# Resolved: FGM is a crime against humanity and the pinnacle of sexism in practice.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [April 21, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283 "2011-04-21T20:48:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/1 "2011-04-21T20:48:06Z")
Definitions:
**Female Genital Mutilation**
**Female genital cutting** (FGC), also known as **female genital mutilation** (FGM), **female circumcision** , or **female genital mutilation/cutting** (FGM/C), is any procedure involving the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other surgery of the female genital organs “whether for cultural, religious or other non-therapeutic reasons.”[1] The term is exclusively used to describe traditional or religious procedures on a minor, which requires the parents’ consent because of the age of the girl.
When the procedure is performed on and with the consent of an adult, it is generally called clitoridectomy, or it may be part of labiaplasty or vaginoplasty.[2][3][4] It also generally does not refer to procedures used in sex reassignment surgery, and the genital modification of intersexuals.[5][6][7]
Female genital mutilation is classified into four major types.
[ul]
[li]Clitoridectomy: partial or total removal of the clitoris (a small, sensitive and erectile part of the female genitals) and, in very rare cases, only the prepuce (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris).[/li][li]Excision: partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora (the labia are “the lips” that surround the vagina).[/li][li]Infibulation: narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner, or outer, labia, with or without removal of the clitoris.[/li][li]Other: all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area.[/li][/ul]
**Crime Against Humanity**
**Crimes against humanity** , as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, “are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy) or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority. Murder; extermination; torture; rape; political, racial, or religious persecution and other inhumane acts reach the threshold of crimes against humanity only if they are **part of a widespread or systematic practice.** Isolated inhumane acts of this nature may constitute grave infringements of human rights, or depending on the circumstances, war crimes, but may fall short of falling into the category of crimes under discussion.”[1]
According to the [World Health Organization:](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/)
> [@](#):
>
> **Key facts**
>
> [ul]
> [li]Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons.[/li][li]The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.[/li][li]Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later, potential childbirth complications and newborn deaths.[/li][li]An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM.[/li][li]It is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15 years.[/li][li]In Africa an estimated 92 million girls from 10 years of age and above have undergone FGM.[/li][li]FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.[/li][/ul]
> FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.\*\* It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women.\*\* It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children. The practice also violates a person’s rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.
>
> **Cultural, religious and social causes**
>
> The causes of female genital mutilation include a mix of cultural, religious and social factors within families and communities.
>
> [ul]
> [li]Where FGM is a social convention, the social pressure to conform to what others do and have been doing is a strong motivation to perpetuate the practice.[/li][li]FGM is often considered a necessary part of raising a girl properly, and a way to prepare her for adulthood and marriage.[/li][li]FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behaviour, linking procedures to premarital virginity and marital fidelity. FGM is in many communities believed to reduce a woman’s libido, and thereby is further believed to help her resist “illicit” sexual acts. When a vaginal opening is covered or narrowed (type 3 above), the fear of pain of opening it, and the fear that this will be found out, is expected to further discourage “illicit” sexual intercourse among women with this type of FGM.[/li][li]FGM is associated with cultural ideals of femininity and modesty, which include the notion that girls are “clean” and “beautiful” after removal of body parts that are considered “male” or “unclean”.[/li][li]Though no religious scripts prescribe the practice, practitioners often believe the practice has religious support.[/li][li]Religious leaders take varying positions with regard to FGM: some promote it, some consider it irrelevant to religion, and others contribute to its elimination.[/li][li]Local structures of power and authority, such as community leaders, religious leaders, circumcisers, and even some medical personnel can contribute to upholding the practice.[/li][li]In most societies, FGM is considered a cultural tradition, which is often used as an argument for its continuation.[/li][li]In some societies, recent adoption of the practice is linked to copying the traditions of neighbouring groups. Sometimes it has started as part of a wider religious or traditional revival movement.[/li][li]In some societies, FGM is being practised by new groups when they move into areas where the local population practice FGM.[/li][/ul]
I predict…and I confess my prediction is a hope… that this thread will go nowhere fast, because no one around these parts is going to argue with the premise I’ve set out.
