Why we should be concerned about UK female genital mutilation laws and associated monitoring and reporting systems: a reply to ‘The prosecution of Dawoodi Bohra women’ by Richard Shweder

Abstract

UK female genital mutilation laws discriminate against specific women and infantilise them. Female genital mutilation types accord with those of the politically partisan World Health Organisation, but new instances reported are genital piercings. Most female genital mutilation seen in the National Health Service is less severe than male circumcision, which is not illegal. The laws, monitoring and reporting systems need reviewing with a view to decriminalising female genital mutilation.