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Audience member: when assessing outcomes of FGC It's very important first to determine whether the woman seeking treatment has had a consensual sexual experience prior to the interview; in many cases there may be rape or other sexual violence, or the woman may have had no sexual
experience whatsoever (thereby worrying she may be sexually disabled, perhaps based on what she has 'learned' from Western discourse) when it fact she may be able to have positive sexual experiences, if the prior (other) wrongs have been addressed w. sensitive counseling/support
Once genital cutting becomes the focus of so much stigma, often sexual difficulties may be automatically associated to the cutting, when what is needed is a wider focus on the many aspects of women's lives that affect sexual experience. Consonant with earlier speakers reminding
us that holistic approaches are needed to consider the full context, experience, resources, etc., of women across cultures, not (as one scholar has put it) 'staring between the legs' of often already-marginalized women, othering them, making them feel like outsiders/damaged goods
