Cultural Beliefs, Perceptions, and Experiences on Female Genital Mutilation Among Women and Men: A Qualitative Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110152
Author(s):  
Alba González-Timoneda ◽  
Antonio Cano Sánchez ◽  
Marta González-Timoneda ◽  
Vicente Ruiz Ros
Keyword(s):  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Traditional Practice ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Data Saturation ◽  
Female Genital

The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is a deeply-rooted tradition that affects predominantly regions of Africa and Asia. Because of migration flows, FGM is an issue of increasing concern worldwide. FGM is now carried out in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, and more specifically among immigrant communities from countries where it is common. This study aims to assess the experience, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs related to FGM of migrant women and men from FGM-affected countries residing in Spain and the United Kingdom. A phenomenological qualitative approach was used. Participants (n=23) were recruited by using the snowball sampling technique until data saturation was reached. Data were collected through 18 open-ended interviews and a focus group. Of the 23 participants, 20 women had undergone FGM. The following five themes were generated from interviews: (a) FGM practice development, (b) knowledge about the practice, (c) reasons for performing FGM, (d) attitudes toward continuing or abandoning the practice, and (e) criminalization of FGM. The study here presented identifies a lack of information, memory, and knowledge about the practice of FGM and typology among women with FGM. The justification of the practice seems to be based on a multifactorial model, where sociocultural and economic factors, sexual factors, hygienic-esthetic factors, and religious-spiritual factors take on a greater role in the analysis of the interviews carried out. The participants practically unanimously agree to advocate the abandonment and eradication of this harmful traditional practice. The knowledge displayed in this study may provide a basis for improving awareness and healthcare in such collectives, aiming the eradication of this harmful traditional practice.

Prosecution of female genital mutilation in the United Kingdom: Injustice at the intersection of good public health intentions and the criminal law

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 258-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marge Berer
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Traditional Practice ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Health Intentions ◽  
Female Genital

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a harmful traditional practice and a serious public health issue in the countries where it is carried out. It is also a violation of the rights of the girls to whom it is done. The main action taken in the United Kingdom to stop FGM, has been to criminalise it. Public health measures, such as the provision of specialist clinics for those who experience complications of FGM have been implemented as well, and some education in schools is provided. This article is about the injustice that has arisen from the pursuit of prosecutions for FGM in the United Kingdom, in spite of good public health intentions. Since 2012, there have been four criminal cases, several arrests that never came to trial, and for reasons of safeguarding, an unknown number of investigations with the threat of girls being taken into care, and people stopped from travelling with girl children to visit their families in FGM-practising countries. To date, only one criminal case in 2019 – R v. N (FGM) – which is the main subject of this article, has resulted in a guilty verdict. This article outlines this history in relation to the criminal law and uses courtroom observation to analyse what happened in the 2019 case in detail. It argues that the conviction depended on medical opinion and the highly uncertain evidence of two children and was influenced by a spurious link to witchcraft that should never have been permitted in the courtroom. It argues that this conviction is unsafe and should be appealed. It further argues that to use protection orders only because a child’s mother had FGM, in the absence of any evidence of risk, is discriminatory and a form of impermissible racial/ethnic profiling. The article concludes that the United Kingdom should stop recording a history of FGM in women seeking healthcare. It calls for the current law against FGM to be reconsidered and replaced with positive measures for countering FGM which have the support and involvement of the community groups to whom they are addressed.

scholarly journals Genital Mutilation of Girls

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Almroth ◽  
Susan Elmusharaf
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Health Staff ◽  
Limited Effect ◽  
Traditional Practice ◽  
Migration Patterns ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
The World ◽  
Female Genital

Female genital mutilation is a traditional practice affecting girls when their genitals are cut for social, cultural or other non-medical reasons. It is estimated that 3 million girls undergo the procedure every year, mainly in areas in Africa and Asia where it is traditionally practised, but owing to migration patterns, girls living in other parts of the world are also at risk. This article describes the practice of female genital mutilation in a changing world and outlines some aspects in relation to female genital mutilation in girls and women that health staff, teachers, social workers and others should pay attention to. Knowledge regarding complications is important for healthcare, but when complications have been used as arguments against the practice this has had limited effect. Information regarding health risks has to be integrated into culturally sensitive approaches based on human rights and improving the situation for girls and women in order to reach a point where genital mutilation of girls will be generally abandoned.

scholarly journals What Makes a Woman? Case Studies Documenting The Reasons for and Circumstances of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Indonesia, Ethiopia and Kenya

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tasneem Kakal ◽  
Irwan Hidayana ◽  
Berhanu Abeje ◽  
Tabither Gitau ◽  
Maryse Kok ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Traditional Practice ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
Female Genital

Abstract Background: Female genital cutting/mutilation is a harmful traditional practice that violates women’s rights and has adverse health consequences. This paper presents the reasons for and circumstances of female genital mutilation/ cutting (FGM/C) in specific settings of three countries – Indonesia, Ethiopia and Kenya.Methods: Data were collected through a household survey with young people (15-24 years) and through focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and key informant interviews with youth and community stakeholders in 2016 and 2017. Descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis were conducted.Results: The study findings confirm some of the reasons for FGM/C documented by previous studies, noting that these reasons are strongly interconnected, and gender norms are the underlying driver. In all three settings, these reasons drive the alterations of female bodies to result in a ‘cultured’ body that is acceptable to the patriarchal status quo. This results in the ‘pure body’ in Indonesia, the ‘tame’ body in Ethiopia and the ‘adult body’ in Kenya. Health workers and parents play an important role in decision-making around FGM/C in all settings. In Kenya, in particular, young women negotiate their role in decision-making around FGM/C as they are older at the time of circumcision. The study reveals how the changing legal and social contexts in each setting bring about changes in the tradition of FGM/C resulting in medicalization of FGM/C in Indonesia, a lowered age of cutting for girls in Kenya and the increasingly underground practice of FGM/C in Ethiopia.Conclusions: The three cases demonstrate the huge variation in the practice of FGM/C and the social meaning attributed to it by young women and their communities. There is a need to further explore the role of parents in decision-making. Due to the links between the different drivers of FGM/C within each context, the study concludes that context-specific strategies need to be adopted by interventions to create long-lasting change.

Prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation among reproductive age women in Ethiopia: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Atlaw ◽  
Kenbon Seyoum ◽  
Habtamu Gezahegn
Keyword(s):  
Publication Bias ◽  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Traditional Practice ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Pooled Prevalence ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Female Genital

Abstract Background: - Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the most common harmful traditional practice. Which is characterized by partial or total removal of the female external genitalia for non-therapeutic reasons. Globally, FGM affects about 130 million women and girls. Female Genital cutting (FGC) is a harmful traditional practice which affects the physical and mental health of girls and women. Methods: - Review and meta-analysis was conducted using the guideline of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). Both published and unpublished articles were searched. Articles were searched from different databases like PubMed, Popline, AJOL, EMBASE and gray literature like Google scholar and Google. Articles were searched using terms like “ prevalence ”, “ magnitude”, “female genital cutting” “female genital mutilation”, and “female circumcision” . Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal-Checklist for Analytical Cross Sectional Studies were used to assess the quality of the included paper. Egger’s test and I 2 statistics were used to assess Publication bias and heterogeneity respectively. Result and discussion: - About thirteen studies with total participants of 7850 were included for systematic review and meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of female genital mutilation among reproductive age women in Ethiopia was 87.5%: 95% CI (84.25, 90.78). ). I square test statistics showed high heterogeneity (I 2 =94.4, p=0.000) and Egger’s test was done to check for publication bias, but the test has revealed that there is no statistical significant publication bias (p-value=0.374). Conclusion: - The pooled prevalence of female genital mutilation is high in Ethiopia. Subgroup analysis does not revealed significant difference among different region found in the country.

scholarly journals What Works and What Does Not: A Discussion of Popular Approaches for the Abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Elise B. Johansen ◽  
Nafissatou J. Diop ◽  
Glenn Laverack ◽  
Els Leye
Keyword(s):  
Health Professionals ◽  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Traditional Practice ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
What Works ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Female Genital

The prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is reducing in almost all countries in which it is a traditional practice. There are huge variations between countries and communities though, ranging from no change at all to countries and communities where the practice has been more than halved from one generation to the next. Various interventions implemented over the last 30–40 years are believed to have been instrumental in stimulating this reduction, even though in most cases the decrease in prevalence has been slow. This raises questions about the efficacy of interventions to eliminate FGM and an urgent need to channel the limited resources available, where it can make the most difference in the abandonment of FGM. This paper is intended to contribute to the design of more effective interventions by assessing existing knowledge of what works and what does not and discusses some of the most common approaches that have been evaluated: health risk approaches, conversion of excisers, training of health professionals as change agents, alternative rituals, community-led approaches, public statements, and legal measures.

scholarly journals “I Can’t Blame Mum”: A Qualitative Exploration of Relational Dynamics in Women With Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 107780122199491
Author(s):  
Rebecca J. Newton ◽  
Jennifer Glover
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Adult Women ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Relational Dynamics ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Self In Relation ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Female Genital

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is conceptualized as an interpersonal act, commonly initiated by mothers. This study investigates relational dynamics among adult women who experienced FGM in childhood and have since migrated to the United Kingdom. A qualitative research design was employed, using semi-structured interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) with nine women. Three superordinate themes emerged: (a) “The ‘who to blame?’ conflict: Preserving goodness in parents”; (b) “Better or worse? Positioning the self in relation to others”; and (c) “Regaining power: Righting the wrongs.” Implications for understanding the relational consequences of FGM and the discontinuation of its intergenerational transmission are considered.

scholarly journals Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting among Somali Women in the U.S. State of Arizona: Evidence of Treatment Access, Health Service Use and Care Experiences

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 3733
Author(s):  
Georgia Michlig ◽  
Nicole Warren ◽  
Merry Berhe ◽  
Crista Johnson-Agbakwu
Keyword(s):  
Health Service ◽  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Service Use ◽  
Health Service Use ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Treatment Access ◽  
Somali Bantu ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Female Genital

Background. Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is associated with adverse sexual, reproductive and psychological sequelae. The aim of this study was to quantitatively explore factors related to satisfaction with FGM/C-related care in the US focusing on access to care, health service utilization, and women’s experiences. Methods. A community-based survey of 879 Ethnic Somali and Somali Bantu women using snowball sampling was conducted in Arizona. Bivariate, multivariable and ordered logistics analyses assessed the relationship between the aforementioned factors measured along six dimensions: non-discrimination, physical, economic, informational, health system accessibility and individual-level health service use factors. Findings. Most participants possessed FGM/C (77.4%), namely Type III (40.2%). FGM/C related health service use was low (14.3%). Perceived discrimination was associated with reduced satisfaction in care (OR = 0.22; CI 0.13–0.37). For FGM/C-specific variables, only recollection of adverse physical or psychological events at the time of circumcision predicted service use (OR = 3.09; CI 1.67–5.68). Somali Bantu (OR = 0.10; CI 0.02–0.44) and highly acculturated women (OR = 0.39; CI 0.17–0.86) had lower odds of service use. Conclusions. Achieving respectful care and outreach to women affected by FGM/C has contextual complexity. However, the clinical implications and insights provided may have broader impacts on advancing health equity for FGM/C-affected women.

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