Yes it is an awful act of child abuse as far as I am concerned.

I feel the same way about baby boy mutilation too, in the form of male circumcision that is not performed for medical reasons.

All people should be made to wait until they are adults and able to make up their own minds if they want to be cut up or not.

turtletimtam, "This practice (FGM) was obviously first thought up by a man as no woman would think it's a good idea unless they were brainwashed into thinking so by their Religion and culture."

Why not too: "This practice (circumcision) was obviously first thought up by a woman as no man would think it's a good idea unless they were brainwashed into thinking so by their Religion and culture"?

turtletimtam,
It weakens your case when you wage a gender war. It is unnecessary and a distraction.

Rest assured that there are many people who find the ritual and cosmetic interference with the sexual organs of minors, male and female, abhorrent and indefensible. To that must be added body scarification and tatooing of minors. All are done for religious and cultural imperatives that also serve to create divisions in society through building cultural walls.

The creepy interference with lttle boys' penises is also an easy source of income for medical professionals who conveniently forget their oath to 'First do no harm'.

Rather than concentrate on just one brutal and offensive ritual such as FGM, it is more productive to ensure that Australian law is available to all and equally enforced for all, and particularly where children are concerned, with no blindness through misled multiculturalism.

That also applies more broadly, for example to animals where ritual slaughter can be performed without successfully stunning the animal beforehand. History shows that politicians may lean on police and other regulatory authorities to look away where offensive cultural practices are imported.

Ditto mate but lets not get personal OK.
I hope our author will forgive me posting this link
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/tormented-by-shame-he-brought-applause-20130723-2qgp1.html
Yes we can see the awful wrong done to young females.
And yes we should refuse to except that butchery always.
My link , lets be honest, is about a crime, committed by men we trusted our kids to.
I too want to say the recent story finding a woman not guilty, in an Arabic country, after she told of being raped enraged us all.
We however, should consider *what if she never was raped?*
Not trying to take the blame away, but yes, trying to ask just how those we put in power are often unwilling to cut the red tape and fix these problems.

OTB,
While I generally agree with you and medicos argue about any advantages, or not, of male circumcision, all agree that there are no advantages of FGM. Type 11 and 111 FGM remove flesh and organs and is truly horrific and our politicians have turned a blind eye for over two decades. I once asked a previous Health Minister why there had been no prosecutions and her reply was 'there are cultural considerations'.

No Australian girl should have FGM and that is why I think FGM requires specific attention to stop the practice. Excusing it on cultural grounds is a cop out and the perpetrators need to be brought to book. The message must be that FGM is simply not acceptable in our society.

Further information can be found by googling FGM or on NO FGM Australia facebook.

To Belly. Re: The woman raped overseas. I think that Lie detectors could be used by Police as a tool and as a possible deterrent to anyone making a false claim against someone.( Not allowable in court as evidence though.) I'm going to run for the House of Representatives at the election and one of the things I would like to put to a referendum vote is allowing the police to use lie detectors as a tool to help them narrow suspects to a crime. Find out more at www.voteforsanegovernment.com in the "Law and order" page. If I get elected I'll have to see what I can do about prosecutions for female genital mutilation. I'm not that worried over male circumcision though. Those who have it done can still enjoy sex and it's not done as a method of control.

Banjo,

As far as male genital mutilation (MGM) is concerned, it is cosmetic surgery that seeks to improve on what Nature provides. Its basis is that Nature made a mistake with males.

From comparison between a developed nation where circumcision is common, the US being a good example (no guessing why), and the preponderance of other developed nations where circumcision is unheard of, examples being Scandinavian nations, there is no evidence of any benefit from this male genital mutilation. Why take risks with boy infants? Are they dispensible?

There are strong reasons for not separating the practice of female genital surgical interference from all of the other cruel practices waged against children. The main reasons being that it results in splitting of the available resources and effort, and lack of cooperation and fights for territory. It is obvious how wastage of available resporces can occur as well as ill-directed remedial effort. Addressing violence is the same.

As said earlier, rather than concentrate on just one brutal and offensive ritual such as FGM, it is more productive to ensure that Australian law is available to all and equally enforced for all, and particularly where children are concerned, with no blindness through misled multiculturalism. That applies to indigenous children as well.