Psycho Sexual Health

In low prevalence countries, where FGM is not the norm, the situation is different. Studies led on migrant women living in Norway and The Netherlands show that the migratory journey can be a new hardship affecting women’s well-being (Smith H. & Stein K., 2017). Some women can, then, discover that FGM have harmful effects on their physical and mental health and that they are considered as a violation of Human rights. Between the home and host society, the paradigm is reversed: whilst FGM was the norm, it becomes the exception, far from being mandatory and surrounded by a positive meaning, it is perceived as abnormal and illegal (Gberie L., 2016). Women can, then, feel betrayed, angry or disoriented by what they learn. New questions can be raised on the justifications of their excision. To be in a society where most of women are not cut can also create a feeling of incompleteness, inferiority, of being different or diminished as if a part of themselves was lacking. To reconsider a social norm as strong as FGM and to be out of the norm can be experienced as a second trauma for affected women (Gberie L., 2016).

A study conducted in Germany (Vloeberghs E et al., 2011) demonstrated a link between integration in the host country and the reporting of psychological problems due to FGM: the more the women were integrated in the host society, able to speak the national language, the more they were susceptible to report that they suffered and express their emotions.

Annalisa, psychologist at GAMS Belgium who provides individual support and runs community workshops with migrant women affected by FGM and other forms of gender-based violence, noticed that while many women fled their countries to put an end to violence, some of them had not fully identified the pain of FGM and how it affects them until they are no longer in their community of origin.