Criminalizing ‘female genital mutilation’

Where is the harm

Bibliographic Data

ID8401902
AuthorsChristina Pantazis (0000-0002-4053-2437, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol , Bristol, BS8 1TZ, corresponding author), Natasha Carver (0000-0002-7518-2502, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol , Bristol, BS8 1TZ), Saffron Karlsen (0000-0003-0503-5088, University of Bristol), Magda Mogilnicka (0000-0003-1258-5731, University of Southampton)
Year2026
Volume66
Issue4
Pages821-842
Publication date2026-03-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe British Journal of Criminology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-0955 • E-ISSN: 1464-3529
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/bjc/azag017
OpenAlexW7141641453
LanguageEN
References cited67

The ‘global prohibition regime’ against ‘female genital mutilation’ (FGM) remains understudied within criminology. Zemiology, with its raison d’être to locate the source and nature of harm, opens up analytical potential. Bringing zemiology together with decolonial feminist approaches for the first time, we analyse data from focus group interviews with people of Somali heritage living in Bristol, England, to consider the unacknowledged harms created by anti-FGM legal and policy developments in the UK context. We argue that the racialized criminalization of ‘FGM’ gives rise to considerable harm: in particular, harms of misrecognition, autonomy and psychological well-being. We conclude by considering the wider relevance of our findings to debates on state responses to violence against women and girls

Autonomy · Criminalization · Embarrassment · Harm · Punishment (psychology) · Relevance (law) · Sexual violence · Somali · State (computer science) · Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Issues · Genital Health and Disease · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment