Summary
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a destructive, invasive procedure that is usually performed on girls before puberty. Part or all of the clitoris is surgically removed.
This leaves them with reduced or no sexual feeling. Orgasms are sometimes impossible to experience later in life.
Many health problems result from the surgery.

FGM originated in Africa. It was, and remains, a cultural, not a religious practice.
Among individuals and groups opposed to the mutilation, it is seen as a method of reducing the sexual response of women in order to make them less likely to become sexually active before marriage or to seek an extra-marital affair after marriage.
To some who promote the operation, it is seen as a cultural requirement that has health benefits and makes women more physically beautiful.

These views are not shared by the rest of the world. The operation is forced on approximately 6,000 girls per day, worldwide -- about one every 15 seconds.
Since FGM is practiced when the girls are young, they are unable to give their informed consent.

FGM: A cultural not a religious practice:This mutilating operation is often associated mainly with the religion of Islam. This is incorrect.
FGM is primarily a social practice, not a religious one. Female genital mutilation predated Islam. It originated in Africa and remains today a mainly African cultural practice.
Some indicators of this are:  It is widely practiced in countries where the predominant religion is Christianity: Examples are Ethiopia and Kenya.

In multi-faith countries, it is often forced on girls whose families follow  all faiths: Animism religions, Christianity, and Islam. For example, it is frequently practiced among both Muslims, Christians and Animists in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, and Sudan. 
FGM was once practiced by Ethiopian Jews (a.k.a. Beta Isreal; formerly known by the derogatory term "Falashas"). This practiced was apparently discontinued some time ago. A pediatrician who works in the Beta Israel community claims that they no do not practice FGM in Israel. Also, their daughters who were born in Ethiopia were not mutilated. 

FGM has spread to countries in or near Africa (e.g. Egypt) which are Muslim. But FGM is rare or nonexistent in many other Muslim countries. Examples are Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey. Also, It is not done in the Maghreb countries of Northwest Africa.

FGM is only occasionally found in Indonesia and other predominately Muslim countries in Asia.
One of the motivations for this essay is the misperception by many people that the practice is a religious one. That belief has led to unjustified religious intolerance against Muslims.

What It Is
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is practiced in many forms: 
Sunna circumcision in which the tip of the clitoris and/or its covering (prepuce) are removed.
Clitoridectomy where the entire clitoris, the prepuce and adjacent labia are removed.
Infibulation (a.k.a. Pharaonic circumcision) which is a clitoridectomy followed by sewing up of the vulva. A small opening is left to allow urine and menstrual blood to pass.
A second operation is done later in life to reverse some of the damage. In some cultures, the woman is cut open by her husband on their wedding night with a double edged dagger. She may be sewn up again if her husband leaves on a long trip.

Because of poverty and lack of medical facilities, the procedure is frequently done under less than hygienic conditions, often by non-medically trained personnel, and usually without anesthesia. Razor blades, knives or scissors are usually the instruments used. 

In the rural Mossi areas of Burkina Faso, group female circumcisions are scheduled every three years in many villages. Girls aged from 5 to 8 are assembled by their mothers into groups of up to 20. The circumcision "uses a knife-like instrument, the barga, reserved specifically for this purpose; after each operation she simply wipes the knife on a piece of cloth, sometimes rinsing it in water first." 
In some areas of Africa, FGM is delayed until two months before a woman gives birth. This practice is based on the belief that the baby will die if she/he comes into contact with their mother's clitoris during birth. We are unaware of any medical evidence to support this belief.

Side effects of the operation can include: hemorrhage, shock, painful scars, keloid formation, labial adherences, clitoral cysts, chronic urinary infection, and chronic pelvic infections.
Later in life, it can cause kidney stones, sterility, sexual dysfunction, depression, and various gynecological and obstetric problems. In which countries is it practiced?Unfortunately, few statistical studies have been made; only rough estimates are available of the frequency with which FGM is performed.

In some countries, the practice is near universal. One source estimates that 90% or more of the girls in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan (North) have been mutilated.
The same source indicates that over 50% of the girls in Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Togo have been operated on.

The FGM Education and Networking Project maintains a regularly updated list of countries, population groups, and the types of operation performed.
There are over 30 million mutilated women currently living in Nigeria, and about 24 million in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Various groups estimate that from 114 to 130 million women worldwide have had the operations.

FGM is outlawed in some countries where it had been widely practiced, such as Kenya and Senegal.
It is criminalized in some western countries, where it is normally practiced only by a small number of recent immigrants.

Why it is done?
The justification for the operation appears to be largely grounded in a desire to terminate or reduce feelings of sexual arousal in women so that they will be much less likely to engage in pre-marital intercourse or adultery.
The clitoris holds a massive number of nerve endings, and generates feelings of sexual arousal when stimulated. Uncircumcised women in countries where FGM is normally performed have difficulty finding a marriage partner. Men typically prefer a circumcised wife because they are considered more likely to be faithful.

Other claims in support of FGM are:  The clitoris is dangerous and must be removed for health reasons. Some believe that it is a poisonous organ that can cause a man to sicken or die if contacted by a man's penis. Others believe that men can become impotent by contacting a clitoris, or that a baby will be hydrocephalic (born with excess cranial fluid) if its head contacts the clitoris during birth. Some believe that the milk of the mother will become poisonous if her clitoris touches the baby during childbirth.
Bad genital odors can only be eliminated by removing the clitoris and labia minora.
FGM prevents vaginal cancer.
An unmodified clitoris can lead to masturbation or lesbianism.
FGM prevents nervousness from developing in girls and women.
FGM prevents the face from turning yellow.
FGM makes a woman's face more beautiful.
If FGM is not done, older men may not be able to match their wives' sex drive and may have to resort to illegal stimulating drugs.
An intact clitoris generates sexual arousal in women which can cause neuroses if repressed.

These claims appear to have little support outside of countries where FGM is common.The fear of AIDS has been used by both sides of this issue. Shiek Badri stated in 1997-JUN: "Those who are not circumcised get AIDS easily" But opponents to the practice sometimes claim that AIDS is spread by the unhygienic practices during the procedure itself. The procedure has been banned in several African nations, including Burkina Faso, Djibouti, the Central African Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, and Togo.