Abstract
Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) is widely recognized as a violation of human rights and a critical public health concern. However, its profound psychological and psychiatric implications remain insufficiently explored within dominant academic and policy discourse. Building on prior research examining men’s roles in sustaining and contesting FGM/C in Nigeria, this commentary reframes the practice as a gendered mental health crisis embedded within systems of power, silence, and social conditioning. Drawing on trauma theory, social norms theory, and intersectional analysis, this paper argues that FGM/C operates not only as a physical act of harm but also as a mechanism of psychological conditioning, identity formation, and intergenerational trauma. It introduces the concept of structural silence to examine how men’s indirect yet influential role sustains the practice without overt participation. The commentary further explores how harm is moralized as care, how trauma becomes normalized, and how cultural continuity persists across diasporic contexts. It concludes by calling for trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and gender-inclusive interventions that center mental health in efforts to eradicate FGM/C.
Keywords
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM/C), Mental health, Trauma, Nigeria, Gender norms, Masculinity, Intergenerational trauma