SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
New legislation signed into law by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday makes female genital mutilation a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The laws apply both to doctors who conduct the procedure and parents who transport a child to undergo it. "Those who commit these horrendous crimes should be held accountable for their actions, and these bills stiffen the penalties for offenders while providing additional support to victims," Gov. Snyder said in a statement. "This legislation is an important step toward eliminating this despicable practice in Michigan while empowering victims to find healing and justice."
The governor also signed a bill allowing for a health professional's license or registration to be revoked if he or she is convicted of female genital mutilation.
Michigan is the 26th state to ban the practice; the state laws go into effect in October. The practice was banned in the United States in 1996, but Michigan's laws impose harsher penalties than the federal law. The package of bills comes amid the federal criminal trial of an emergency room doctor in Michigan, Jumana Nagarwala, charged with performing the procedure on multiple girls at a clinic in suburban Detroit. The Department of Justice says it believes the case is the first to be brought under the federal law. Another doctor and his wife are also charged in the case, the AP reports.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday July 15 2017, @02:25AM (2 children)
I agree it's something that we should seriously reconsider as a culture, though mine never caused me any issues (and was done for medical reasons)
Female "circumcision" is in an entirely different class though - more akin to removing most of the nerves from your penis than just the mostly vestigial evolutionary remains of your sheath.
(Score: 2, Informative) by EEMac on Saturday July 15 2017, @05:59PM (1 child)
It's tough to find unbiased information on this, but if you'll accept Wikipedia as Neutral:
"The foreskin is specialised tissue that is packed with nerves and contains stretch receptors.[6][26][27] Sorrells et al. (2007) reported the areas of the penis most sensitive to fine touch are on the foreskin.[28]" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreskin)
It may not be perfectly equivalent, but it sounds comparable. Genital mutilation of either gender is a horrible practice.
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Saturday July 15 2017, @08:59PM
I agree that genital mutilation of either gender is horribly wrong — but circumcision & FGM aren't really comparable. Also from Wikipedia:
"Procedures differ according to the country or ethnic group. They include removal of the clitoral hood and clitoral glans; removal of the inner labia; and removal of the inner and outer labia and closure of the vulva. In this last procedure, known as infibulation, a small hole is left for the passage of urine and menstrual fluid; the vagina is opened for intercourse and opened further for childbirth."
Or to put it another way, I suppose: circumcision was designed to prevent males from masturbating by removing a source of pleasure, while FGM is intended to prevent females from doing anything remotely sexual aside from servicing/mating with their eventual husband by removing all pleasure & replacing it with pain.