Good day #Hive, it’s indeed a good day to be alive, a good day to stay positive in whatever we do, a good day to say YES to greater opportunities as they present themselves to us.
Today I will be sharing with us in #hive through #Motherhood on the topic FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION. I believe to many this wouldn’t sound new, and my aim/ purpose of sharing this topic today is to create more awareness on the danger/ effects that befalls victims of this practice.
First and foremost, we will be looking at the definition of Female genital mutilation, just as the name implies, it is a practice where the external female genitalia is totally or partially removed. Through this act, other injuries can be caused to that sensitive organ of the female.
With the above definition, some questions that come to mind are:
• Why do some people of the world practice this act?
• What health benefits come with it?
• Those who practice it, do they know the mental and psychological issues it causes to the victims?
• WHY?
The fact is some cultures in some part of the world actually encourage this act because they see it as a means through which the female child can be raised to prepare her for adulthood and marriage eventually, and also the act is in line with their cultural ideals of modesty and femininity, with the idea that females are beautiful and clean after the removal of the outer layer of the genital that is considered unclean.
The practice has no health benefit what so ever on the girl child and women instead is causes only harm. In fact, female genital mutilation is a violation of human rights of girls and women generally. So anyone caught in the act should be persecuted according to the law. Because from my observation, majority of them who practice FGM are not ignorant of the effect it causes to the victim and even though they act clueless, it is because they feel it is a tradition that is meant to be kept and passed down to generations yet unborn. What a pity…
Recently I was nominated in a challenge #EndFemaleGenitalMutilation
This challenge which happens to be a medium to communicate to the larger public through the social media, opened me to study more on what Female genital mutilation can do to girls and women who falls victim of this wicked practice. I will be sharing with us from the Newsroom article published by World Health Organization (WHO) on the 21st January 2022 on Female genital mutilation on the;
• The types of Female genital mutilation
• The immediate and long-term complications of FGM
• And who is at risk?
[Types of FGM
Female genital mutilation is classified into 4 major types:
Type 1: this is the partial or total removal of the clitoral glans (the external and visible part of the clitoris, which is a sensitive part of the female genitals), and/or the prepuce/ clitoral hood (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoral glans).
Type 2: This is the partial or total removal of the clitoral glans and the labia minora (the inner folds of the vulva), with or without removal of the labia majora (the outer folds of skin of the vulva).
Type 3: Also known as infibulation, this is the narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the labia minora, or labia majora, sometimes through stitching, with or without removal of the clitoral prepuce/clitoral hood and glans.
Type 4: This includes all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area.
Immediate complications of FGM can include:
- Severe pain
- Excessive bleeding (haemorrhage)
- Genital tissue swelling
- Fever
- Infections e.g., tetanus
- Urinary problems
- Wound healing problems
- Injury to surrounding genital tissue
- Shock
- Death.
Long-term complications can include: - Urinary problems (painful urination, urinary tract infections);
- Vaginal problems (discharge, itching, bacterial vaginosis and other infections);
- Menstrual problems (painful menstruation, difficulty in passing menstrual blood, etc.);
- Scar tissue and keloid;
- Sexual problems (pain during intercourse, decreased satisfaction, etc.);
- Increased risk of childbirth complications (difficult delivery, excessive bleeding, caesarean section, need to resuscitate the baby, etc.) and newborn deaths;
- Need for later surgeries: for example, the sealing or narrowing of the vaginal opening (Type 3) may lead to the practice of cutting open the sealed vagina later to allow for sexual intercourse and childbirth (deinfibulation2). Sometimes genital tissue is stitched again several times, including after childbirth, hence the woman goes through repeated opening and closing procedures, further increasing both immediate and long-term risks;
- Psychological problems (depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, low self-esteem, etc.);
Who is at risk?
FGM is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and adolescence, and occasionally on adult women. According to available data from 30 countries where FGM is practiced in the Western, Eastern, and North-Eastern regions of Africa, and some countries in the Middle East and Asia, more than 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to the practice with more than 3 million girls estimated to be at risk of FGM annually. FGM is therefore of global concern.]
SOURCE:(https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation)
From the above findings, we could clearly see that it a practice that should be discouraged and put to an end. So I will love this great community to re-echo #EndFemaleGenitalMutilation by means of Re-blogging if possible, so that we can stop this menace eating into our society.
Thanks for visiting.