Exploring Beliefs and Attitudes Toward Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Among Healthcare Providers in New York City

2021 ◽  
pp. 107780122110457
Author(s):  
Moonkyung Min ◽  
Tracy Wong ◽  
Adeyinka M. Akinsulure-Smith
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Beliefs And Attitudes ◽  
Female Genital

Given the increase of African immigrants from countries with high female genital cutting (FGC) prevalence, this study explored U.S. healthcare providers’ beliefs and attitudes regarding FGC. A total of 31 professionals who have provided services to FGC-experienced women in New York City were interviewed; data were analyzed using grounded theory. Results indicated that, although a majority of respondents emphasized maintaining a nonjudgmental and open-minded attitude toward clients’ experiences, some only focused on the negative aspects of FGC. Also, multifaceted efforts by providers to understand the cultural meanings of FGC and resolve their own cultural dissonance were identified. The implications for practice were discussed.

Perceptions of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) among Asylum Seekers in New York City

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Martell ◽  
Reagan Schoenholz ◽  
Victoria H. Chen ◽  
Irene Jun ◽  
Sonya Chemouni Bach ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Female Genital

scholarly journals Defining Gendered Oppression in U.S. Newspapers: The Strategic Value of “Female Genital Mutilation”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Wade
Keyword(s):  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
The West ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Strategic Value ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Newspaper Text ◽  
Feminist Movements ◽  
Female Genital

According to the logic of the gendered modernity/tradition binary, women in traditional societies are oppressed and women in modern societies liberated. While the binary valorizes modern women, it potentially erases gendered oppression in the West and undermines feminist movements on behalf of Western women. Using U.S. newspaper text, I ask whether female genital cutting (FGC) is used to define women in modern societies as liberated. I find that speakers use FGC to both uphold and challenge the gendered modernity/tradition binary. Speakers use FGC to denigrate non-Western cultures and trivialize the oppressions that U.S. women typically encounter, but also to make feminist arguments on behalf of women everywhere. I argue that in addition to examining how culturally imperialist logics are reproduced, theorists interested in feminist postcolonialism should turn to the distribution of such logics, emphasizing the who, where, when, and how of reinscription of and resistance to such narratives.

scholarly journals ‘Putting salt on the wound’: a qualitative study of the impact of FGM-safeguarding in healthcare settings on people with a British Somali heritage living in Bristol, UK

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. e035039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saffron Karlsen ◽  
Natasha Carver ◽  
Magda Mogilnicka ◽  
Christina Pantazis
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Alternative Sources ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Female Genital

ObjectivesThis research documents the experiences of people with Somali heritage with female genital mutilation (FGM)-safeguarding services in healthcare and whether such services are considered appropriate by the people who encounter them.DesignSix focus groups conducted with ethnic Somalis living in Bristol, during the summer of 2018, divided by gender and whether people had experienced FGM-safeguarding as adults or children.SettingParticipants experienced FGM-safeguarding in primary and secondary care.Participants30 people (21 women and 9 men), identified through local organisations or snowball sampling. All participants were of Somali heritage and aged over 18.ResultsGovernment priorities to support those who have experienced female genital cutting/mutilation (FGC/M) are being undermined by their own approaches to protect those considered at risk. Participants argued that approaches to FGM-safeguarding were based on outdated stereotypes and inaccurate evidence which encouraged health and other service providers to see every Somali parent as a potential perpetrator of FGC/M. Female participants described providers in a range of healthcare settings, including Accident and Emergency Departments (A&E), antenatal care and general practice, as ‘fixated’ with FGC/M, who ignored both their health needs and their experience as victims. Participants felt stigmatised and traumatised by their experience. This undermined their trust in health services, producing a reticence to seek care, treatment delays and reliance on alternative sources of care. Associated recommendations include developing more accurate evidence of risk, more appropriate education for healthcare providers and more collaborative approaches to FGM-safeguarding.ConclusionAll the participants involved in this study are committed to the eradication of FGC/M. But the statutory approaches currently adopted to enable this are considered ill-conceived, unnecessarily heavy-handed and ultimately detrimental to this. Recognising these common aims can enable the development of services better able to protect and support those at risk of FGC/M in ways which are culturally competent and sensitive.

