibulation is “[t]he cutting and repositioning of the labia minora and the labia majora - the outer skin folds that surround the vagina.” The procedure usually includes stitching that causes a small gap. Sometimes, for sex and birth, the opening needs to be cut. The cutting can damage a woman and her baby.

More than 230 million living women and girls have been “impacted” by FGM/C, and every year, a least four million are in danger. The exact meaning of “impacted” is unclear. As of 2023, 4.01 billion women lived on the planet. Thus, more than 5.7 percent of females have been affected by FGM/C. FGM/C mainly occurs in 30 nations in Africa and the Middle East. The percent of women who have been subjected to FGM ranges from a high of 94 percent in Djibouti to a low of seven percent in Iraq. However, FGM also occurs in Asia and Latin America and among immigrant groups in Western Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand.

Reasons for FGM/C vary geographically. Common rationales include “social acceptance, religion, misconceptions about hygiene, a means of preserving a girl or woman's virginity, making the woman ‘marriageable’ and enhancing male sexual pleasure.” Some communities consider FGM to be a “rite of passage into adulthood” and/or a “pre-requisite for marriage.” Women who have not had FGM are viewed as not healthy, clean, or worthy.

Although many see no medical reason for FGM, Dr. Hamid Al-Ghawabi discussed the following benefits of female circumcision:

-          “The secretions of the labia minora accumulate in uncircumcised women and turn rancid, so they develop an unpleasant odour which may lead to infections of the vagina or urethra. I have seen many cases of sickness caused by the lack of circumcision.”

-          “Circumcision reduces excessive sensitivity of the clitoris which may cause it to increase in size to 3 centimetres when aroused, which is very annoying to the husband, especially at the time of intercourse.”

-          “Another benefit of circumcision is that it prevents stimulation of the clitoris which makes it grow large in such a manner that it causes pain.”

-          “Circumcision prevents spasms of the clitoris which are a kind of inflammation.”

-          “Circumcision reduces excessive sexual desire.”

FGM/C has detrimental immediate and life-long effects on girls and women. According to the WHO, 

-          “Immediate complications of FGM can include:

o   severe pain

o   excessive bleeding (haemorrhage)

o   genital tissue swelling

o   fever

o   infections e.g., tetanus

o   urinary problems

o   wound healing problems

o   injury to surrounding genital tissue

o   shock

o   death.”

-          “Long-term complications can include:

o   urinary problems (painful urination, urinary tract infections);

o   vaginal problems (discharge, itching, bacterial vaginosis and other infections);

o   menstrual problems (painful menstruations, difficulty in passing menstrual blood, etc.);

o   scar tissue and keloid;

o   sexual problems (pain during intercourse, decreased satisfaction, etc.);

o   increased risk of childbirth complications (difficult delivery, excessive bleeding, caesarean section, need to resuscitate the baby, etc.) and newborn deaths;

o   need for later surgeries: women with Type 3 might require deinfibulation (opening the infibulated scar to allow for sexual intercourse and childbirth.

o   psychological problems (depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, low self-esteem, etc.).”

FGM costs health systems $1.4 billion a year to treat complications of FGM. If FGM continues, that number most likely will increase.

Bishara Sheikh Hamo from Kenya had FGM and now advocates against the practice. Her experience personalizes FGM, showing the excitement about and pain of FGM. Her grandmother told her that every girl must have FGM, which “made us pure.” The cutter performed FGM on Hamo and four others. Hamo described the experience as “one of the most severe types of medical procedures, and so unhygienic.” The identical cutting tool was used on every girl when she had FGM. She explained FGM and her experience getting the excision type of FGM:

The day was in December 2005 . I was 11 and I woke up very early because I was going to get the cut. It was a “big day.”

The day that us girls would become clean and pure. I was excited about it. We had been socialized thus.

The practice was deep-rooted in our culture and I knew it was the only way into womanhood. As a young girl, I was also looking forward to receiving an award that my grandmother had promised, if I didn’t cry during the process.

The midwife, as is the case, was a woman aged above 50. Most of the time, they use razor blades and one razor blade can be used on five or more girls. The cutters have no medical training.

FGM is one of the most severe non-medical type of procedures. For most girls, despite the severity of the procedure, there is no way out of it.

If you fail to be circumcised, you will be the laughing stock of the village; you will suffer stigma, and no man will want to marry you.

I didn’t want to be ostracized. I was the first one to be initiated on this particular day.

I was blindfolded. Then she [the cutter] tied my hands behind my back. My legs were spread open and then they pinned down my labia.

At this point, my wrapper (leso) was removed. One of the big-bodied women sat on my chest and covered my mouth so that I couldn’t scream. They didn’t want the other girls  to hear you scream.

Then after a few minutes, I felt a sharp pain. I screamed, I yelled, but no-one could hear me. I tried to kick myself free, but a vice-like grip held my leg.

They removed my blindfold and all I could see was blood everywhere.

Hamo described the only pain relief of FGM/C for her: “There was a hole in the ground, and they kept herbs in the hole. Then they tied my legs like a goat and rubbed the herbs on me. Then they said 'next girl, next girl,' and they took another girl..." As a consequence of FGM/C, Hamo has non-regular periods, issues with her bladder, and infections. In addition, she can give birth only via Caesarean section. Hamo’s personal experience caused her advocacy to end FGM/C. She has said, “I want to be remembered as an FGM fighter because I don’t want any girl to go through what I did.”

FGM in the United States and Washington, D.C.

FGM/C occurs in the United States and in Washington, D.C. More than 513,000 women and girls in the nation have had or are at risk of FGM/C. The Population References Bureau’s 2013 estimates, which shows the necessity for newer statistics, state that 51,411 females have had or are at risk of FGM in the nation’s capital. The second-highest number of women and girls at risk for FGM/C in the U.S. is in the D.C. area.

Performing FGM in the United States or bringing a girl to another country to be cut for FGM is a federal crime. However, state-level laws against FGM are also needed. State laws allow local governments to bring awareness of FGM, support FGM survivors and females at risk of FGM, and more efficiently investigate and prosecute cases.

Final Thoughts

It is imperative that FGM/C end in D.C. Females must be protected. Let’s finally and firmly place female genital mutilation and cutting in history, never to occur again.