BMJ  2007;334:1335 (30 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39252.646042.3A

Letters

Cosmetic genitoplasty

It's female genital mutilation and should be prosecuted

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Liao and Creighton ask how healthcare providers in the United Kingdom should respond to requests for "genitoplasty,"¹ or what two UK websites call "labial reduction" and "female genital reshaping."^{2 3} This procedure, which entails "the partial or total removal of the external female genital organs for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons,"⁴ is a criminal offence in the UK under the Female Genital Mutilation Act.^{4 5}

Notes to the act say that no offence has been committed if the surgery is necessary for the woman's physical or mental health—for example, in cases of cancer, gender reassignment surgery, or "distress caused by a perception of abnormality."⁵ The BMJ article focuses on the latter. The women interviewed who had this surgery were "anxious" because they had been led to believe—for example, by advertisements for cosmetic surgery—that their labia were too large, uneven, or unshapely. Their reasons were without exception non-therapeutic.

The contradictions are blatant. If . . . [Full text of this article]

Reproductive Health Matters, London NW5 1TL

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