Ethical concerns in female genital cutting.

A name commonly applied, including by the WHO itself, is “female genital mutilation” but this description may be ethically inappropriate. Descriptively, the word “mutilation” may be exaggerated, because it fails to distinguish between the four types of genital cutting recognized by the WHO. Evaluatively, the name is not a neutral description but a severely hostile judgment, since it condemns those who seek, authorize and perform such cutting as mutilators of human beings. Culturally, the name is disrespectful, because it fails to respect the motivation with which those who request the procedure for their daughters are acting. Personally, the name is again disrespectful, because it tells women who were subjected to procedures that they have been mutilated, by their parents or other family members. Among communities in which the practice has prevailed, it is described by the word that signifies purification.2 Purity in some communities is a condition for a young girl’s marriage, which is essential for daughters’ future where single women have no opportunities. A WHO study critical of the procedure has conceded that: