BMJ. 2006 Jul 29;333(7561):260.
Female genital mutilation: whose problem, whose solution? Psychological damage is immense.
Menage J.
Comment on BMJ. 2006 Jul 15;333(7559):106-7.
Editor—Conroy’s concerns about cosmetic surgery in the West are understandable, but he seems to have missed the fundamental differences between it and the genital mutilation of children. When a child is mutilated by adults the procedure constitutes a sexual assault in that the child does not understand what is happening, has no control over it, and does not consent to it. On the other hand, if adults choose, however misguidedly, to reconstruct their genitalia it is with knowledge and agreement. The effect on the psyche of the two processes is quite different….
afworo.org 