ABSTRACT
Starting with the theoretical view that the corporeal body is in constant interchange with the social and with other bodies–a Möbus strip of body and society–we review selected literature on FGC thematically rather than by discipline in order to bring a synthesizing lens to what is understood about the practice from both social and biomedical perspectives in the countries in which women with FGC were born and the countries to which they tend to immigrate. Doing so reveals different biomedical and sociocultural findings between the natal countries and the diasporic locations, as well as a separation of the meaning of the practice from its biomedical assessments. It suggests that the conflation of both locations’ biomedical findings will result in inaccuracies in healthcare for women with FGC, and the separation of social and the biomedical literature separates the meaning of the practice from the outcomes.
