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female genital mutilation

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
female genital mutilation: see circumcision circumcision (sûr'kəmsĭzh`ən), operation to remove the foreskin covering the glans of the penis.
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female genital cutting

 or female circumcision or female genital mutilation or clitoridectomy

Surgical procedure ranging from drawing blood, to removing the clitoris alone, to infibulation or Pharaonic circumcision—removing the external genitals, joining the sides and leaving a small opening. The practice dates to ancient times; usually performed on young girls and in a ritual context, it is purported by its practitioners to guard a girl's virginity and reduce her sexual desires. Because it is usually undertaken in unhygienic conditions, cutting may lead to severe bleeding, infection, debilitating pain, and death; long-term consequences can include an inability to urinate or expel menstrual blood, pain during sexual intercourse, and prolonged childbirth. In some cultures women are reinfibulated after childbirth, while others discourage this practice.



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When I told them it was to attend Equality Now's annual conference on female genital mutilation (FGM), the conversation invariably bumped up against a stopping point: once you know about FGM, there really is no way to conscionably go on without doing something to help.
In what is considered an important legal precedent, a Georgia man was found guilty of performing female genital mutilation on his two-year-old daughter.
While domestic violence against women makes no economic or territorial distinctions, other forms of gender-based violence reflect marginally accepted practices in specific cultures, including rape, female genital mutilation, and "honor" and dowry-related assaults and homicides.
 
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