FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN NIGERIA AND ITS PREVALENT DANGERS

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as all procedures which involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia and/or injury to the female genital organs, whether for cultural or any other non-therapeutic reasons.

Generally, the mutilation is carried out on mainly the clitoris. To highlight the significance of the clitoris to sexual activity, many researchers have compared it with the penis. It has been called the “most sensitive part of the woman’s body” and is regarded by many as the seat of all sexual satisfaction. It has been further corroborated by research that stimulation of the clitoris alone will produce an orgasm in nearly all women and that the clitoris, unlike the male organ, has only one purpose – sexual stimulation.

Though FGM is practised in more than 28 countries in Africa and a few scattered communities worldwide, its burden is seen in Nigeria, Egypt, Mali, Eritrea, Sudan, Central African Republic, and northern part of Ghana where it has been an old traditional and cultural practice of various ethnic groups. The highest  rates are found in Somalia and Djibouti where FGM is virtually universal.

The various procedures of FGM however, are not without consequent effects on the health of the woman on whom it is performed, regardless of her age. It is important to note that the severity of the health consequences occasioned by FGM is largely determined by the particular procedure which is adopted. This is due to the fact that most female circumcisions are carried out by non-medically trained personnel under conditions which can be properly termed as less than hygienic and without anesthesia or the sterilization of blades, knives, scissors or other instruments used in the process. The woman is also exposed to being liable to contracting venereal diseases such as Gonorrhea, Human Immuno-deficiency Virus and other related ailments, because on most occasions, the instruments used are used on their ‘victims’ in turns, only wiping them on a piece of cloth or sometimes rinsed with water.

Sexually, the woman is denied the pleasure of orgasm and fulfilment due to the fact that all or some of the major organs responsible for triggering such responses have been tampered with. This of course is contrary to cultural beliefs which tend to justify the practice by maintaining that it is done to enhance chastity – by reducing sexual desire in the woman.

Perhaps the greatest damage is not only done to the body of the woman, but her mind. The trauma of passing through the brutal processes of circumcision leaves lasting scars on the psyche of the woman which even time cannot heal. She is left feeling robbed of her womanhood and plagued by a feeling of incompleteness, anxiety and persistent depression.