Female Genital Mutilation: Long Term Psychological Effects
Female Genital Mutilation, or Female Circumcision as sometimes called, is the
partial or complete removal of the female clitoris immediately after birth, few
years after birth (early childhood), or several years after birth (adolescence).
Originally, female genital mutilation was practiced to ensure female virginity
until marriage; as it was discovered that by the partial or complete removal of
the clitoris, a female's sexual urge is minimized and, therefore, a girl could
have more control over her sexual desires. Because virginity was and remains a
very crucial factor in almost every society, circumcision was invented way in
the past before any of the Heavenly Religions appeared. In ...
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in any scientific or medical fact. They fall into four
main categories: psycho-sexual, religious, sociological and hygienic. Among the
psycho-sexual reasons is a belief that the clitoris is an aggressive organ that
threatens the male organ and even endangers babies during delivery. It is
believed that if a baby's head touches the mother's clitoris during birth, the
child will be born with a low IQ. Hence, a girl who is not circumcised, is
considered 'unclean' by local villagers and thus unmarriageable. A girl who does
not have here clitoris removed is considered a great danger and ultimately fatal
to a man if her clitoris touches his penis. Also, the circumcision issue is seen
as a form of beauty. It is seen as aesthetically beautiful, as genitals are
disfiguring and ugly in their natural state (Real Net, 2). In short, nowadays
the practice isn't done to explicitly mean that girls are untrustable, but
because, presently, the woman's clitoris is considered to be an ugly part in ...
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the wife here is reduced to nothing but an object of
pleasure. Psychologists, thus, argue that to deny a woman the basic right to her
sexuality, is to deny her the rights to having strength, power and identity. The
inability of a women to regulate their lives inhabilitates them; “they remain
under the heels of patriarchal structures.”(Real Net, 1). Thus circumcised women,
unable to have sex for pleasure's sake, are reduced to baby-makers. Without the
driving force to desire, they lost much of the power of self-initiative and, as
a result, are more dependent on male authority to define their lives.
As a result, a woman's integrity, worth and need in society is based on if she
fits the ...
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Female Genital Mutilation: Long Term Psychological Effects. (2004, December 22). Retrieved April 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Female-Genital-Mutilation-Long-Term-Psychological/19389
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"Female Genital Mutilation: Long Term Psychological Effects." Essayworld.com. December 22, 2004. Accessed April 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Female-Genital-Mutilation-Long-Term-Psychological/19389.
"Female Genital Mutilation: Long Term Psychological Effects." Essayworld.com. December 22, 2004. Accessed April 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Female-Genital-Mutilation-Long-Term-Psychological/19389.
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