However, the topic surfaced a few weeks ago and there was some tentative argument that the practice did not actually represent discrimination and oppression of females because females carried it out. I wasn’t interested in a debate at all in that thread, much less a tangential one on such an enormously important topic.
This morning I watched a wonderful short [documentary](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/19/female-genital-mutilation_n_850725.html) which addresses the issue of a girl’s power to stop this from happening to her. It shows a “self-help” group of educated women dedicated to helping girls refuse the practice and educating communities as a whole to eradicate it. It shows exactly why it exists and what girls face in struggling against it. Fortunately it has a thrilling ending for the two girls featured, an “alternative circumcision ceremony” at which all the girls who’ve struggled against it are educated and supported in their choice and fight to refuse to be “cut”. (And are also shown exactly what would have happened to them, a photo of a “cut” woman’s genitals, which is greeted by a horrified silence.)
What is made very clear, and this is how the subject was raised in the other thread, is that the practice is something over which the men have control, it is for men that it is done. Fathers require it of their daughters. Husbands demand it of their brides. And as the doc states: “The self-help group know that **until Pokot men choose to value uncut women** , **change is impossible**.” The doc shows that the self help group is working on the men, and making progress.
The words of the father of one of the two featured girls are chilling in his matter-of-fact determination to treat the mutilation of his daughter as something necessary not only for his personal standing in the community, but as a means of acquiring cows and beer! What’s heartening, though, is the way his eyes seem to be brimming with emotion when he later expresses his acceptance and agreement with his daughter’s refusal, calling FGM a “retarded practice”. It’s as though he had gone through life previously with an emotional barrier preventing him from feeling anything about treating his daughter that way, and once he felt it was safe, he let the barrier down and his truer feelings, the ones he had buried, came forth.
Perhaps I’m projecting my hopes on to it, but that is what it looked like to me, and I hope it is true, because behind all the horror and heartbreak of the practice itself and the monstrous effects it has on the women, there is the terrible question of why men value a mutilated woman over a whole one to begin with, how “ownership” of her means more than her humanity to him. I hope that without archaic cultural pressures, men are freed as well to love and appreciate and share their lives with women who are whole and able to joyfully experience one of the most powerful and compelling aspects of being alive.
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/2 "2011-04-21T21:07:11Z")
Agreed in full. And it’s equally wrong to make _any_ surgical alteration to a _boy’s_ genitalia for cultural or religious reasons. One cannot be acceptable and the other condemed. Either both must be prohibited or both must be allowed.
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### Author:  [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/3 "2011-04-21T21:09:29Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#):
>
> Agreed in full. And it’s equally wrong to make _any_ surgical alteration to a _boy’s_ genitalia for cultural or religious reasons. One cannot be acceptable and the other condemed. Either both must be prohibited or both must be allowed.
While I find circumcision belongs to another age, you cant really compare it to FGM.
BTW, just to make sure before the thread inevitably derails, FGM isnt a Muslim practice.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/4 "2011-04-21T21:12:25Z")
While female genital mutilation is a terrible practice – vile, hateful, stupid, and all that – it is hardly the pinnacle of sexism. There’s always honor killings, and beating women for the crime of being raped, and the trafficking of girls & women for sexual slavery, just to name three.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/5 "2011-04-21T21:12:33Z")
Resolved: GM is a crime against humanity [del]and the pinnacle of sexism in practice.[/del]
Definitions:
[del]Female [/del]Genital Mutilation
[del]Female [/del]genital cutting (GC), also known as [del]female [/del]genital mutilation (GM), [del]female [/del]circumcision, or [del]female [/del]genital mutilation/cutting (GM/C), is any procedure involving the partial or total removal of the external [del]female [/del]genitalia or other surgery of the [del]female [/del]genital organs “whether for cultural, religious or other non-therapeutic reasons.”[1] The term is exclusively used to describe traditional or religious procedures on a minor, which requires the parents’ consent because of the age of the [del]girl[/del] **individual**.
