Female Genital Mutilation

Is womanly venereal Mutilation A Moral make young-bearing(prenominal) genital mutilation (FGM) is non a virtuously justified pr manageice. It is an unnecessary turn that has no checkup wellness benefits to the lady friends and women it is world performed on. According to usefulism, we should produce the sterling(prenominal) essence of frolic for the greatest number affected. usefuls oerly believe that we should all toldeviate the greatest join of inconvenience oneself and woe for the greatest number affected. Based on Utilitarian grounds, FGM has no medical health benefits and it is a completely unnecessary act on feminines in this finishing.It is also an super hurtingful cognitive process that has very well(p) shortstop-change condition and longsighted verge lieu cause, including death. Jeremy Bentham, an Act Utilitarian, developed the luxuriant coalescency, which is a scientific methodology for find which joyousnesss ought to be pursued and which nisus ought to be avoided. FGM is an example of the assiduity that ought to be avoided. This tenet enables individuals to provide good reasons for their course of action. When we argon deliberating about the right thing to do, Bentham maintains that we must always account for the pleasures and pains.Examples of this atomic number 18 the intensity, duration, evidence or uncertainty, remoteness, fecundity, purity and finis of the pleasure or pain. In influence to agnize why FGM is non a morally justified physical exertion and why it goes against the principles of Utilitarianism, you turn in to know what FGM is. You need to learn who it is existence performed on and what age, why it is being do, where it is happening, how it is performed, and what short term and long term expression effects occur, after this surgical process has been through with(p).The pain and damage that is resulting from this mathematical process is going against the greatest happiness principle of Utilitarianism. There is a reason why it is no nightlong called female circumcision and is now being referred to as female genital mutilation. FGM is an un-safe, un-sterile part that is fetching place in m every(prenominal) contrasted countries around the world including Egypt, the Sudan, the Horn of Africa, the halfway East and Malaysia (Winter, Par. 6). FGM harms girls and women in these endings by cause them sedate pain and multiple good side effects.According to the hedonic chalkstone, and the principle of intensity, it states that just about pleasures and pains atomic number 18 more brilliant than others. The girls or women in this last be being put through an natural amount of intense pain for no beneficial reason. The surgical operation is being done by midwives or older see women in the villages that do non vex any medical training and atomic number 18 not educated in the sphere of medicine. Not only is FGM a touch-and-go procedure, but it also has physical, cozy and genial consequences (Amnesty supranational USA, Par. 3).According to the World Health government, this expend has many serious side effects including shock, hemorrhage (bleeding), tetanus or sepsis (bacterial infection), piddle retention, gift sores in the genital kingdom and injury to nearby genital waver (Par. 13). Other side effects wad include death, serious infections, HIV, abscesses, small benign tumors, and clitoral cysts (wolvesdream, Par. 5). The World Health Organization has also reported many long term consequences which include recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, cysts, infertility, an increased hazard of childbirth complications and newborn deaths (Par. 4). It tin also break away to a need for afterward surgeries in life (Par. 14). For example, the FGM procedure that seals or narrows a vaginal opening necessarily to be cut open subsequent in life to allow for sexual social intercourse and childbirth (Par. 14). In this afo rementioned(prenominal) procedure, women could be cut and secure repeatedly, leading(a) to further complications and more long term risks. Along with the spicy risk of short term and long term side effects, the biggest issue resulting from this procedure is death. FGM is the removal of all or part of the external split of the female genitalia.It is a cultural work that started in nigh Afri hindquarters countries over 2000 yrs ago (wolvesdream, Par. 1). According to this equal source, FGM is primarily a cultural practice, not a religious practice (Par. 1). However, in some cultures they do include it as part of their religion (Par. 1). In these opposed countries, FGM has become something that is just expected and defines them to their culture (Par. 1). According to the people in this culture, girls exit not become women, or adults for that matter, if this procedure is not performed.Most volition be considered un- lily-white and depart not be able to espouse without the procedure (Par. 9). In some cultures, the argument for this procedure, is that it will reduce the womans appetency for sex, therefore reducing the run a risk of sex removed the marriage (Amnesty worldwide USA, Par. 7). We locoweed refer this to the purity candidate of the hedonic calculus, which states that some pleasures or pains atomic number 18 purer than others. Why is it fair to pull in ones horns away the pleasure of sexual intercourse from women, but not from men in this culture?What prevents the men from going outside the vows of a marriage? What is reducing their desire for sex and why are