Female genital mutilation exposed in Swedish class

[enlightenment]

39. The chances that this is happening in Sweden is low.

What is much more common (happens in the US, too - http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/horrific-taboo-female-circumcision-rise-u-s-n66226 ) is for parents to send their daughters back to their native country on holiday - where they are mutilated with impunity.

FGM doesn't spring from a single source. In some places it has a religious component; in others it is primarily cultural. For some, it is so ingrained that it becomes an element of "beauty". When I was in college, I knew a lovely young woman who had moved to the US from Ethiopia. She was Muslim - and had suffered FGM (performed by a woman in her village) when she was a toddler. We had several long conversations about it and she was utterly convinced that it was a good thing. She told me that she never would have married if she hadn't had it done, as no man would have wanted her.

It was horrifying to hear, but such a clear indicator of why this practice continues unabated and on the rise. I strongly suspect that if she had daughters they were "sent home" to have this done.

Frankly, until nations start prosecuting the parents after the fact - since there is no reasonable way to stop them from sending their daughters "on holiday" to the home country - this will continue. If a minor female is found to have undergone this procedure the assumption should start with family culpability. It shouldn't hinge on whether or not the child/young adult will turn them in - obviously, few children are willing to do that. It is child abuse. We don't expect children to report on their parents; when we see evidence of abuse we take action.