@GrumpyOldNurse @Flick https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/medical-journals-attempt-to-minimise-abhorrent-fgm-is-shameful-x62j7j9qd
Medical journal’s attempt to minimise abhorrent FGM is shameful Authors claim criticism of the practice is not about its impact on women and girls but to do with the stigmatisation of migrant communities
The term female genital mutilation (FGM) needs little elaboration. It results in serious bleeding, severe pain and long-term health issues. It is an abuse of basic human rights that has scarred the lives of more than 230 million women and girls around the world.
Yet the authors of an article published by the British Medical Journal Group — responsible for the bible of the medical profession — make the risible claim that criticism of FGM is not about its impact on women and girls but to do with “western sensationalism” and the stigmatisation of migrant communities. The academics want the term FGM replaced with the phrase “female genital practices” to “account for cultural complexity”.
Let’s not mince words. Cultural complexity (whatever that means) is not the main issue here. There is no justification for this dangerous and abhorrent practice, which has no medical basis. FGM is an act of female mutilation, plain and simple. Any attempt to replace the word “mutilation” with some committee-approved euphemism is an insult to the millions of female victims. The academic claptrap doesn’t end there. The 25 co-authors, including academics from the University of Cambridge, the University of Bristol and Brighton and Sussex Medical School, have the nerve to dismiss legislation against FGM (won after a hard-fought campaign) as a “tool of exclusion”. They claim the measures have “resulted in the marginalisation of migrant communities”. Really? The authors need to spend more time in the real world. For too long, in Britain and elsewhere, FGM has been defended as a cultural issue. This will not do. The issue is violence against women and abuse of children. That is why some of the most high-profile and effective women campaigners against FGM are from these so-called marginalised communities.
FGM has been outlawed in the UK since 1985. The Home Office only began to collect data on a mandatory basis in 2019. Since then there have been 350 FGM offences recorded by the police — yet only three successful prosecutions. This issue cannot be left to the criminal justice system alone. There must be a focus on education and healthcare. More broadly, shame on the BMJ Group for publishing such academic drivel. Too many girls and women have suffered irreversible harm because of FGM. It adds insult to injury that the pages of a prestigious scientific and medical journal should be used to defend the indefensible.
https://archive.ph/GRB0d
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