Skip to main content
  • 205 Accesses

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), female genital mutilation (FGM), often referred to as “female circumcision,” includes all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia and any other injuries to the female genital organs, whether it be for cultural, religious, or other nontherapeutic reasons. There are several different known types of FGM practiced today. The most common are: Type I, Excision (removal) of the clitoral hood, with or without removal of part or all of the clitoris; Type II, Removal of the clitoris together with part or all of the labia minora; and Type III, Removal of part or all of the external genitalia (clitoris, labia minora, and labia majora) and stitching and/or narrowing of the vaginal opening, leaving a small hole for urine and menstrual flow (also referred to as infibulation).1

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. World Health Organization (WHO), Female Genital Mutilation: An Overview (Geneva, WHO, 1998), 7–8.

    Google Scholar 

  2. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Statistical Exploration (New York, UNICEF, 2005), 4.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Nawalel-Saadawi, The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World (London, Zed, 1980), 33.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Anne Cloudsley, Women of Omdurman: Life, Love and the Cult of Virginity (London, Ethnographica, 1983), 63, see also 116, 120.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Rose Oldfield Hayes, “Female genital mutilation, fertility control, women’s role, and the patrilineage in modern Sudan: a functional analysis,” American Ethnologist, vol. 2, no. 4, 1975, 622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Anika Rahman and Nahid Toubia, eds., Female Genital Mutilation: A Guide to Laws and Policies Worldwide (London, Zed, 2000), 5.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Diane E. King, “The personal is patrilineal: Namus as sovereignty,” Identities, vol. 15, no. 3, 2008, 330.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Evelyne Accad, Baladi Women of Cairo: Playing with an Egg and a Stone (Boulder, Lynne Rienner, 1993), 102.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Shereen Hussein and Jill Manthorpe, “Women from the Middle East and North Africa in Europe: Understanding Marriage and Family Dynamics,” European Journal of Social Work, vol. 10, no. 4, 2007, 471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Diane Singerman, Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics, and Network in Urban Quarter of Cairo (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1995), 105.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Marie Bassili Assaad, “Female circumcision in Egypt: Social implications, current research, and prospects for change,” Studies in Family Planning, vol. 11, no. 1, 1980, 8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ruth F. Lax, “Socially sanctioned violence against women: Female genital mutilation is its most brutal form,” Clinical Social Work Journal, vol. 28, no. 4, 2000, 408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Joseph Ginat, Women in Muslim Rural Society: Status and Role in Family and Community (New Brunswick, NJ, Transaction Books, 1982), 202.

    Google Scholar 

  14. S. K. Hellsten, “Rationalising circumcision, from tradition to fashion, from public health to individual freedom-critical notes on cultural persistence of the practice of genital mutilation,” Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 30, 2004, 249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Fran P. Hosken, The Hosken Report: Genital and Sexual Mutilation of Females (Lexington, MA, Women’s International Network News, 1994), 277 and 90.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Hanny Lightfoot-Klein, “The sexual experience and marital adjustment of genitally circumcised and infibulated females in the Sudan,” The Journal of Sex Research, vol. 26, no. 3, 1989, 375–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Paul R. Abramson and Steven D. Pinkerton, With Pleasure: Thoughts on the Nature of Human Sexuality (New York, Oxford University Press, 2002), 10.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Andrea B. Rugh, Family in Contemporary Egypt (New York, Syracuse University Press, 1984), 160; Singerman, Avenues of Participation, 105.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Roy F. Baumeister and Jean M. Twenge, “Cultural suppression of female sexuality,” Review of General Psychology, vol. 6, no. 2, 2002, 182–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Copyright information

© 2015 David Ghanim

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ghanim, D. (2015). Virginity and Body Mutilation. In: The Virginity Trap in the Middle East. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137507082_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics