COMENIUS UNIVERSITY BRATISLAVA THE FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY

DEPARTMENT OF MARKETING COMMUNICATION

English for Academic Purposes Course Work

FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

Romana Bojdov

Study Programme: Marketing Communication

Bratislava 2012

The abstract
This paper introduces the theme of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), focusing particularly on the increase of the common knowledge of this problem. FGM is a drastic operation performed on children and teenage girls to inhibit their sexual feelings. Unfortunately, FGM is not only the problem of women living in Africa or some parts of Asia. It is performed also in European countries to daughters of immigrants, even though they were born in Europe. The main purpose of this paper is to inform readers about FGM and give as many information as possible to open a serious debate about this problem. The paper also indicates some possible alternatives how the problem can be promoted. The amount of sources with reference to this issue is very small. That is the main reason why most information will mainly refer to the Desert Flower Foundation official website and books by Waris Dirie, the founder of this foundation. Otherwise her books are not specialistic, but they retain stories based on real life and predications of real people, what makes these facts so worthy. The most important result of this paper is that it provides a framework for people who are not afraid to take an action and help the ones who need it.

Key words
FGM Desert Flower Foundation Waris Dirie Mutilation Operation Tradition

The aim of this paper is to increase a level of common knowledge about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The thesis consists of four parts. The first part sums up the most important information available about the issue. Part 2 talks about the reasons of performing FGM. Parts 3 and 4 are devoted to the situation in Europe and in Slovakia. There are several reasons why I decided to write about FGM. First, books written by Waris Dirie impressed me so much that I started to concern myself on the topic in more detail. Second, FGM is an issue that needs a lively discussion. It needs people to talk about it loudly and in public. Finally, I was always interested in social promotion and this is definitely the topic that needs a good campaign not only in Slovakia. The paper is related to the research conducted by Waris Dirie and her colleagues published in her book called Desert Children.

Important facts about FGM

According to the Desert Flower Foundation official website, female genital mutilation is a destructive operation during which the female genitals are partly or entirely injured or cut off. The purpose of this operation is to inhibit womans sexual feelings. In most cases the mutilation is performed before puberty, when girls are between 4 8 years old, but recently it is increasingly performed on nurslings who are only few days or weeks old. FGM is performed primarily in Africa - in particular North-Eastern, Eastern and Western Africa as well as in the Middle-East and South-East Asia. The most surprising about this issue can be the fact that apart from the locations mentioned above, FGM also happens in Europe. It is performed among the imigrants, even though their daughters were born in Europe, which means they are European. And here we come not only to the question of violence or health, this problem also deals with the law... According to estimates by WHO (World Health Organisation) the number of mutilated women comes up to 150 million women worldwide and 500 000 women in Europe. WHO provides a definition of four different types of the FGM: 1. Excision of the clitoris prepuce (Sunna-circumcision) and of the clitoris or parts thereof.
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2. Excision of the clitoris prepuce, the clitoris and the inner lips or parts thereof. (Type 1 and 2 are the most common types of FGM: 80% of the affected women have gone through these procedures.) 3. Excision of part of or all of the external genitals (infibulation, also referred to as Pharaonic Circumcision). Afterwards the remaining parts of the outer lips are sewn together leaving a small hole for urine and menstrual flow. Infibulation is mainly spread in the Horn of Africa and its neighbouring areas in Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea, as well as in the northern part of Sudan and in the southern part of Egypt. It is the most severe form of FGM and it affects 15 % of the women. 4. Pricking, piercing, cutting or stretching of the clitoris or the labia, also burning or scarring the genitals as well as ripping of the vaginal opening or the introduction of corrosive substances or herbs into the vagina in order to tighten it. Plus: any other procedure, which injures or circumcises the female genitalia. WHO also adds that the scar arose from FGM needs to be opened before intercourse or giving birth, which causes additional pain. FGM is usually performed by so-called professional circumcisers (women, who enjoy a high reputation in their societies), traditional midwives, occasionally by healers, barbers, nurses as well as doctors trained in Western medicine. The whole procedure is usually performed without anaesthetic, under catastrophic hygienic circumstances. As an instrument can be used anything sharp - knives, scissors, razor blades or pieces of broken glass (Dirie, 2011).

What is the reason of performing FGM?

Female mutilation has no cultural, no traditional and no religious aspect. It is a crime which seeks justice. (Waris Dirie) According to Waris Dirie FGM is a deeply rooted tradition which was originally regarded as a celebration when girl became a woman. Celebration has faded but the mutilation is still performed. In African cultures it means a necessary requirement for a marriage. A woman without mutilation is inpure and separated out from the society. The impact on womens physical and psychical health is terrible (2011, page 172).
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Situation in Europe
Even thought it seems that there is no reason for performing FGM in Europe, it still happens also in many European countries. The reason is simple. European society, especially countries such as France, Germany or United Kingdom where the amount of imigrants from Africa is quite huge, is very conservative. They do not accept African imigrants as serious inhabitants so they are compelled to create their own communities. African women often live in terrible life conditions. They are not allowed to leave their apartment or communicate with the world. They do not speak a foreign language what causes that they are reliant on their husbands. The feeling of anxiety and loss of home is so strong, that they follow their traditions even more than they would do in their homeland. I noted earlier that FGM conflicts with the law. In European countries it is included in the different paragraphs, usually in the paragraph about bodily harm. To avoid a prosecution, the African parents used to take their daughters for a holiday to a homeland, where they arranged a mutilation. This practice is at the time classified as a crime as well and it is strictly monitored. In spite of all these proceedings FGM is still performed and hundreds of girls are being mutilated every second.

