June 6, 2011
It’s a well-known fact that girls are the victims of much mistreatment because they are girls. In countries where virginity is prime and female sexual pleasure is not valued, genital cutting is often performed. A lesser known but equally destructive practice affects almost four million girls in Cameroon, breast ironing. Most commonly done in the ...
Tags: 2000 United Nations Millennium summit,
breast ironing,
breasts,
Cameroon,
female genital cutting,
feminism,
gender discrimination,
girl education,
premarital pregnancy,
sex education,
teen pregnancies,
women's rights
January 19, 2011
The Northern African Islamic Republic of Mauritania has issued a fatwa, or Islamic law, banning female genital mutilation (FGM). The authors of the law used religious legal experts to support this change in law. The experts supported “their assertion that [s]uch practices were not present in the Maghreb countries over the past centuries” and removed ...
Tags: Africa,
ban on female genital mutilation,
fatwa,
female genital cutting,
female genital mutilation,
FGM,
Islam,
Islamic Republic of Mauritania,
Muslim women,
physical abuse,
sexual assault
July 26, 2010
For most children summer is a time of fun and relaxation. But for girls from families where female genital mutilation (FGM) is the norm, school holidays are the time when they are most likely to get cut. Between 500 and 2,000 girls will undergo FGM this summer in the UK. This happens either by taking ...
May 7, 2010
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) was just downgraded to “cutting” and is being encouraged for doctors in the USA. This is seriously distressing news and I have to wonder what they could possibly have been thinking! The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) just released a policy called “Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors” which encouraged “federal ...
December 17, 2009
Female Genital Mutilation (or ‘cutting’ as is more politically correctly known) has been banned in Uganda. This practice of cutting off part or all of a girls clitoris and/or labia has been practiced for generations and it seems that Ugandans have finally admitted that “it is a disgusting act”. Not only is the procedure itself ...
November 11, 2009
Labioplasty, or surgery on the outer part of the vulva, is increasing as women search for “aesthetically pleasing genitals”. This is in spite of a lack of knowledge about any long-term effects. Women must understand that there is no such thing as a perfect vulva and by giving in to this surgery there are some very serious ...