Students for Genital Integrity believes personal security is an inalienable human right and that every individual has the right to be free from unwanted genital surgeries. Therefore, "genital integrity" intends to protect a human's right to their body and in doing so calls for the abolishment of all types of forced genital cutting.

In nearly every case of forced genital cutting- male, female, and intersex- a child or adolescent is forced by an adult to endure an alteration of their body. In each case, there are no medical justifications for the permanent alteration of a child's healthy genitals. Furthermore, intersex births with "ambiguous genitaila" are not "unhealthy," they merely do not conform to cultural definitions of male or female genital stereotypes.

What is most important to understand about genital integrity is that all forms of forced genital cutting are variations of abuse based on gender not genitals. Whether it is a female "circumcised to be fit to marry," a male "circumcised to look like his father," or an intersex child cosmetically "fixed" to meet the expectations of what is "male" or "female," forced genital cutting aims to make nature, and in particular children, fit into a gendered paradigm.

Forced genital cutting marks children, and the adults they become, with shame and indignity because they are made to feel bad about their natural body. Forced genital cutting disenfranchises an individuals right to choose what is best for their body, and does so on the very private parts we hold dear. Furthermore, routine procedures such as circumcision and episiotomy cause injury and unnecessary medical expenses that only furthers the income of corporte medicine, not the wellbeing of the patient.

The goal of advocating genital integrity is to protect our human rights as well as advocate for those who feel they have been violated. The genital integrity movement may someday enable us to see ourselves better; to see how certain perceptions of "male" and "female" can lead to forced genital cutting and its perpetuation.

To learn more about forced genital cutting and genital integrity, please select a link from the navigation, above.

By Neil Peterson, June 2004