Final Year Project

Project Title

FGM and Sexual Functioning: insights from the Maasai and Bohra community

Description

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) remains a widely unknown and overlooked issue around the world, especially in South Asia. This research paper explores FGM/C as a physically invasive procedure practiced on young girls that belong to the close-knit community of Dawoodi Bohra Muslims in Karachi, Pakistan, and the Maasai community in Kenya, East Africa. Primary investigation was carried out to gather insights from both communities; mainly through in-depth, phenomenological interviews and focus groups. This helped to understand the social, psychological, and psychosexual consequences and complications that women may face after undergoing FGM/C. A special emphasis is placed on sexual functioning, which includes overall sexual satisfaction (in the domains of desire, arousal, and orgasm). This research also identifies the role of men as equally, if not more, important for social change in the aforementioned communities and, therefore, attempts to explore their understanding of FGM/C, its relation to sexual functioning, and how men’s beliefs play a part in shaping the lives of the women they directly and/or indirectly affect.