Where is FGM practiced?
Contrary to popular belief, FGM is not only performed in the remotest depths of Africa. As an indication of cultural awareness, it is performed in higher social classes as well as the lower, “peasant class” (Lightfoot-Klein, 47). In Asia, Muslims of the Philippines and Malaysia still practice varied forms of FGM (Thomas, 17). Within Europe, France and Germany there is an uncommon number of excised women due to African and Asian immigrants that have settled in this area (Thomas, 17). In Egypt, Somalia, and Sudan the procedure is used to stop extramarital affairs due to the excessive pain associated with intercourse (WHO, 2). In Kenya, Uganda, and West African countries such as Sierra Leone, a girl has a child out of wedlock to prove her fertility and then undergoes circumcision shortly before marriage (WHO, 2). Within Africa, the process occurs within a triangular band across the continent: Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. In Ethiopia, it is concentrated with the Ibo, Hausa, and Yoruba
