Editing Female genital mutilation (section)

====Analogy to other genital-altering procedures ====
{{Further|Intersex medical interventions|Circumcision|Gender-affirming surgery}}

FGM has been compared to other procedures that [[Genital modification and mutilation|modify the human genitalia]]. [[Conservatism in the United States|Conservatives]] in the United States during the late 2010s and early 2020s have argued that FGM is similar to [[gender-affirming surgery]] for [[transgender]] individuals, which has led to bills being drafted in Republican states equating the two. Criticism of these ideas include the fact that the gender-affirming surgeries are approved by American medical authorities, are rare for minors, and are done after reviews by multiple medical professionals.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Cariboni |first1=Diana |last2=Bauer |first2=Sydney |date=2022-12-22 |title=US bill equates trans healthcare with 'genital mutilation' |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/female-genital-mutilation-fgm-texas-trans-healthcare/ |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=openDemocracy |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kearns |first=Madeleine |date=October 25, 2022 |title='Gender Affirmation': The New Female Genital Mutilation |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/10/gender-affirmation-the-new-female-genital-mutilation/ |access-date=December 24, 2022 |website=National Review |language=en-US}}</ref> Formerly, FGM was widely referred to as "female circumcision" in the academic literature, but this "was rejected by international medical practitioners because it suggests a fallacious analogy to [[Circumcision|male circumcision]]."{{sfn|Nussbaum|1999|loc=119}} It has been argued that the genital alteration of [[intersex]] infants and children, who are born with anomalies that physicians choose to "fix", is analogous to FGM.<ref>Nancy Ehrenreich, Mark Barr, [http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/crcl/vol40_1/ehrenreich.pdf]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517021052/http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/crcl/vol40_1/ehrenreich.pdf|date=17 May 2017}}<span> "Intersex Surgery, Female Genital Cutting, and the Selective Condemnation of 'Cultural Practices</span>{{' "}}, ''Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review'', 40(1), 2005 (71–140), 74–75.{{pb}}
{{cite news |last1=Gregorio |first1=I. W. |date=26 April 2017 |title=Should Surgeons Perform Irreversible Genital Surgery on Children? |url=http://www.newsweek.com/should-surgeons-perform-irreversible-genital-surgery-children-589353 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806025114/https://www.newsweek.com/should-surgeons-perform-irreversible-genital-surgery-children-589353 |archive-date=6 August 2020 |access-date=9 April 2018 |work=Newsweek |ref=none}}</ref>