| Abstract: | There have been 200,000 immigrants to the United States from African and Arab countries in the past decade that practice extensively disabling ritual genital mutilation. many of these women are severely disabled not only by the social constraints placed upon them by their culture, but by chronic pain syndrome and mobility impairment. They only rarely present at conventional medical facilities, being prevented from doing so by protective/dominant men, and further by the fact that they have little or no expectation that their specialized medical problems will be either understood or dealth with compassionately. The disabling immediate and long term medical consequences of female genital mutilation are described, most particularly in relation to menstruation and childbirth. Its significance as a social phenomenon is explained in historical terms and in terms of the values of the societies in which it is tenaciously entrenched. The question of how a working relationship with these immigrant women may be established is discussed. |
