The physical, sexual, and psycholgical effects of Female Gential Mutation.

Essay by Speedysk8nUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, December 2002

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Women that undergo female genital mutation (FGM) can have many effects on their lives such as physical, sexuality, and psychological. Physical effects of genital mutation can lead to death. While mutilation is being carried out the women suffer through sever pain, can go into shock, start to hemorrhage or bleed profusely, and serious damage to the clitoris and labia can occur. After the mutilation is completed the women may encounter serious infections from their urine or menstrual cycle being retained in the wounds. Also, the use of the same instrument that were used on other girls and not sterilized can cause the spread of HIV.

Even after all the pain and discomfort of the mutation the women then have to go through the extreme pain and discomfort from the chronic infections, irregular bleeding, abscesses (sores) and small benign tumors of the nerve, which can result from clitoridectomy and excision.

Some serious long-term effects that are caused by FGM would include chronic urinary tract infections, sexual frigidity, genital malformation, delayed menarche, stones in the bladder and urethra, kidney damage, reproductive tract infections resulting from obstructed menstrual flow, pelvic infections, infertility, excessive scar tissue, keloids (raised, irregularly shaped, progressively enlarging scars) and dermoid cysts.

Women who have had FGM and having their first sexual intercourse will have to go through gradual and painful dilation of the opening left after mutilation. This is a big ordeal to some women because of how painful and dangerous it is. If the woman has to be cut open intercourse is found to remain painful for some women. Even when sexual intercourse is not painful the removal of the clitoris decreases the experience of sexual pleasure and orgasm. In a study in Sudan "15% of women interviewed reported cutting is necessary before intercourse can take...