{"id":36721,"date":"2016-05-23T15:41:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T14:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=36721"},"modified":"2016-05-26T09:15:20","modified_gmt":"2016-05-26T08:15:20","slug":"beware-the-medicalisation-of-female-genital-cutting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/05\/23\/beware-the-medicalisation-of-female-genital-cutting\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebecca Coombes: Beware the medicalisation of female genital cutting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rebecca_coombes\"I met two remarkable women this week. Actually, I met many such females at the vast <\/span>Women Deliver<\/span><\/a> conference in Copenhagen\u2014obstetricians, lawyers, midwives, and former presidents (including a possible future one when Hillary Clinton made a live appearance on the big screen).<\/span><\/p>\n

In a cast of thousands, activists Filzah Sumartono, from Singapore, and Mariya Taher, from India, made an impact with their plain speaking about female genital cutting (FGC). Sumartono confronted the growing problem of medicalisation of FGC. Indonesia and Malaysia have called for a standardisation of the procedure, essentially legitimising the practice. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sumartono works for <\/span>Aware<\/span><\/a>, Singapore\u2019s largest gender equality advocacy group, and told how half a dozen clinics carry out the procedure on mainly Malay babies and young girls for as little as $15-25 a time. \u201cMedical professionals are allowing cultural considerations to override their medical concerns,\u201d she said. \u201cOften it\u2019s the grandmother or mother in law who decides if the baby gets cut\u2014they just don\u2019t see a problem with it. In Singapore ‘type 1’ cutting occurs, involving the removal of the clitoral hood or the clitoris itself, which is seen as not as radical as elsewhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Taher is a co-founder of <\/span>Sahiyo<\/span><\/a>, which campaigns to end FGC (so called \u201ckhatna\u201d) among the Dawoodi Bohra in India and Pakistan, and a writer for <\/span>Brown Girl<\/span><\/i>,<\/span><\/a> the US online magazine for South Asian women. Taher was cut when she was 7\u00a0years old, taken back to India from her home in the US for the procedure. \u201cSo many women didn\u2019t know what had happened to them. I didn\u2019t realise until high school.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She is involved in the successful \u201cI am Bohra\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0campaign, where people in her largely wealthy and educated community post pictures holding placards (see photos below). One father speaks out on his daughter\u2019s behalf, his placard reading: \u201cI am Bohra and a father. I will never let this happen to my daughters, I promise.\u201d Another reads: \u201cI am Bohra and I am against khatna because women make decisions with their brains, not their private parts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"bohra2\"<\/p>\n

Because FGC is such an under-researched issue Taher and Sumartono have both attempted to gather data with various online surveys of their communities.<\/p>\n

There was a remarkable man too (in case you were wondering). Kelechukwu “Lucky” Nwachukwu is a youth activist in Nigeria, where the prevalence of FGC is sky high at 27%. Part of The Girl Generation<\/a>, with a goal to end FGC in this generation, he works with groups of boys to start conversations about the practice. \u201cThere is a law against it but alone that doesn\u2019t help\u2014there have been no prosecutions,\u201d he says. \u201cIn Nigeria men lead decisions. Men should say this shouldn\u2019t happen to my daughter. What can we do to make sure they are held accountable? We need to engage men and boys.\u201d<\/p>\n