Droit et Cultures (Oct 2020)
Résistance à l’infibulation et à la désinfibulation. Changement des pratiques et persistance des valeurs en Norvège
Abstract
«Pharaonic circumcision», a type of female genital cutting creating a closure of the feminine genitalia, is associated with key cultural values related to gender and sexuality: virginity and virtue for women, and virility, sexual pleasure and paternity for men. To meet these values, infibulations must be performed at a young age and kept intact until marriage when they must be partially re-opened to enable sexual intercourse, and further opened at childbirth. Many complications that relate to infibulation and the pain associated with traditional defibulation can be significantly reduced by undergoing surgical defibulation, a procedure through which the infibulation to some extent can be undone. However, while surgical defibulation has been made widely available in Norway as in many other countries of immigration, the uptake is low. This paper explores some of the cultural values and perceptions that cause the resistance found to this surgery, and discusses how these perceptions can be overcome.
