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Imagine being taken to a dark building and being pinned down on the floor and a hot knife slicing your clitoris. Doesn’t it sound painful? Well, it’s a reality faced by countless girls across India. The cruel practice of female genital mutilation is practised among girls aged 6 and 7 in India. Mumbai abounds with untrained midwives who continue to scar young girls from the Bohra community. For a long time, FGM or ‘khatna’ remained a well-kept secret. It was a taboo, a subject never to be discussed.
Young girls are often misguided and taken to be cut without informing them. Women who have gone through this, have generally experienced a sharp, shooting pain. This practice is steeped in patriarchy and it’s believed that a woman’s sexuality has to be curbed and if someone wants fidelity she should be cut. The sad part of this practice is that it’s done on women by other women. A lot of women who still support this practice have called the clitoris an “immoral lump of flesh”. This practice is embedded in the culture. If someone didn’t do it they would face some backlash. Girls who weren’t mutilated were cut off from some ritualistic functions. This practice not only affects girls physically but also mentally. It is unimaginable that at such a young age they have to go through the mental trauma of being cut. Female genital mutilation is recognised internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women by UNESCO because of the threat that it constitutes to their health and lives. It’s still not banned in India.
This practice is unscientific and doesn’t fit with the educated community. People should let this go off. It is a great form of deceit and betrayal and a great form of abuse on young impressionable minds and bodies.