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Sexual health counselling targeting girls and young women with female genital cutting in Sweden: mind–body dualism affecting social and health care professionals’ perspectives

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also referred to as female genital cutting (FGC), has become the subject of an intense debate exposing tensions between varying cultural values about bodies and sexuality. These issues are brought to the fore in settings where professionals provide sexual counselling...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Palm, Camilla, Essén, Birgitta, Johnsdotter, Sara
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Taylor & Francis 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7888010/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31533573
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2019.1615364
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author Palm, Camilla
Essén, Birgitta
Johnsdotter, Sara
author_facet Palm, Camilla
Essén, Birgitta
Johnsdotter, Sara
author_sort Palm, Camilla
collection PubMed
description Female genital mutilation (FGM), also referred to as female genital cutting (FGC), has become the subject of an intense debate exposing tensions between varying cultural values about bodies and sexuality. These issues are brought to the fore in settings where professionals provide sexual counselling to young circumcised women and girls in Western, multicultural societies. This article is based on interviews and focus group discussions with professionals in social and healthcare services. The aim of this study was to examine how professionals reflect upon and talk about sexuality and the promotion of sexual wellbeing in young circumcised women and girls. Policy documents guide their obligations, yet they are also influenced by culture-specific notions about bodies and sexuality and what can be called “the FGM standard tale”. The study found that professionals showed great commitment to helping the girls and young women in the best possible way. Their basic starting point, however, was characterised by a reductionist focus on the genitalia’s role in sexuality, thus neglecting other important dimensions in lived sexuality. In some cases, such an attitude may negatively affect an individual’s body image and sexual self-esteem. Future policy making in the field of sexual health among girls and young women with FGC would benefit from taking a broader holistic approach to sexuality. Professionals need to find ways of working that promote sexual wellbeing in girls, and must avoid messages that evoke body shame or feelings of loss of sexual capacity among those affected by FGC.
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spelling pubmed-78880102021-03-30 Sexual health counselling targeting girls and young women with female genital cutting in Sweden: mind–body dualism affecting social and health care professionals’ perspectives Palm, Camilla Essén, Birgitta Johnsdotter, Sara Sex Reprod Health Matters Research Articles Female genital mutilation (FGM), also referred to as female genital cutting (FGC), has become the subject of an intense debate exposing tensions between varying cultural values about bodies and sexuality. These issues are brought to the fore in settings where professionals provide sexual counselling to young circumcised women and girls in Western, multicultural societies. This article is based on interviews and focus group discussions with professionals in social and healthcare services. The aim of this study was to examine how professionals reflect upon and talk about sexuality and the promotion of sexual wellbeing in young circumcised women and girls. Policy documents guide their obligations, yet they are also influenced by culture-specific notions about bodies and sexuality and what can be called “the FGM standard tale”. The study found that professionals showed great commitment to helping the girls and young women in the best possible way. Their basic starting point, however, was characterised by a reductionist focus on the genitalia’s role in sexuality, thus neglecting other important dimensions in lived sexuality. In some cases, such an attitude may negatively affect an individual’s body image and sexual self-esteem. Future policy making in the field of sexual health among girls and young women with FGC would benefit from taking a broader holistic approach to sexuality. Professionals need to find ways of working that promote sexual wellbeing in girls, and must avoid messages that evoke body shame or feelings of loss of sexual capacity among those affected by FGC. Taylor & Francis 2019-06-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7888010/ /pubmed/31533573 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2019.1615364 Text en © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Research Articles
Palm, Camilla
Essén, Birgitta
Johnsdotter, Sara
Sexual health counselling targeting girls and young women with female genital cutting in Sweden: mind–body dualism affecting social and health care professionals’ perspectives
title Sexual health counselling targeting girls and young women with female genital cutting in Sweden: mind–body dualism affecting social and health care professionals’ perspectives
title_full Sexual health counselling targeting girls and young women with female genital cutting in Sweden: mind–body dualism affecting social and health care professionals’ perspectives
title_fullStr Sexual health counselling targeting girls and young women with female genital cutting in Sweden: mind–body dualism affecting social and health care professionals’ perspectives
title_full_unstemmed Sexual health counselling targeting girls and young women with female genital cutting in Sweden: mind–body dualism affecting social and health care professionals’ perspectives
title_short Sexual health counselling targeting girls and young women with female genital cutting in Sweden: mind–body dualism affecting social and health care professionals’ perspectives
title_sort sexual health counselling targeting girls and young women with female genital cutting in sweden: mind–body dualism affecting social and health care professionals’ perspectives
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7888010/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31533573
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2019.1615364
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