Amend the rest accordingly.
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/6 "2011-04-21T21:21:32Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#):
>
> While I find circumcision belongs to another age, you cant really compare it to FGM…
Actually, certain forms of FGM are pretty comparable to male circumcision, like snipping the clitorial hood (which was at one time promoted by “reformers” as an alternative to much more extreme forms of genital mutilation. And pretty much every single “justification” you listed has also been used to justify male circumcision.
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### Author:  [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/7 "2011-04-21T21:26:33Z")
#1) Who exactly should be charged with this crime against humanity?
#2) Please explain how the ICC has jurisdiction over the parties mentioned in question #1 that should be charged.
#3) Please demonstrate how FGM meets the statutory definition of crime against humanity.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/8 "2011-04-21T21:31:23Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#):
>
> And pretty much every single “justification” you listed has also been used to justify male circumcision.
He didn’t list any justifications. 😕
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/9 "2011-04-21T21:37:05Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> He didn’t list any justifications. 😕
Okay, that was a poor choice of words. I was refering to the OP’s list of “cultural, religious and social causes” that are often used as justifications for FMG by it’s proponents.
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### Author:  [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/10 "2011-04-21T21:37:14Z")
:dubious: I can assure you that sex with circumcised males has not in any way convinced me of some of the rants against circumcision.
“Snipping a ciltorial hood” and “removing 80 per cent of foreskin” are in no way close. If you really think that, you need to rethink women’s bodies.
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### Author:  [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/11 "2011-04-21T21:44:15Z")
I predict a bunch of anti-(male)circumcision crusaders, as usually is the case with such threads. In any case, why a “crime against humanity”? Why not just child molestation?
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/12 "2011-04-21T21:47:37Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#):
>
> :dubious: I can assure you that sex with circumcised males has not in any way convinced me of some of the rants against circumcision.
Me neither. Hearing my infant son’s screams of pain for a week did, however.
Look, I don’t care what adults of either gender choose to do to their genitals. I know people who couldn’t conceivably make it through a metal detector without 20 minutes and a set of pliers to prepare below the belt. Whatever floats your boat, friend.
But there is absolutely no good reason to deliberately injure a minor for no medical reason whatsoever. Circumcision, tattoos, ear piercing, body piercing, tooth filing, cosmetic veneers, tanning beds…it can \*all \*wait until they’re old enough for informed consent. The greater and less reversible the damage, the worse my moral outrage, so yes, I’d put male circumcision as worse than clitoral hood pricking but better than full infibulation. But it’s all on the same continuum.
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### Author:  [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/13 "2011-04-21T21:49:42Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> I’d put male circumcision as worse than clitoral hood pricking but better than full infibulation. But it’s all on the same continuum.
My son was completely Zen.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/14 "2011-04-21T21:55:57Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#):
>
> My son was completely Zen.
Yeah, we don’t really know why WhyKid was so pissed off about it. But he was in obvious (if you use the infant pain assessment scale) pain for a good 7-8 days. The pediatrician looked him over with a fine toothed comb and said there were no complications, nothing else going on to explain it. No hair wrapped around fingers or dislocated bones or other common why-is-this-infant-screaming-nonstop stuff. So I figure that while some boys may not feel a lot of pain from it, some obviously do, and I’ll never take the chance of doing that to someone again - or encourage anyone else to - without a damn good medical reason.
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### Author:  [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/15 "2011-04-21T22:02:20Z")
Yes on part 1. Pinnacle of sexism? Dunno. High up there somewhere, certainly.
I’m not going to compare it to this male circumcision stuff, other than to say that that seems to be a particularly American/Islamic/Jewish custom.
