MEDIA SILENT As Muslims Continue to Spread Female Genital Mutilation in the United States

It's a brutal practice that's inflicted on thousands of girls and women every year. Female genital mutilation, or female ritual cutting, involves altering or injuring female genital organs. It's often done by people with no medical training and in filthy places, posing horrendous health risks that can linger for decades. Most victims are told never to talk about it -- and some don't survive to tell their stories. Even as girls and women across the globe faces these risks every day, misconceptions abound. To end the practice, experts and survivors say this practice must be drawn out of the shadows. Here's what you need to know:



It's often painful and harrowing ...


Some women say they have no memory of being cut and don't feel any pain at the incision site. Others end up ravaged and require special medical procedures just to be able to menstruate or give birth. It all depends on the type of FGM, which experts have classified by the part or parts of the body that get cut. Cases run the spectrum, from pricking the clitoris to removing it completely to sewing up skin around the vagina.