This article intends to present the Scandinavian legislation on female genital mutilation and explore the implications of the laws. Juxtaposing trends of plastic genital surgery in the West with claims that female circumcision may be a practice generally abandoned in Scandinavia, we highlight the double morality inherent in current public discussions. Finally, we pose the question: Is the legal...

Background: Female genital mutilation (FGM) practice is mostly carried out by traditional circumcisers, who often play other central roles in communities, such as attending childbirths. Increasingly, FGM is also performed by health care providers. However, FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. The study investigates a broad cross-cultural study...

International Family Planning Perspectives Women who have undergone female genital mutilation have a higher risk for adverse obstetric outcomes than women who have not, and the risks seem to be greater with more severe mutilation, according to the first large-scale prospective study of the effects of female genital mutilation on maternal and neonatal outcomes.1 Relative to women who have not un...

Sitting down to write this editorial on 6 February, the Global ‘Day of Zero Tolerance’ for female genital mutilation (FGM), it feels somewhat disconcerting to be introducing a feature article arguing for a ‘compromise position’ towards a practice that is widely accepted as abhorrent. Indeed, I’m sure many of the journal’s readers will share my intuitive response that there is little scope for e...

a highly heterogeneous population of minority ethnic groups. Among these are two groups in which the practice of female circumcision, or female genital mutilation as it is now known, is traditional: the Somalis and the Yemenis. In addition to these well established communities there are members of other ethnic groups in which it is practised. Female genital mutilation is an ancient practice fou...