Female genital mutilation originated in Africa and remains today a mainly African cultural practice. It is a cultural practice and not a religious practice (Mens, 1996) and it is also considered necessary in order for a girl to be considered a complete woman. Many cultures support female circumcision because of ancient native beliefs. For example, some believe that bodies are bisexual at birth. To enter adulthood, girls must be relieved of their male part, the clitoris (Brownlee, 1994). Others believe that the clitoris contains poison or will eventually grow to the size of a man’s penis (Toubia, 1995). The clitoris is believed to be dangerous and must be removed for health reasons. Some believe that it is a poisonous organ, which can cause a man to become sick or die if contacted by a man's peni

Female genital mutilation will continue indefinitely unless effective interventions are found to convince communities to abandon the practice. Many campaigners, development and health workers from the communities where FGM is a traditional practice recognize the need for change, but do not know how to achieve such an extensive social transformation. They are planning on trying to reduce the number of women who undergo FGM every year by making FGM illegal, the UN and the WHO have also made rigid laws for those who still practice FGM in areas where it is illegal. And by increasing literacy rates they hope to end this painful practice. By increasing the literacy rates the women will become more educated and realize the health risks that they are making themselves subject to.

FGM is widely practiced in countries where the predominant religion is Christianity and has also spread to countries in or near Africa which are Muslim. The following map outlines the approximate prevalence of FGM in Africa.

Women are often unwilling to change these customs because it is the way things have always been done. Going against this custom would be refusing to follow in their mothers, grandmothers, and aunts footsteps, which would bring shame against her and tarnish her family honor. Female genital mutilation is such a brutal and barbaric practice that it is amazing it is still occurs today. The health hazards associated with it should be enough to have it terminated. However, the reasons women have forgoing through with the operation is the custom of female genital mutilation is so engrained in their socio-cultural system. The importance of family honor, virginity, chastity, purity, marriage ability, and childbearing in these societies cannot be overstressed.

“There are no exact data on the prevalence of FGM in Africa. The map is based on data selected from various sources; most available data were on a country basis, though often named peoples were singled out as practicing FGM. These data were thus projected on the approximate areas these people inhabit. As a very coarse and general illustration, the map however has some analytic value. For example, as clearly will be seen, although FGM is most common in Muslim countrie

Some topics in this essay:
Mutilation FGM, Sunna Circumcision, FGM FGM, AIDS Long-term, FGM Africa, Der Kwaak, Canada USA, Islam FGM, Networking Project, Eritrea Various, genital mutilation, female genital, female genital mutilation, female circumcision, family honor, 1996 female genital, increasing literacy, usually performed, literacy rates, widely practiced, fgm africa, prevalence fgm africa, der kwaak 1992, van der kwaak, entire clitoris,