Women who have undergone female genital cutting (FGC) as girls tend to be less satisfied with their sexual lives as adults, according to researchers from Kings College in London.
Female genital cutting involves cutting or removing some or all of the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It is a cultural practice in parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East and is sometimes practiced by migrants from these areas. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 140 million girls and women worldwide have undergone FGC. The practice usually occurs between infancy and age 15.
FGC can cause a variety of health complications, including tissue damage, infections, hemorrhaging, infertility, and childbirth complications. Many health organizations, including the WHO and the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM) condemn the practice.
The Kings College researchers examined the effects of FGC on women’s sexual lives and compared their sexual quality of life scores to those of women from similar cultures who had not been through FGC.
One hundred ten women participated in the Kings College study. All of the women were over age 16. Seventy-three women, mostly from Somalia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Eritrea, had undergone FGC. The other 37 women were from a similar cultural background (primarily Nigeria and Ghana) and had not undergone FGC.
The women completed the Sexual Quality of Life – Female (SQOL-F) questionnaire, designed to assess sexual quality of life in women with sexual dysfunction.
The researchers found that the scores of women who had undergone FGC were an average of 26.4 points lower than the scores of women who had not had FGC, indicating a lower sexual quality of life.
Sexually active women who had undergone FGC Type III had the lowest scores of all. FGC Type III, called infibulation, is defined by the WHO as the “narrowing of the vaginal orifice with creation of a covering seal by cutting and appositioning the labia minora and/or the labia majora, with or without excision of the clitoris.”
The results have important implications for clinical practice. “As a result of high rates of migration of women from nations where this practice is considered commonplace, to areas where it is not, it is important to all multidisciplinary practitioners to have an understanding of the impact of this practice on the women that we provide care for,” said co-author Professor Janice Rymer in a press release.
“The effect of a reduced or poor sexual quality of life is likely to have an effect on the general well being of women. It is important to raise the profile of the damage that is caused with regards to sexual function in the hope that this may go some way to eradicating the procedure for future generations,” she added.
Professor Rymer is the Dean of Undergraduate Medicine and Professor of Gynaecology at Kings College in London.
The study was published online on October 10 in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Resources
BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
“BJOG release: FGM significantly reduces sexual quality of life, suggests new study”
(Press release. October 10, 2012.)
http://www.bjog.org/details/news/2725781/BJOG_release_FGM_significantly_reduces_sexual_quality_of_life_suggests_new_study.html
Andersson, SHA, et al.
“Sexual quality of life in women who have undergone female genital mutilation: a case–control study”
(Abstract. Published online: October 10, 2012)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1471-0528.12004/abstract
Reuters Health via PennState Hershey
Norton, Amy
“Women with genital cutting have poorer sex life”
(Last updated: October 18, 2012)
http://pennstatehershey.adam.com/content.aspx?productId=16&gid=57297
World Health Organization
“Classification of Female Genital Mutilation”
(2012)
http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/fgm/overview/en/index.html
“Female Genital Mutilation”
(Fact sheet. February 2012)
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/