Perversion and Perpetration in Female Genital Mutilation Law: The Unmaking of Women as Bearers of Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maree Pardy ◽  
Juliet Rogers ◽  
Nan Seuffert
Keyword(s):  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
New South ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Demonic Possession ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Female Genital

Female genital cutting (FGC) or, more controversially, female genital mutilation, has motivated the implementation of legislation in many English-speaking countries, the product of emotive images and arguments that obscure the realities of the practices of FGC and the complexity of the role of the practitioner. In Australia, state and territory legislation was followed, in 2015, with a conviction in New South Wales highlighting the problem with laws that speak to fantasies of ‘mutilation’. This article analyses the positioning of Islamic women as victims of their culture, represented as performing their roles as vehicles for demonic possession, unable to authorize agency or law. Through a perverse framing of ‘mutilation’, and in the case through the interpretation of the term ‘mutilation’, practices of FGC as law performed by women are obscured, avoiding the challenge of a real multiculturalism that recognises lawful practices of migrant cultures in democratic countries.

scholarly journals Barriers and facilitators to the access to specialized female genital cutting healthcare services: Experiences of Somali and Sudanese women in Norway

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257588
Author(s):  
Mai Mahgoub Ziyada ◽  
R. Elise B. Johansen
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Medical Attention ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Specialized Services ◽  
Female Genital

Background Girls and women subjected to female genital cutting (FGC) risk experiencing obstetrical, gynecological, sexual, and psychological health problems. Therefore, Norway has established low-threshold specialized healthcare services where girls and women with FGC-related health problems can directly seek medical attention. Nevertheless, we lack data about access to these services, especially for non-maternity-related purposes. In this article, we explore experiences of seeking medical attention for health problems that are potentially FGC-related, aiming to identify factors that hinder or facilitate access to FGC-specialized services. Methods We conducted a qualitative study in three Norwegian cities employing semi-structured repeat interviews with 26 girls and women subjected to FGC, participant observation, and three validation focus group discussions with 17 additional participants. We thematically analyzed the data and approached access as a dynamic process of interactions between individuals and the healthcare system that lasts from an initial perception of need until reception of healthcare appropriate to that need. Findings We identified several barriers to healthcare, including 1) uncertainty about FGC as a cause of experienced health problems, 2) unfamiliarity with FGC-specialized services, 3) lack of assessment by general practitioners of FGC as a potential cause of health problems, and 4) negative interactions with healthcare providers. In contrast, factors facilitating healthcare included: 1) receiving information on FGC-related health problems and FGC-specialized services from a non-profit immigrant organization, 2) referral to gynecologists with good knowledge of FGC, and 3) positive interactions with healthcare providers. Conclusion Assessing whether FGC is the cause for experienced health problems requires diagnostic competency and should not be left entirely to the patients. We recommend that Norwegian policymakers acknowledge the central role of GPs in the clinical management of patients with FGC-related health problems and provide them with comprehensive training on FGC.

scholarly journals The Politics of Acculturation: Female Genital Cutting and the Challenge of Building Multicultural Democracies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Wade
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Model ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Female Genital Mutilation ◽  
Newspaper Coverage ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Primary Documents ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Female Genital

Understanding how the idea of culture is mobilized in discursive contests is crucial for both theorizing and building multicultural democracies. To investigate this, I analyze a debate over whether we should relieve the “cultural need” for infibulation among immigrants by offering a “nick” in U.S. hospitals. Using interviews, newspaper coverage, and primary documents, I show that physicians and opponents of the procedure with contrasting models of culture disagreed on whether it represented cultural change. Opponents argued that the “nick” was fairly described as “female genital mutilation” and symbolically identical to more extensive cutting. Using a reified model, they imagined Somalis to be “culture-bound”; the adoption of a “nick” was simply a move from one genital cutting procedure to another. Unable to envision meaningful cultural adaptation, and presupposing the incompatibility of multiculturalism and feminism, they supported forced assimilation. Physicians, drawing on a dynamic model of culture, believed that adoption of the “nick” was meaningful cultural change, but overly idealized their ability to protect Somali girls from both Somali and U.S. patriarchy. Unduly confident, they failed to take oppression seriously, dismissing relevant constituencies and their concerns.

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.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document