Prohibited Sexual Behavior and Sexual Violence

Sexual Violence: Mutilation of Female Sex Organs: Forms: Infibulation 2

The radical form of infibulation described here can also become an obstacle to childbirth. Excessive vaginal scar tissue can hinder or even stop the baby’s delivery and thus, at crucial moments, deprive it of oxygen. This can kill the baby and, as a consequence of further complications, the mother.
Of course, before an infibulated female can become pregnant and give birth, the infibulation has to be undone.

Defibulation
The procedure of undoing an infibulation is known as “defibulation”, and it is usually performed on the wedding night: The parts of the vulva that had been sewn together are cut open again and thus the vagina is once more made accessible.

Reinfibulation
Once the female has given birth, she is usually infibulated again in order to restore her body to its previous “purity”. This procedure is called “reinfibulation”. However, after several births, there may not be enough suitable tissue left to sew the vagina up again.
A reinfibulation may be repeated after each birth, and, in that case, a defibulation will have to be repeated for each new desired pregnancy. While neither is as painful as the original mutilation, one can easily imagine what they mean for the female’s sexual experience.