Female genital mutilation denies sexual pleasure to millions of women

Two doctors in Saudi Arabia want to change cultural attitudes to female genital mutilation by gathering evidence of its links to sexual dysfunction

It was encouraging to see the uncompromising light of science being shone on the practice of female genital mutilation this week at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's annual meeting in San Francisco.

Crucially, the illumination came from two specialists in reproductive medicine within Saudi Arabia, a country where FGM is frequently practised.

The results presented in their talk, entitled "Female circumcision is detrimental to women's sexual satisfaction", may seem so blindingly obvious as to be worthless. But as they explained, the study is part of an effort to build a collection of rigorous evidence about the long-term effects of FGM so that attitudes can be changed from within the countries where it is practised.