---
### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/16 "2011-04-21T22:02:20Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#):
>
> Agreed in full. And it’s equally wrong to make _any_ surgical alteration to a _boy’s_ genitalia for cultural or religious reasons. One cannot be acceptable and the other condemed. Either both must be prohibited or both must be allowed.
I think male circumcision is barbaric and sad, as well. In spite of the fact that it is not anywhere near as destructive as FGM, it _DOES_ interfere with males experiencing the full pleasure of sex as they were meant to, which I know from direct observation of cut and uncut men. Uncut men have far greater sensitivity, no question.
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> While female genital mutilation is a terrible practice – vile, hateful, stupid, and all that – it is hardly the pinnacle of sexism. There’s always honor killings, and beating women for the crime of being raped, and the trafficking of girls & women for sexual slavery, just to name three.
Can’t they all share the pinnacle together? 🆒
Actually, if you wanted to pick some nits about definitions, what could be more sexist than to perpetuate the idea that female sexuality is so wrong, so objectionable, so out of control, so fundmentlly bad and unacceptable, that it becomes a culturally accepted practice to literally _ **slice it away** _?
I think FGM has a special place because it is not intended to be punitive, like honor killings and beatings for rape, or criminal, as sexual trafficking is. It is treated and spoken of as an honor, a benefit, a fundamental good, showing how deep the sexist rabbit hole goes, so to speak: that entire communities of females could be forced and manipulated into accepting and believing that mutilating themselves, their children, could _ **ever** _ be a good thing… holy shit. That’s some powerful mindfucking going on, hat’s off to the power structure that pulled it off to begin with!
Really…it does make you wonder, doesn’t it, about that first girl or woman? Who came up with that? How could such a thing ever take hold?
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> Resolved: GM is a crime against humanity [del]and the pinnacle of sexism in practice.[/del]
> Definitions:
>
> [del]Female [/del]Genital Mutilation
>
> [del]Female [/del]genital cutting (GC), also known as [del]female [/del]genital mutilation (GM), [del]female [/del]circumcision, or [del]female [/del]genital mutilation/cutting (GM/C), is any procedure involving the partial or total removal of the external [del]female [/del]genitalia or other surgery of the [del]female [/del]genital organs “whether for cultural, religious or other non-therapeutic reasons.”[1] The term is exclusively used to describe traditional or religious procedures on a minor, which requires the parents’ consent because of the age of the [del]girl[/del] **individual**.
>
> Amend the rest accordingly.
No, doesn’t work. Male circumcision sucks, I agree. I STRONGLY agree. But it’s a completely different animal in pretty much every possible way, starting with the intention behind it, which has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with altering, denying, changing, undermining, or otherwise damaging male sexual experience. And while it does have some degree of desensitizing effect, that’s not the point, nor is it sufficient to actually deny males their fundamental right to sexual pleasure.
Whereas **the point** of FGM is to rob women of their right to sexual pleasure.
Male circumcision is innocently ignorant and pointless. Female circumcision is nefariously ignorant and very pointed. Nor does the fact that mothers don’t have nefarious intent when they do it make any difference; the goal of denying a girl’s humanity by destroying her sexuality is inherently nefarious. And yes, destroyng her humanity is the goal, because the goal is to control her as _ **a possession** _ of the male. Just like you neuter an animal to keep it from wandering off. Possessions are not humans, and if you doubt it, research slavery.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/17 "2011-04-21T22:11:36Z")
> [@Stoid](#):
>
> > [@c'est moi](#):
> >
> > While female genital mutilation is a terrible practice – vile, hateful, stupid, and all that – it is hardly the pinnacle of sexism. There’s always honor killings, and beating women for the crime of being raped, and the trafficking of girls & women for sexual slavery, just to name three.
>
> Can’t they all share the pinnacle together? 🆒
No, they cannot. Sexual slavery and punishing rape victims are both clearly worse than female genital mutilation, and murder is worse than either.
