Female genital mutilation - FGM - includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

        Unaltered female genital organs                                              Type I FGM

           
    

 
Type II FGM - most common in Sierra Leone                        Type III FGM 


                  
 

FGM is also known as Circumcision or FGC - Female Genital Cutting

 

 An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with FGM consequences 

 

 In Africa, over three million girls and women are at risk of FGM annually.

 

The procedure has no proven health benefits for girls and women.

 

Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, potential childbirth complications and newborn deaths.  Women have died during the cutting, or shortly following the procedure.

 

FGM is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15

 

FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women since 1984

 

Ritual is performed without anesthetics using razor blades, broken glass, scissors, knifes or a sharp stone

 

Cutting is traditionally carried out by elderly women who are highly respected for their expertise in excision and who receive large sums of money from each girl's family.

 

Medicalization of FGM has become  common among affluent families in many practicing countries, but not in Sierra Leone.  FGM is performed during initiation in the secret society.

 

In Sierra Leone FGM is performed on girls gathered together as a group, part of the initiation into Bondo, the powerful female Secret Society, as a rite of passage into adulthood.

FGM is an effective method used to control women's sexuality.

FGM kills and when it does not, it enslaves women's bodies and minds.