Due to immigration and other factors, many of these practices have spread. Yes, that even includes female genital cutting practices in the USA where they have been deemed explicitly illegal since the late 1990s, and the UK where it has been explicitly illegal since 1985! A question arises with these laws: how is genital cutting exempted from other laws like assault and battery?
Here are some visuals to give you an idea about what parts of the world have high rates vs low rates:
There are challenges with identifying the sex of the individual when attempting to use legal means to stop non-therapeutic+non-consensual genital cutting:
- Equal protection laws.
- How to draw lines when there are people that are identified with intersex traits.
There is much to cover about laws when it comes to genital cutting. There is much more to come. Here is a list of sites to consider for now:
Page last updated February 8, 2022