Female genital cutting or circumcision is commonly classified according to three types. Type 1 circumcision is the removal of the clitoral hood or prepuce (skin around the clitoris). Type 2, or intermediary circumcision, is the removal of the entire clitoris and most or all of the labia minora. Type 3, or pharaonic circumcision, is the removal of the clitoris, labia minora, and parts of the labia majora. Infibulation refers to stitching shut the wound to the vulva from genital cutting, leaving a tiny opening so that the woman can pass urine and menstrual flow.
People who want to continue these practices resent cross-cultural criticisms, seeing them as assaults on their social traditions and identity. A version of ethical relativism supports their judgment, holding that people from other cultures have no legitimate basis for such condemnation. Anthony Flew defines ethical relativism as follows: "To be a relativist about values is to maintain that there are no universal standards of good and bad, right and wrong." (Rosalind Russel, 1999)
Morbidity and Mortality of Female Genital Circumcision
Of the three forms of female genital mutilation, Type 1 is the least mutilating and, unlike the other types, may not preclude orgasm. Type 1 circumcision, however, is very difficult to perform without removing additional tissue (Toubia, " Female Circumcision," p. 713). Types 2 and 3 are the most popular forms of circumcision and preclude orgasms. These rituals are so widespread that they probably contribute to the belief of men and woman in these regions that sex cannot be pleasurable for women, other than knowing that they bring pleasure to their husbands. More than three-quarters of the girls in the Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, and other North African and southern Arabian countries undergo type 2 or type 3 circumcision, with many of the others circumcised by type 1.........
