Genital mutilation causes pain

MORE than 200 million girls and women around the world have experienced genital mutilation in the name of culture, despite the severe health risks associated with the brutal procedure.

This week, the ZO spoke to an Ethiopian father - who asked to remain anonymous - living with his family in Empangeni. According to him, he returned home two weeks ago to find his teenage daughter's genitals had been 'cut'.

'I worked a night shift, and I got home at around 7am,' he recalled. 'I found my daughter crying and sweating, and there was blood on the blanket. My wife and her mother told me they had taken her to a traditional doctor to have her 'cut', and that he'd given her medication and she'd be fine.

'I was told that this was something young girls had to go through to prevent them from becoming pregnant.'

However, despite the assurances, the daughter's condition started to deteriorate.

'She was bleeding non-stop, and I thought she was going to die,' he said. 'But she has received medical treatment, and I believe she will be okay.'

He explained that the procedure was done to ensure young women 'remain virgins until married', thereafter remaining committed only to their husbands.

'We believe that is how it should be,' he said.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), female genital mutilation involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia, or any other injury to female genital organs, for non-medical reasons.

The practice has no health benefits and can cause severe bleeding, problems urinating, as well as cysts, infections, complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths, as well as reduced libido.

Despite the act being illegal in most countries and globally condemned, it is still carried out by traditional circumcisers who often play other medical roles such as attending childbirths.