Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Gendered Genital Modifications (GGMo): a universalistic anthropological approach. Response to Catalan and Emilova

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 35, pages 18–20 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

I would like to thank Catalan and Emilova for commenting on my review article. Their comment confirms the basic assumption of the paradigm of Gendered Genital Modifications (GGMo) that I had proposed: we need to engage in dialogue.

I would like to build a bridge between our points of view from an interdisciplinary perspective. Considered from the point of view of anthropology, genital modifications fall into the large category of irreversible changes to the body (from which there is no turning back). This category is universally known but has historically manifested in different ways, for different purposes, and in different sociocultural contexts. Each society assigns its favoured body modifications locally ‘appropriate’ meanings, often drawing on motivations (medical, moral, religious, symbolic—or a mix of these) that are assumed to validate the practices of the dominant group(s). I have proposed an analytical comparison, free from moral premises, that underlines the GGMo paradigm.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Shell-Duncan B, Hernlund Y, Wander K, Moreau A. Legislating Change? Responses to criminalizing female genital cutting in Senegal. Law Soc Rev. 2013;47:803–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12044.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Gruenbaum E, Earp BD, Shweder RA. Reconsidering the role of patriarchy in upholding female genital modifications: analysis of contemporary and pre-industrial societies. Int J Impot Res. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-022-00581-5.

  3. Rubin G. The traffic in women: notes on the ‘political economy’ of sex. In: Reiter RR, editor. Toward an anthropology of women. New York and London: Monthly Review Press; 1975. p. 157–210.

  4. Clark BA, Virani A. This wasn’t a split-second decision: an empirical ethical analysis of transgender youth capacity, rights, and authority to consent to hormone therapy. J Bioeth Inq. 2021;18:151–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-020-10086-9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Levine SB, Abbruzzese E, Mason JW. Reconsidering informed consent for trans-identified children, adolescents, and young adults. J Sex Marital Ther. 2022;48:706–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2022.2046221.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Hellsten SK. Rationalising circumcision: from tradition to fashion, from public health to individual freedom-critical notes on cultural persistence of the practice of genital mutilation. J Med Ethics. 2004;30:248–53. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.2004.008888.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Ching AH, Hirschman A, Lu X, Maniskas S, Forte AJ, Alperovich M, et al. Perception of femininity and attractiveness in Facial Feminization Surgery. Ann Transl Med. 2021;9:602 https://doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-3376.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Scheper-Hughes N, Lock MM. The mindful body: a prolegomenon to future work in medical anthropology. Med Anthropol Q. 1987;1:18. https://doi.org/10.1525/maq.1987.1.1.02a00020.

  9. Sapir E. Culture, genuine and spurious. Am Journ Sociol. 1924;29:4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Nassiri N, Maas M, Basin M, Cacciamani GE, Doumanian LR. Urethral complications after gender reassignment surgery: a systematic review. Int J Impot Res. 2021;33:793–800. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-020-0304-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Hassan O, Sun D, Jha P. Imaging in gender affirmation surgery. Curr Urol Rep. 2021;22:14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11934-020-01029-3.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Becerra-Culqui TA, Liu Y, Nash R, Cromwell L, Flanders WD, Getahun D, et al. Mental health of transgender and gender nonconforming youth compared with their peers. Pediatrics. 2018;141:e20173845. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-3845.

  13. Bromberger C, Todorov T. Germaine Tillion: une ethnologue dans le siècle. Actes sud; 2002.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Rome 3, Via G. Chiabrera, 199, 00145, Rome, Italy

    Michela Fusaschi

  2. École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales-EHESS, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Politique, 54, Boulevard Raspail, 75006, Paris, France

    Michela Fusaschi

Authors
  1. Michela Fusaschi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

MF conceived and designed this response/article.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michela Fusaschi.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fusaschi, M. Gendered Genital Modifications (GGMo): a universalistic anthropological approach. Response to Catalan and Emilova. Int J Impot Res 35, 18–20 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-022-00643-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-022-00643-8

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links