The Lancet: Working towards an end to FGM
“In practicing communities, female genital mutilation (FGM) is a social norm — a public declaration of social acceptability that families believe makes their daughters pure, clean, and prepared for marriage. … The practice is enforced by communities in which cultural and religious conventions are often more robust than national laws that ban FGM. However, cutting has serious health effects, and is classed by many people as child abuse…” (Morgan, 3/7).