Situation in Slovakia
After a short talk with the assistant manager of the Desert Flower Foundation I unfortunately found out that there is no statistic monitoring the situation in Slovakia. There are tenths of students from Africa coming to Slovakia every year and we have no information about them in this area. Jana Chovanova, project manager of the foundation appreciated my interest in the topic and proposed to help me with organizing a fundraising event with Slovakian celebrities to promote this issue and inform people about the problem.

To bring the paper to a close, I summarize the main points here: FGM is a crime committed on innocent children and young women living not only in Africa but also on imigrants living in European countries. It causes several health problems during their whole life, which can cause even the death. It is against the law to perform the FGM in Europe and also to Europeans visiting Africa. The Desert Flower Foundation founded by Waris Dirie fights
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against this inhuman practics and helps the victims all around the world. It is necessary to speak up and take courage to help.

References
DIRIE, W. 2010. Ptny kvet. Bratislava : Ikar DIRIE, W. 2011. Deti pte. Bratislava : Ikar http://www.desertflowerfoundation.org/en/ approached on 06/04/2012

Appendix
Questionnaire : Knowledge of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Female Genital Mutilation (often referred to as FGM) is a destructive operation, during which the female genitals are partly or entirely removed or injured with the goals of inhibiting a womans sexual feelings. Please, answer as many questions as possible (or write just your opinion) to help us find out, what people know about this crime, so we can use these information to stop this violence. Thank YOU. * Compulsory

Sex * male female Age * 15 - 19 20 - 26 27 - 35 36 - 50 51 and more I am a... * Student Housewife Workman Doctor / Lawyer Officer Artist Teacher Unemployed Other: Have you ever heard about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)? * Yes, Ive already heard about it. No, Ive never heard about it.

If you answered "Yes,..." to the question above, where did you hear about the FGM? Literature Internet Friends Movie Other: FGM is mostly performed in... (your opinion) * Asia Africa Europe Other: FGM is mostly performed because... (your opinion) * of family pressure of religion of self belief of tradition there is no reason Other: FGM is mostly performed by... (your opinion) a doctor a nurse a healer a professional circumciser Other: Do you think FGM is performed also in Europe / USA? * Yes, I do. No, I dont. Waris Dirie is... (tick off more, if necessary) * I have no idea, who is she. She is an actress. She is a model.
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She is a founder of Desert Flower Foundation. She is an author of the "Desert Flower".

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On 10th April 2012, a survey was conducted among 22 users of the popular social network, mainly students at the Comenius University in Bratislava. The purpose of the survey was to discover the level of common knowledge about the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire published on the internet. The first part of the questionnaire dealt with the personal information about the respondents. The second section was concerned with their knowledge about the FGM what it is, where it is performed, by who etc. From the table of the data are as follows. (There were some questions, where respondents could tick off more possible answers, so in some cases the count can be more than 100 %.) In the first part 73% of the respondents were women and 27% were men. 23% of them were under 20 years old, 68% were between 20 and 26 and 9% were older than 27 years. The figures shows that the majority, 77% were students, 9% were unemployed, 5% worked as an officer or teacher and 4% worked in other field. In the second section, 73% of respondents have already heard about the FGM and 27% have not. 50% of the respondents who have already heard about it, got their knowledge from the Desert Flower movie, 44% of them read about the FGM in literature, 38% got some information from the internet, 6% have heard about it from friends and 6% have had other sources. 86% of the respondents think, that FGM is mostly performed in Africa, 9% think that the area of the most frequent mutilations is Asia and 5% think it is Europe. In opinion of 45% FGM is performed because of tradition, 27% think that the main reason is religion, 18% think it is family pressure and 10% of the respondents think there is no reason for such a crime. 59% of them think that FGM is performed by a healer, 14% think it is a professional circumciser who does it, 9% think it is a work for nurses, 5% ticked off a doctor and 14% think that FGM is performed by other person. The majority, 68% of the respondents think that FGM is performed also in Europe / USA and 32% think it is not. The name of Waris Dirie is known by the majority of respondents. 64% knows, she is the author of the Desert Flower, 59% thinks, she is a model, 36% thinks she is a founder of Desert Flower Foundation 9% thinks that she is an actress and 27% of the respondents have no idea, who is she. If any conclusions may be drawn from the data, they are, perhaps, as follows. The majority of respondents have the basic knowledge about the FGM issue, but there are still some facts that are not clear to them.

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