ney damage, infertility, and excessive scar tissue. In many cases, childbirth is most difficult because scar tissue is not as flexible as normal tissue. In a study carried out in Sudan, 15% of the women interviewed reported that cutting was necessary before their first sexual encounter is achieved. The emotional and psychological effects can be very devastating as well. Women become afraid of life and society. Intimacy with loved ones change being that the level of arousal is far less than what a normal women can enjoy. Feelings of anxiety, terror, embarrassment, humiliation, and betrayal, all of which would be likely to have long term negative effects, can be accounted for as well. In instances, women sometimes feel trauma and rejection by society. Legislation against this cruel and inhumane act have become more common through time, but not yet enacted in all countries. FGM has received increasing attention from the international community during the past twenty years and was raised as a matter of concern at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in 1981. Most FGM statutes in the U.S. were enacted between 1996 and 1999. In recent years, laws are being used to combat the practice, and legislation criminalizing FGM has been adopted in sixteen countries, including nine in Africa. Federal laws were passed in 1996 against the practice of FGM, making it a criminal offense to practice it inside U.S. borders. Since 1994, sixteen states have passed legislation relating to FGM. In general, the statutes address FGM in a manner similar to that of the federal law, by prohibiting its practice and instituting criminal sanctions. For example, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Tennessee prohibit the procedure on adult women as well as on females under the age of majority. Countries as far south as Australia and New Zealand to countries in Europe and Africa like Sweden, Italy, and Kenya have all enacted laws condemning its ways. Time, patience,...
