[Female genital mutilation--a complex phenomenon]

As of today, more than 130 million girls and women worldwide are genitally mutilated. Female genital mutilation (FGM) exists primarily on the African continent (along and north of the equator), but the practice is also carried out elsewhere. Clitoridectomy was performed in medicine both in the United States and in Europe as late as in the 1950s. From a socioeconomic perspective FGM is understood as a practice that forms an important part of girls' socialization. FGM is practiced in societies where women's social acceptance and survival is secured through marriage and childbearing. Without FGM, the woman cannot get married, with the consequence that she has no status or access to resources. Her body practically becomes her only form of capital. From a psychosexual perspective FGM is interpreted as a practice that has been made possible in patriarchal societies where the sexuality of women has to be controlled and where unequal gender relationships are preserved. FGM is practiced by people from various religious denominations, among them Copts, Animists, Catholics, Protestants and Muslims, something that goes against the relatively common belief that FGM is practiced only among Muslims. The resistance to FGM found in countries where the practice is rife clearly demonstrates that patriarchal structures and what gets defined as "culture" are indeed possible to change and renegotiate.