Female genital mutilation

Cases: girls and women undergoing genital alteration surgery (criminal law)

Proposed balancing act: in the case of infibulation and excision, as they affect fundamental personal rights, the cultural practice cannot be recognised; while in all other cases a case-by-case analysis is suggested to assess the harm caused and the will of the person who has undergone the intervention. In general, in the cases that causes a permanent change in the sexual organ, and are performed without the child’s consent, the child’s rights to physical integrity, sexual freedom and consent to medical acts ideally should prevail against the cultural rights and freedom of rising their own children vested in the child’s parents. Nevertheless, the criminalization of parents that perform female genital mutilation is not an optimal solution, as the child would then be saddled with yet another violation to his/her rights (e.g. right to a family) should the parents be jailed.

Bibliographic references

Legal Bibliography

Basile, F. (2013). "Il reato di 'pratiche di mutilazione degli organi genitali femminili' alla prova della giurisprudenza: un commento alla prima (e finora unica) applicazione giurisprudenziale dell’art. 583 bis c.p. Nota a Corte d’Appello di Venezia, 23 novembre 2012 (dep. 21 febbraio 2013), n. 1485," in Diritto penale contemporaneo, 4/2013.
Brunetta d’Usseaux, F. (2011), "Famiglia e multiculturalismo," in Politica del diritto, Fascicolo 4, dicembre 2011.
Caterini, M. (2020). "Reati culturali: politiche criminali e prassi applicative tra Italia e Germania," in Politica del diritto, Fascicolo 1, marzo 2020.
Crescenzi, A. (2021). "La questione del rimpatrio di donne migranti a rischio di subire mutilazioni genitali," in Diritti umani e diritto internazionale, Fascicolo 2, maggio-agosto 2021.
Mancini, L. (2017). "Prevenire, contrastare e punire le pratiche di mutilazione genitale femminile. Un’analisi sociologica della legge n. 7/2006," in Materiali per una storia della cultura giuridica, Fascicolo 2, dicembre 2017.
Miazzi, L. (2010). "Il diverso trattamento giuridico delle modificazioni genitali maschili e femminili, ovvero: dai reati culturali ai reati coloniali," in Diritto, immigrazione e cittadinanza, 2010.
Ruggiu, I. (2014). "La Risoluzione ONU del 2012 per l’eliminazione delle mutilazioni genitali femminili. Una lettura problematica," (30 aprile 2014), in Studium Iuris, n. 7/2013.
Sciutteri, D. (2022). "Reati culturalmente motivati e ignorantia legis: a margine della prima sentenza di legittimità sulle mutilazioni genitali femminili (nota a Cass. pen., sez. V, 2 luglio 2021, n. 37422)," in Stato, chiese e pluralismo confessionale, Fascicolo 7/2022.
UNHCR (Febbraio 2013). "Too Much Pain, Female Genital Mutilation & Asylum in the European Union: A Statistical Overview," Documento UNHCR.

Anthropological bibliography (recommended reading):

Fusaschi M. (2003). I segni sul corpo. Per un’antropologia delle modificazioni dei genitali femminili, Storia, Filosofia e Scienze Sociali. Bollati Boringhieri.

An essential text for understanding what practices and meanings characterise FGM (or female genital modification). It is an excellent ethnographic and critical analysis useful for understanding the complexity and great diversity of practices gathered under the most common definition of FGM.

Anthropological bibliography (for more details):

Fusaschi, M. (2022). "Gendered genital modifications in critical anthropology: from discourses on FGM/C to new technologies in the sex/gender system." IJIR: Your Sexual Medicine Journal.
Hosken, F.P. (1979). "The Hosken report: genital and sexual mutilation of females." Lexington Women’s International Network News.
Johnsdotter, S. (2018). "Girls and boys as Victims: asymmetries and dynamics in European public discourses on genital modifications in children," in M. Fusaschi, G. Cavatorta (ed) FGM/C: From Medicine to Critical Anthropology, Meti Edizioni.
Johnsdotter, S. (eds.) (2020). Female genitale cutting: The global north and South. Centre for Sexology and Sexuality Studies, Malmö University.
Johnsdotter, S., R.M. Mestre (2017). “Female genital mutilation” in Europe: Public discourse versus empirical evidence." International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice (51).
Kruseman, A.N. (2010). "Non-therapeutic circumcision of male minors." KNMG Viewpoint.
PRB Population Reference Bureau (2002). “Abandonner l’excision feminine. Prévalence, attitudes et efforts pour y mettre fin”.
WHO (2008). "Eliminating female genital mutilation: an interagency statement," UNAIDS, UNDP, UNECA, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCHR, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNIFEM, WHO.

Female genital mutilation ​

Female genital mutilation