Saudi Arabian Doctors Crusading Against Female Genital Mutilation

Two Saudi Arabian doctors, crusading against female genital mutilation (FGM), are painstakingly a huge volume of evidence to prove that the practice is detrimental to women’s sexual satisfaction. It is in Saudi the FGM is frequently practised.

"I think the local people can make a change. If we can convince people that there is a complication, we can do something to change this tradition," said Dr Sharifa Sibiani from the King Abdulaziz University Hospital in Jeddah, during a presentation at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's annual meeting in San Francisco.

The female circumcision is usually performed shortly after birth, but can take place during childhood, adolescence or before marriage. It is a long cherished tradition in that most obdurately patriarchal setup.

The World Health Organisation defines FGM as, "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."

It affects 100m to 140m women worldwide and is particularly prevalent in parts of Africa. In Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Mali, for example, more than 80% of women have undergone FGM.

Although FGM is most prevalent in Muslim communities, it pre-dates Islam (and also Judaism) and is not mentioned in the Qur'an.

Typically, the procedure is carried out by a Daya (an elderly female birth attendant) when a baby girl is a few days old, but it can be done at any time during childhood, adolescence, before marriage or during a first pregnancy.