24/09/2026
MEDICALIZATION IS NOT PROTECTION - IT DOES NOT MAKE FGM SAFE
For generations, Female Ge***al Mutilation (FGM) has been defended as tradition, culture, or a pathway into womanhood. But we have challenged the idea that culture must be preserved at the expense of the health, dignity, rights, and bodily autonomy of women and girls. Becoming a woman should never be dependent on being cut, and tradition should never be used as a requirement for acceptance or identity. In the 21st century, women and girls are already navigating countless struggles to claim their rights, opportunities, dignity, and freedom from violence. We should not add another burden by defending harmful practices simply because they are cultural. Culture should protect and empower people, not cause them harm. And while the conversation around FGM has historically focused on its traditional practice, we must now confront another concern: its medicalization. The fact that a practice is performed by a medical professional or in a medical setting does not give it medical value. FGM has no medical benefit, and placing it in a hospital, clinic, or other healthcare setting does not change that fact.
Medical professionals are entrusted with protecting health and preventing harm. When they participate in FGM, the authority and trust associated with their profession can create the false impression that the practice is safe, acceptable, or medically endorsed. It is not. Medicalization is not protection, and it does not make FGM safe. FGM is FGM regardless of who performs it, where it is performed, or what justification is used. Our position must therefore remain clear: MEDICALIZATION IS NOT PROTECTION - IT DOES NOT MAKE FGM SAFE
FGM is FGM regardless of who performs it, where it is performed, or what justification is used. Our position must therefore remain clear: zero tolerance for FGM in every form, including its medicalization. We cannot reject FGM when it is carried out as tradition and then accept it when it is carried out by a health professional. A medical setting cannot transform a harmful practice into healthcare, just as a professional title cannot give it a medical purpose. To medical professionals, the responsibility to protect must remain at the centre of your profession; to communities, let us preserve the values and traditions that strengthen us without practices that harm women and girls. Yes, to culture that protects. No to practices that harm. Zero tolerance for FGM - whether traditional, medicalized, or carried out in any other setting.
