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On the International Day for Zero Tolerance for [[FGM|Female Genital Mutilation]], VICE News reports on a little-known surgery that restores sexual function to the [[clitoris ]] for women who had their genitals mutilated as children. We meet and follow a 32-year-old prospective patient who was mutilated at the age of six in Somalia, and who now lives and works as a nurse in the United States.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural tradition that affects millions of women worldwide. Sometimes referred to as female circumcision or female genital cutting, the practice varies in severity depending on where it is performed. The procedure can range from minor nicks to the [[clitoris ]] to the total removal of the [[clitoris ]] and labia. In its severest form, the two sides of the vulva are sewn together, leaving only a small hole for menstruation and urination.
While the practice has been outlawed in many of the 29 countries where FGM is concentrated, it persists in some rural areas as a centuries-old cultural tradition, where it is usually performed by women elders as a part of a coming-of-age ritual. The tradition is sometimes believed to "purify" a woman and performed to preserve virginity before marriage.