This issue is not restricted to the Egyptian borders, but is in fact an international problem, that many developing countries suffer from. The practice of Female Circumcision or Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is as old as time, and believe it or not, is still a common practice today. According to a statistic I read online, 6000 women are mutilated every day across the globe, with no sign of stopping any time soon.

It's beyond me how people can still think that this practice is in any way beneficial to a girl. It takes anyone to see the emotional and physical trauma that these 7 or 8 year old girls have to endure against their will. Is it that people simply choose to ignore the side-effects because in not doing it they would be going against their country's culture and traditions? Or are they truly clueless as to the damage they are doing to these poor girls?

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that FGM causes psychological damage, difficulty in menstruation, complications in pregnancy and childbirth, sexual dysfunction and inability to have or derive pleasure from sexual intercourse, and many more. Then why is it so common? I think the look of terror on that little girl's face in the picture is more than enough proof that it's not the right way to go.

The roots of FGM are numerous, yet the most common is people's misunderstanding of religion. Meaning, their belief that it's a religious doctrine when in fact, it isn't. The religious figures to which these ignorant people look up to seem to not know their religion well enough to tell its followers the truth, so it became something engraved in their culture rather than just being a religious requirement. And when culture is involved, people become very inflexible and unwilling to go against the flow or risk be damned by society - they're simply trying to fit in.

In short, FGM is a practice that should have been abolished ages ago, and considered a felony punishable by law. It's sad that people actually do this to their own daughters, when it's so destructive to them as individuals.