By Stop FGM Middle East, 9.10.2015.
A new study about psychological and psycho-physical consequences of
female genital mutilation (FGM) in Iran found that FGM has negative
effects for both wife and husband. The study “Couples Victim of FGM”
brings a new aspect into the discussion about consequences of FGM
because men have so far not been an object of empirical research in
connection with FGM. As concluded by the psychologist and researcher
Osman Mahmoudi, husbands married to women who have undergone FGM suffer
from sexual dysfunction, marital dissatisfaction and have a lower level
of mental health.
Mahmoudi,
who is running a family counseling center in Javanrod, a city in the
Iranian province of Kermansheh, has interviewed 414 couples in this
region with his team. The wives in 206 couples had undergone FGM, while
in the comparison group of 208 couples, wives had not undergone FGM.
In line with other studies, Mahmoudi found that sexual function and
mental health of women who had undergone FGM was lower than in the
comparison group.
At the same time, he found that husbands of women who have undergone
FGM have also lower sexual function, lower mental health and lower
marital satisfaction than husbands of women who have not undergone FGM.
Both husband and wife were suffering more often from fear, paranoid
thoughts, psychotic thoughts, depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive
tendencies and feelings of inferiority than the men and women in the
non-FGM comparison group.
This was the same in regards to sexual function. Men and women in the
group with FGM had significantly lower scores on the items
psychological arousal, physiologic arousal, ease of orgasm and orgasm
satisfaction. The comparison of average scores indicated that couples
with FGM scored worse in all sub-scales, except sex drive than the Non-
FGM group.
Also the standardized test for marital satisfaction showed a
significant difference concerning personal issues, marital relationship,
problem solving, financial management, leisure, sexual relationship.
FGM couples were less satisfied than the Non-FGM group in all
sub-scales, except marriage of children, relatives and children.
Men are unhappy with their sexual performance
One explanation for the negative effects of FGM on men, according of
Mahmoudi can be the general importance of a fulfilled sex life for
marriage but also feelings of inferioty on the side of the husband:
„When husbands see their wives’ sexual dissatisfaction, they may believe
that they are the cause and become depressed and disappointed and their
confidence comes down.”
“Even if husbands of circumcised women reach an orgasm, they may be
psychologically disturbed if they see that their wife does not reach an
orgasm and they will be unhappy with their sexual performance.“
Osman also stresses: „One reason for FGM in patriarchal societies is
to control women’s sexual desire, but FGM has no impact on sexual
desire, conversely, it has a significant impact on achieving sexual
pleasure.“
The results of the study could have a significant impact in Islamic
societies where the right to sexual pleasure for both men and women is
acknowledged, but all too often only understood as a men’s right. If it
is recognized that sexual pleasure of men is negatively affected and in
fact, apart from FGM, sexual pleasure is always a mutual experience this
could change the perception and religious doctrine in many places where
FGM is still defended.