Female Genital Mutilation Experiences of Somali women living in Sweden

Abstract

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a term used to incorporate a wide range of traditional practices. It involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for cultural reasons in many African countries. This study addresses this practice by looking at the differ-ent beliefs and experiences of Somali women living in a city x in Sweden, as immigrants. Looking at these women flashbacks, circumstances before, and later consequences, their cul-tural beliefs, religious views, as well as perspectives from human rights constitute the material to study these cases. This study also addresses the perception of this practice and looks at dif-ferent efforts by the community based organizations and government of Sweden to eliminate this traditional among African women in city x. This study was conducted in a district among some African women focusing especially on those coming from Ethiopia and Somalia. Thematic Interviews are the foundation of this re-search. These conducted interviews follow an individually prepared set of questions. The in-terviewed group was identified on voluntary basis and consisted of eight Somali women who live in city x in Sweden. The study consists of qualitative methods including individual inter-views and literature review. The research result indicated that female genital mutilation has spread out to other parts of the world through immigration in pursuit of better living standards and showed that the continua-tion of FGM tradition in new generations was not necessary and the overall result of the study was very straight forward: FGM should be eradicated and abolished from the tradition. This research focuses on consequences reveled during the research, including physical, psycholog-ical, social, and sexual effects. One conclusion, even in cross-cultural contexts, is that female genital mutilation is violence against women and children and is a criminal offence according to Swedish and international legislation, because of pain, violation of human and children rights and risks for women and girls. Best ways to eradicate this tradition, according to the interviewees and according to results of many researches that already discuss about FGM, are community based awareness raising programs that are accessible by everybody.