Female Genital Mutilation or FGM, is the greatest human rights violation. It is about the genital of a woman that is mutilated without her consent. This itself is a major crime. Unfortunately, one doesn’t have an accurate number or a report of this practice, as most of the victims are very young girls, who are incapable of registering a complaint. This barbaric practice is till date conducted by the grandmother or the mother, behind closed doors and windows, where the girl’s cries remain muffled and unheard.
It is a rite of passage to womanhood that begins with mutilating the vulva. Thereby, curbing her sexuality and increasing her risk at pregnancy and exposing her forever to other gynecological issues.
India has no law yet banning the practice of FGM in the country. According to medicine, FGM has no medical benefits. The process is carried out mostly by a midwife.
FGM often causes severe health complications, leading to physical, psychological, and emotional breakdowns in young girls. In some severe FGM cases, girls bleed uncontrollably, and only then is the mother is forced to take her to the hospital for medical intervention.
FGM is practised by the Dawoodi Bohra in India . They are a sect of Shia Islam with one million members in India. FGM is referred to as khatna, khafz, and khafd. This involves six- or seven-year-old girls, where there is total or partial removal of the clitoral hood.
In a study conducted on FGM among India’s Bohra Muslims, 75% of respondents said they had subjected their daughters to the practice. Some were repentant, but the majority agreed that this was part of becoming a woman.
According to the Ismaili Shia Islam Muslim book of jurisprudence, Da’aim al-Islam, written in the 10th century by Syedna Al Qadi Al Numan, a scholar and chief jurist of the 14th Imam, FGM will increase the radiance on the woman’s face, thereby nullifying all cosmetic or wellness brands that claim the secret to a woman’s facial glow. According to this archaic subjugation, it is the mutilation of the clitoris that holds the hidden secret of beauty among women. The more a woman toes the line, the higher is her chance to everlasting beauty. These are the lies that are fed to an impressionable young mind. It is also ironic that after the turn of the century, mothers even now, continue this absolutely abhorrent tradition in order to make their young daughters look radiant, as preached by a 10th-century Imam.
Most young girls are gaslighted into believing that their bodies are of no consequence. It is only to produce children, get married, and never indulge in sex for pleasure. They are born to continue the progeny and carry the practice forward. What is hidden from these victims is that FGM can cause complications before and during pregnancy. It can make it difficult to conceive and cause complications during labour and childbirth.
FGM is associated with an increased risk of caesarean section, postpartum haemorrhage, recourse to episiotomy, difficult labour, obstetric tears/lacerations, instrumental delivery, prolonged labour and an extended maternal hospital stay.
The severity of risks increase with the type of FGM. In type 1, it involves the removal of the clitoral hood. In other types, it can be the total removal of the clitoral glans, which is the external and visible part of the clitoris, which is a sensitive part of the female genitals.
At least 200 million girls and women alive today, living in 31 countries, have undergone FGM. This is a harsh reality check of the violation of a women’s body autonomy rights. It is even sadder that the mother, who is supposed to be the guardian, passes on her sexual biases to her young girls. These mothers and grandmothers who practice FGM need to be taught to give more importance to the development of the brain of their young girls than the clitoris, which must just be left alone to flower and bloom with age.
Mohua Chinappa is an author and a podcaster of a show called The Mohua Show. (https://www.themohuashow.com/media/)