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### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/18 "2011-04-21T22:19:22Z")
I don’t think any child should have that done to them. FGM should only be ok if an adult woman agrees to it for themselves of her own free will
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/19 "2011-04-21T22:21:56Z")
> [@Amasia](#):
>
> #1) Who exactly should be charged with this crime against humanity?
>
> #2) Please explain how the ICC has jurisdiction over the parties mentioned in question #1 that should be charged.
Anyone that practices it, promotes it, protects it or tolerates it, if you need to pick somebody. But the ICC charging anyone in particular with the crime is not necessarily the ideal way to address it. I don’t know the ideal way, I’m concerned first that the idea itself be recognized. From there, action can be formulated.
> [@](#):
>
> #3) Please demonstrate how FGM meets the statutory definition of crime against humanity.
I gave the definition above. Here’s the parts that apply:
> [@](#):
>
> **Crimes against humanity** , as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, “are _ **particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings.** _ They are _ **not isolated or sporadic events** _, but are part either of a government policy (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy) or of _ **a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority.** _ Murder; extermination; _ **torture;** _ rape; political, racial, or religious persecution and _ **other inhumane acts reach the threshold of crimes against humanity only if they are** _\*part of a widespread or systematic practice\*\*\*\*\*.\*\* Isolated inhumane acts of this nature may constitute grave infringements of human rights, or depending on the circumstances, war crimes, but may fall short of falling into the category of crimes under discussion.”[1]
If you don’t see how the widespread condoned and accepted practice of torturing and mutilating young women, girls and babies constitutes crimes against humanity, I’m not sure what I can say that will help you see it, but perhaps this from the UN helps:
> [@](#):
>
> In this regard, the Yugoslavia Tribunal stated, “It is by now a settled rule of customary international law that c\*\*\*rimes against humanity do not require a connection to international armed conflict.” \*\*\* According to the draft statute, the definition of this crime would include the following prohibited acts:
>
> [ul]
> [li] murder;[/li][li] extermination;[/li][li] enslavement;[/li][li] deportation or forcible transfer of population;[/li][li] _**torture; [/li]**_
> [li]\*\*\* rape or other sexual abuse of comparable gravity, or enforced prostitution; _**[/li][li] persecution against a group on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural or religious (and**_ possibly gender\*\*\*) grounds;[/li][li] enforced disappearance of persons;[/li][li] \*\*\*other inhumane acts causing serious injury to body or to mental or physical health; \*\*\*[/li][li] detention, imprisonment or deprivation of liberty in violation of international law.[/li][/ul]
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-fgm-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-the-pinnacle-of-sexism-in-practice/579283/20 "2011-04-21T22:31:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> No, they cannot. Sexual slavery and punishing rape victims are both clearly worse than female genital mutilation, and murder is worse than either.
It’s not a matter of which is fundamentally “worse”, it’s a matter of the nature of the acts, as I said. I consider FGM the pinnacle because in spite of the heinous and barbaric and life-altering consequences (not to mention life threatening!) it’s considered a “good” by the whole society in which it is practiced. A positive. A benefit. The girls who undergo it are considered “better” girls.
That is not the same thing as honor killings, beatings and prostitution, which are all recognized as “bad but necessary” or simply bad, nor do you find widespread agreement and participation of females. Some, but hardly general. Tolerance, of course… what fucking choice do you have, living in a society that “honor” kills? But in societies with FGM, the women are the ones doing it, so as far as being an amazing demonstration of sexism, I think getting all the women on board pretty much takes the cake.
But yeah, of course death is worse in terms of the effect! (Although, interestingly, one of the ways they convinced the father in the video to allow his daughter to refuse was to remind him how likely it was that she might commit suicide if he forced her, something which isn’t all that unusual - meaning only that for some girls, FGM IS worse than death, because they choose death in the face of it.)
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