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Genital mutilation is a term used for various types of body modifications that involve the genitals, especially non-consensual mutilations. Some believe that some of these, particularly when performed with the informed consent of the person affected, are not mutilations and prefer to call them genital modifications.

Types of genital modification:

• circumcision
• subincision
• "female circumcision", including
  • clitoridotomy
  • clitoridectomy
  • infibulation
• castration
• penectomy

Issues surrounding genital modification became prominent in the English-speaking world in the latter quarter of the 20th century, when opponents of female circumcision, often called female genital mutilation (FGM) made Westerners aware of the practice in African and Muslim countries. In most cases, female circumcision is a social practice, not a religious one. Opposition to male genital modification, mostly in the form of circumcision, has also grown during the same time, especially in countries without a tradition of those types of procedures. See intactivism.

In most cases ritual genital modification is performed involuntarily on infants or children. Sometimes genital modification is used as punishment for rape, adultery or other socially forbidden sexual practices. Some societies have historically engaged in castration or penectomy, although this is rare in the modern world. In some cases, people elect to have parts of their genitals cut off or impaled with spikes or rings. See BDSM and body piercing.

Some consider sex reassignment surgery to be a form of genital mutilation if performed without the consent of the individual concerned, for example if performed on a child.

External links

• "US also practices genital mutilation" - editorial by opponent of male circumcision
• Dmoz Genital Mutilation