Female genital mutilation originated in Africa and remains today a mainly African cultural practice. It is a cultural practice and not a religious practice (Mens, 1996) and it is also considered necessary in order for a girl to be considered a complete woman. Many cultures support female circumcision because of ancient native beliefs. For example, some believe that bodies are bisexual at birth. To enter adulthood, girls must be relieved of their male part, the clitoris (Brownlee, 1994). Others believe that the clitoris contains poison or will eventually grow to the size of a man's penis (Toubia, 1995). The clitoris is believed to be dangerous and must be removed for health reasons. Some believe that it is a poisonous organ, which can cause a man to become sick or die if contacted by a man's penis.

Women are often unwilling to change these customs because it is the way things have always been done. Going against this custom would be refusing to follow in their mothers, grandmothers, and aunts footsteps, which would bring shame against her and tarnish her family honor. Female genital mutilation is such a brutal and barbaric practice that it is amazing it is still occurs today. The health hazards associated with it should be enough to have it terminated. However, the reasons women have forgoing through with the operation is the custom of female genital mutilation is so engrained in their socio-cultural system. The importance of family honor, virginity, chastity, purity, marriage ability, and childbearing in these societies cannot be overstressed.

Most of the girls and women who have undergone genital mutilation live in 28 African countries, although some live in Asia and the Middle East. They are also increasingly found in Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA, primarily among immigrants from these countries.

Unfortunately, few statistical studies have been made; only rough estimates are available of the frequency with which FGM is performed. In some countries, the practice is near universal. One source 1 estimates that 90% or more of the girls in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan (North) have been mutilated. The same source indicates that over 50% of the girls in Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Togo have been operated on. The FGM Education and Networking Project maintain a regularly updated list of countries, population groups, and the types of operation performed. There are over 30 million mutilated women currently living in Nigeria, and about 24 million in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Various groups estimate that from 114 to 130 million women worldwide has had the operation. It is estimated that each year, a further 2 million girls are at risk of undergoing FGM. FGM is outlawed in some countries where it had been widely practiced, such as Kenya and Senegal. It is criminalized in some western countries, where it is normally practiced only by a small number of recent immigrants (Van Der Kwaak, 1992).

Others believe that men can become impotent by contacting a clitoris, or that a baby will be hydrocephalic (born with excess cranial fluid) if its head

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