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female genital cutting
(redirected from female circumcision)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.06 sec.

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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Next, the circumcision issue: There's a reason that what used to be called female circumcision is now called female genital mutilation.
Khalid Adem, an immigrant from Ethiopia whose culture practices female circumcision, was convicted of aggravated battery and cruelty to children, and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
This novel allows readers to experience not only the religious discipline and hardships of daily life in Ethiopia, but also North African traditions related to courtship, marriage, and the brutal ritual of female circumcision.
 
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