Sweden: FGM discovered to be on rise

Story here. Makes my skin crawl to read about these kinds of horrid things happening. I just wish people in general reacted with the same degree of disgust when boys are mutilated as when girls are. I wonder why people don't get it that if it can be done to boys, it can be done to girls, too -- once the principle is accepted, the specific follows. Those seeking to end FGM will I hope soon realize that taking up equally the end of MGM will not only expand their circle of allies in the cause and access to resources, but also the goal is more likely to be met sooner than not. Excerpt:

'School health services in the small Swedish city of Norrköping have found 60 cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) among schoolgirls since March, with evidence of mutilation found in all 30 girls in one class, 28 of the most severe form.

In Sweden, where the EU’s Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) says that FGM “is considered to be a serious problem,” the law enables genital examination of children to be carried out without parents’ consent.

FGM has been a crime in Sweden since 1982 and can be punished by up to four years in prison, increased to 10 years if judged to be an aggravated offence.

According to EIGE, concerns about FGM became widespread in Sweden in the early and mid-1990s with the influx of Somali migrants: “The first national action taken in the field…was initiated after alarming testimonies from the healthcare sector indicating the existence of FGM among many — if not all — women that originated from FGM-practising countries.”'