Waris Dirie once said, “Women’s loyalty has to be earned with trust and affection, rather than some barbaric rituals. The time has come to leave old ways of suffering behind.” Female Genital Mutilation also known as FGM is oppressing women all over the world. They are taking away their voice are are forcing them to practice a ritual that can be detrimental to their health. FGM has no health benefits and offers way more cons than pros. It’s time to start letting women be in charge of their bodies and lifestyle. The harmful effects of FGM is the reason why women’s voices are being taken away. Female Genital Mutilation is the biggest harmful practice on women.
Various harmful effects during FGM occur. According to World Health Organization, some effects of FGM cause severe pain, uncontrolled bleeding, tissue swelling, fever, infections, urinary problems, shock, and some even result in death. However, those are just the short term problems. Many of the long term problems are caused by the short term problems. Increased risk of childbirth, long term urinary problems, and physiological problems occur with these short term risks. Some physiological problems women might face are depression, PTSD, anxiety, and a low self esteem.
The number of girls being forced to FGM have decreased from every one out of 2 females to every 1 in 3 females. That still is a very high probability of women who are being forced to do. Women’s husbands and fathers are in charge of telling the girl if she is required to FGM. 200 million females are forced to do this and in 30 countries it is unquestioned. Those statistics make me sick. That is 200 million females who have no say over their body and 30 countries who don’t realize how much they are oppressing women.
Women have a right to be in charge of their body and not have to follow orders from men to decide what to do with their bodies. Before I started writing this blog I had no idea what FGM was or how it harms women. Learning about all of the effects of FGM has given me an understanding of why this practice needs to stop. “Female genital mutilation targets little girls, baby girls, fragile angels who are helpless, and can not fight back. It’s a crime against a child, a crime against humanity. It’s abuse. It’s absolutely criminal and we have to stop.” - Waris Dirie
“Female Genital Mutilation.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation.
Comments