A Review of Female Genital Cutting (FGC) in the Dawoodi Bohra Community:

Abstract

Purpose of Review

The aim of this first review out of a three-part series is to provide an overview of the practices of genital cutting including male circumcision, genital alteration of children with ambiguous genitalia, and clitoral hood reduction in Western societies; and type IV FGC in Southeast Asia. Examination of these procedures provides context for the practice of Khafd, female genital cutting (FGC), in the Dawoodi Bohra community.

Recent Findings

In 2018, a Sri Lankan Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on Women and Gender (PSOCWG) heard the confidential testimonies of 15 women. Subsequently, a circular to medical professionals advised them to refrain from FGC. In September 2018, there was a call by multiple Islamic organizations to medicalize the practice and remove the circular that doctors should refrain from FGC.

Summary

In this review, the WHO terminology for FGC classification is evaluated, and criticisms published online from the Dawoodi Bohra perspective are underscored. Practices pertinent to Khafd are scrutinized. Western practices, male circumcision, genital surgeries for children with ambiguous genitalia, and clitoral hood reduction, are described to further contextualize Khafd. Position statements from professional medical societies on male circumcision are reviewed. Type IV genital cutting is widely practiced in Southeast Asian Muslims and is largely medicalized. The review paper highlights two studies. Interviews with 262 Malay women from Malaysia comprise the first study. The second is a qualitative study conducted by Islamic Relief Canada, an advocacy organization aimed to end the practice, with data collected from Indonesian women in 2013. Interestingly, all of the above practices of genital cutting adhere to social norms and are largely accepted within the communities that practice these different forms of genital cutting.