FGM vs MGM

This page is not intended to deny or minimise in any way the shocking pain and harm of FGM.

Many people emphatically deny any similarity between Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Male Genital Mutilation (MGM, circumcision). Here is a comparison:

FGM MGM

Cutting? YES YES

Of the genitals? YES YES

Of babies? YES YES

Of children? YES YES

Without consent? YES YES

At parents' behest? YES YES

Removing erogenous tissue? YES YES

Supposedly beneficial? YES YES

Justified by aesthetics? YES YES

Justified by supposed health benefits? YES YES

Justified by religion? YES YES

Justified by sexual effects? YES YES

Justified by custom? YES YES

Justified by conformity? YES YES

Effects minimised by its supporters? YES YES

Performed by its adult victims? YES YES

Extremely painful? YES YES

Can cause harm? YES YES

Very severe damage? USUALLY SOMETIMES

Can cause death? YES YES

Legal in Western countries? NO YES

Anthropologist Kristen Bell has written an important article analysing why it is hard for people in circumcising cultures to make the link between FGM and MGM, in terms of our construction of gender:

Ultimately, the message is clear: genital mutilation is gendered. These male and female genital operations are not merely seen to differ in degree, they are seen to differ in kind. Thus, despite the heterogeneous voices speaking out against female circumcision, a common thread unites many: all forms of female genital cutting are seen to constitute a sexual mutilation and violation of bodily integrity, and male genital operations are dismissed as benign.

Another table listing similarities, compiled by Hanny Lightfoot-Klein, a notable campaigner against FGM and MGM, can be found on the FGM Education and Networking pages.

Hanny Lightfoot-Klein

An article defending FGM using many of the above arguments, written by a Nigerian doctor in the US, is on another page. It is NOT posted to defend FGM but to illustrate the indivisibility of our cause.

A website promoting Malaysia has a page beginning "Among Muslims, circumcision is a must for both male and female." The rest of the page is an admiring description of male circumcision only.

FGM is practised only where MGM is practised, with one exception (an African tribe that has recently abandoned MGM). There is a good reason for this. It takes typically over 14 days of vicious trying for an African man to make his new bride fit him, according to a Somalian (infibulated) lecturer at the 7th Symposium on Genital Integrity, in Washington, D.C. in April 2002. This would not be possible if the groom had an intact penis.

Historically, FGM was known as "female circumcision" when it was regarded as a foreign custom of no particular interest. The change in name to "Female Genital Mutilation" has been one of the greatest levers in making people understand the full atrocity of it. Now Intactivists are attempting to do the same with Male Genital Mutilation.

FGM is not only tribal:
"Indicative of the regard in which female circumcision is held is the decision made by the National Blue Shield Association on May 18, 1977, which stated that henceforth they would no longer pay for a number of procedures considered "obsolete or ineffective," such as ... female circumcision."
Wallerstein, Edward, "Circumcision: An American Health Fallacy", 1980, p. 185.

Circumcision in the Female: Its Necessity and How to Perform It
"The same category of diseases having their origin in nerve-waste, caused by a pathological foreskin in the male, may be duplicated in the female, from practically the same cause, and in addition, other diseases peculiar to females."
Benjamin E. Dawson, MD, Kansas City, MO
American Journal of Clinical Medicine
vol. 22, no. 6, pp.520-523
June 1915

Circumcision of the Female
"If the male needs circumcision for cleanliness and hygiene, why not the female? The procedure is easy. The same reasons that apply for the circumcision of males are generally valid when considered for the female."
C.F. McDonald, MD, Milwaukee, WI
GP, vol.XVIII, no. 3, pp. 98-99
September 1958

Female Circumcisions, Indications and a New Technique
"Redundance or phimosis of the female prepuce can prevent proper enjoyment of sexual relations; yet some modern physicians overlook indications for circumcision. Properly carried out, circumcision should bring improvement to 85-90% of cases - with resulting cure of psychosomatic illness and prevention of divorces."
W.G. Rathmann, MD, Los Angeles, CA
GP, vol.XX, no.3, pp.115-120
September 1959

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued separate policies on MGM and FGM. They are contrasted side by side on this site.

Diagrams of male and female anatomy at eight weeks' gestation and at birth.
A paper discussing the double standard
Varieties of FGM
Intersexuality.html
(Male) circumcision in the Yemen

Back to the Intactivism index page.

	FGM	MGM
Cutting?	YES	YES
Of the genitals?	YES	YES
Of babies?	YES	YES
Of children?	YES	YES
Without consent?	YES	YES
At parents' behest?	YES	YES
Removing erogenous tissue?	YES	YES
Supposedly beneficial?	YES	YES
Justified by aesthetics?	YES	YES
Justified by supposed health benefits?	YES	YES
Justified by religion?	YES	YES
Justified by sexual effects?	YES	YES
Justified by custom?	YES	YES
Justified by conformity?	YES	YES
Effects minimised by its supporters?	YES	YES
Performed by its adult victims?	YES	YES
Extremely painful?	YES	YES
Can cause harm?	YES	YES
Very severe damage?	USUALLY	SOMETIMES
Can cause death?	YES	YES
Legal in Western countries?	NO	YES