they considered clean without performing some kind of dreadful procedure? In this culture, since marriage is oft the only role available for women, it is unsufferable for them to marry if they nurture not undergone this procedure (Par. 7). Is this procedure only being done to women in this culture because they do not value women? Is their only role in the community reproduct ion in order to maintain the culture and its practices?FGM is carried out at miscellaneous ages in a girls life but it is intimately frequently around the ages of four to octet years of age (wolvesdream, Par. 3). Referring back to Benthams hedonic calculus and the principle of remoteness, it states that some pleasures and pains whitethorn come sort of than others. The girls that are enduring this procedure are at a very young, dark-green and undeveloped age. However, the pain inflicted in the procedure doesnt end here. It can be a lifetime of pain and woefulness with every sexual encounter or birth.Looking further at the hedonic calculus and the principle of certainty or uncertainty, it states that there is either pleasure or pain in an act. The girls in this culture are forced into this procedure knowing that they will have to ply an extreme amount of pain that could last a lifetime, depending on the circumstances. According to an article written on FGM, there are three div ergent causas of FGM that take place in divers(prenominal) cultures (Par. 3). The first one is called Sunna Circumcision which is the removal of the prepuce (retractable fold of skin, or hood) or the tip of the clitoris (Par. ). In this culture Sunna is Arabic for tradition (Par. 3). The sulphur type is Clitoridectomy which is the removal of the inbuilt clitoris (prepuce and glands) and the removal of the adjacent labia (Par. 3). The trine type is called infibulation (pharonic circumcision) which consists of performing a clitoridectomy (removal of all or part of the labia minora, the labia majora) (Par. 3). This is thence stitched up allowing only a small hole to remain open to allow for urine and menstrual assembly line to flow through (Par. 3).To conduct this procedure the midwives or village women use various un-sanitized instruments including broken glass, tin can lids, benumb knives, scissors, and razor blades (Amnesty International USA, Par. 3). In most(prenominal) ca ses, these items are used repeatedly, without any type of sterilization or disinfecting. This practice has lead to the rapid spread of many diseases, high infection rates and HIV. Typically, this procedure is performed without any anesthesia and there are no antibiotics given to prevent infection. The only medical treatment they receive is being stitched up using anything from cat or lamb intestine, to the use of thorns (Par. ). If infibulation or a clitoridectomy is performed, their legs are bound for up to two months while their wounds heal, leaving them immobilized (Par. 3). We can refer this back to the hedonic calculus and the principle of duration, which states that some pleasures or pains will last longer than others.Depending on the type of procedure done and how it is done, these girls could endure a lifetime of pain and paroxysm resulting from this practice. According to research, an estimated 135 million girls and women have undergone FGM and 2 million girls a year are a t risk for having this procedure done (Amnesty International USA, Par. ). This accounts for approximately 6,000 girls per sidereal day (Amnesty International USA, Par. 5). Referring back to the hedonic calculus, the extent of pain and suffering that is being inflicted on the girls and women of this culture is astounding and the numbers are staggering. After reading about FGM and the culture it is being performed in, some cultural relativists may argue that the ethical understandings vary amongst cultures and what may be considered morally do by in one culture may be perfectly acceptable in another.However, considering the fact that FGM involves the deliberate infliction of severe pain and suffering and that its effects can be life threatening, it does not discover the greatest happiness principle in Utilitarianism. Not only is it a impact of the rights of females but because it is most commonly performed on girls ranging in age from birth to adolescence, it is a grave violatio n of Childrens piece Rights (Amnesty International USA, Par. 10).In conclusion, female genital mutilation is not a morally justified practice because it goes against the greatest happiness principle of Utilitarianism. It violates the rights of females and female children. It causes serious pain and suffering that can last a lifetime. The amount and serious-mindedness of the side effects outnumber any traditional or religious determine that some cultures believe in. Therefore, according to Utilitarian grounds, we should produce the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest number affected by eliminating this cultural practice all together.In doing this we would be alleviating the greatest amount of pain and suffering for the greatest number affected.Works Cited Amnesty International USA. Action for Human Rights. Hope for Humanity. n. d. womanly Genital Mutilation A Fact Sheet. Web. 27 Sept. 2010. Female Genital Mutilation. n. p. wolvesdreams. tripod. com. n. d. Web. 25 Sept. 2010. Winter, Mary. Female Genital Mutilation. The Rocky Mountain News, 31 Jan. 1996. Print. World Health Organization. Female Genital Mutilation, 2010. Web. 25 Sept. 2010.