Cargando…

The benefits and disappointments following clitoral reconstruction after female genital cutting: A qualitative interview study from Sweden

Female genital cutting or mutilation refers to the cutting of girls’ external genitalia. Due to migration from contexts where female genital cutting is common, it is estimated that around 38 000 cut women and girls live in Sweden. Clitoral reconstruction, a relatively new form of surgical healthcare...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jordal, Malin, Sigurjonsson, Hannes, Griffin, Gabriele, Wahlberg, Anna
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8294499/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34288962
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254855
_version_ 1783725247234572288
author Jordal, Malin
Sigurjonsson, Hannes
Griffin, Gabriele
Wahlberg, Anna
author_facet Jordal, Malin
Sigurjonsson, Hannes
Griffin, Gabriele
Wahlberg, Anna
author_sort Jordal, Malin
collection PubMed
description Female genital cutting or mutilation refers to the cutting of girls’ external genitalia. Due to migration from contexts where female genital cutting is common, it is estimated that around 38 000 cut women and girls live in Sweden. Clitoral reconstruction, a relatively new form of surgical healthcare offered to women with female genital cutting, was established in Sweden in 2014. This surgery aims at restoring clitoral function and anatomy, but there is yet a dearth of evidence demonstrating the effects of the surgery. The aim of this study was to explore how women undergoing clitoral reconstruction in Sweden between 2016 and 2019 experienced the surgical process and its aftereffects from a physical, sexual and psychosocial perspective. Eighteen women who had undergone clitoral reconstruction at a university hospital in Sweden agreed to participate in the study. The women were interviewed using semi-structured interviews, which were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The results, based on self-categorization and labelling theory, demonstrated both benefits and disappointments following the surgery. Several women reported positive outcomes in terms of sexual, psychosocial and aesthetic terms. They experienced reduced genital pain, improvements in their sex lives, and a sense of feeling more empowered and at ease in their bodies. Yet, some women reported aesthetic, functional and process-related disappointment related to clitoral reconstruction. Nonetheless, the women expressed gratitude for the possibility of undergoing the surgery. In conclusion, the women reported that they experienced physical, sexual and psychosocial benefits of the surgery.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8294499
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82944992021-07-31 The benefits and disappointments following clitoral reconstruction after female genital cutting: A qualitative interview study from Sweden Jordal, Malin Sigurjonsson, Hannes Griffin, Gabriele Wahlberg, Anna PLoS One Research Article Female genital cutting or mutilation refers to the cutting of girls’ external genitalia. Due to migration from contexts where female genital cutting is common, it is estimated that around 38 000 cut women and girls live in Sweden. Clitoral reconstruction, a relatively new form of surgical healthcare offered to women with female genital cutting, was established in Sweden in 2014. This surgery aims at restoring clitoral function and anatomy, but there is yet a dearth of evidence demonstrating the effects of the surgery. The aim of this study was to explore how women undergoing clitoral reconstruction in Sweden between 2016 and 2019 experienced the surgical process and its aftereffects from a physical, sexual and psychosocial perspective. Eighteen women who had undergone clitoral reconstruction at a university hospital in Sweden agreed to participate in the study. The women were interviewed using semi-structured interviews, which were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The results, based on self-categorization and labelling theory, demonstrated both benefits and disappointments following the surgery. Several women reported positive outcomes in terms of sexual, psychosocial and aesthetic terms. They experienced reduced genital pain, improvements in their sex lives, and a sense of feeling more empowered and at ease in their bodies. Yet, some women reported aesthetic, functional and process-related disappointment related to clitoral reconstruction. Nonetheless, the women expressed gratitude for the possibility of undergoing the surgery. In conclusion, the women reported that they experienced physical, sexual and psychosocial benefits of the surgery. Public Library of Science 2021-07-21 /pmc/articles/PMC8294499/ /pubmed/34288962 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254855 Text en © 2021 Jordal et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Jordal, Malin
Sigurjonsson, Hannes
Griffin, Gabriele
Wahlberg, Anna
The benefits and disappointments following clitoral reconstruction after female genital cutting: A qualitative interview study from Sweden
title The benefits and disappointments following clitoral reconstruction after female genital cutting: A qualitative interview study from Sweden
title_full The benefits and disappointments following clitoral reconstruction after female genital cutting: A qualitative interview study from Sweden
title_fullStr The benefits and disappointments following clitoral reconstruction after female genital cutting: A qualitative interview study from Sweden
title_full_unstemmed The benefits and disappointments following clitoral reconstruction after female genital cutting: A qualitative interview study from Sweden
title_short The benefits and disappointments following clitoral reconstruction after female genital cutting: A qualitative interview study from Sweden
title_sort benefits and disappointments following clitoral reconstruction after female genital cutting: a qualitative interview study from sweden
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8294499/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34288962
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254855
work_keys_str_mv AT jordalmalin thebenefitsanddisappointmentsfollowingclitoralreconstructionafterfemalegenitalcuttingaqualitativeinterviewstudyfromsweden
AT sigurjonssonhannes thebenefitsanddisappointmentsfollowingclitoralreconstructionafterfemalegenitalcuttingaqualitativeinterviewstudyfromsweden
AT griffingabriele thebenefitsanddisappointmentsfollowingclitoralreconstructionafterfemalegenitalcuttingaqualitativeinterviewstudyfromsweden
AT wahlberganna thebenefitsanddisappointmentsfollowingclitoralreconstructionafterfemalegenitalcuttingaqualitativeinterviewstudyfromsweden
AT jordalmalin benefitsanddisappointmentsfollowingclitoralreconstructionafterfemalegenitalcuttingaqualitativeinterviewstudyfromsweden
AT sigurjonssonhannes benefitsanddisappointmentsfollowingclitoralreconstructionafterfemalegenitalcuttingaqualitativeinterviewstudyfromsweden
AT griffingabriele benefitsanddisappointmentsfollowingclitoralreconstructionafterfemalegenitalcuttingaqualitativeinterviewstudyfromsweden
AT wahlberganna benefitsanddisappointmentsfollowingclitoralreconstructionafterfemalegenitalcuttingaqualitativeinterviewstudyfromsweden