Euphemistic Elements of Shame That Frame Female Genital Cutting (FGC) As a Politically Invisible Practice in Pakistan

Female Genital Cutting (FGC) in Pakistan (Syyed, 2022) compromises the bodily autonomy of young girls by using cultural euphemisms and shame as tools for moral policing. It remains a largely invisible practice on social, governmental, and political platforms of Pakistan since shame and secrecy are closely associated with women’s bodies. This paper investigates how women’s bodies are weaponized and implicated in Pakistani society through an interplay of religion, socio-politics, and gender roles, which also influences FGC. It explores the significance of cultural euphemisms and semantic expressions to obscure the autonomous visibility of women’s bodies, which in turn allows for FGC to continue without redressal from advocacy organisations in Pakistan. This research study employs a qualitative approach by interviewing Dawoodi Bohra Muslim women and recounting how their personal and collective experiences contribute to a silenced culture of FGC. It demonstrates how women’s bodies are monitored and manipulated to fit familial and societal expectations that align with cultural practices such as FGC. The triangular framework of socio-political dissonance, religious tension, and policing of women’s bodies prevents data accessibility and provision of FGC thus creating a conducive climate for it to thrive in Pakistani society. It uncovers elements of shame, morality, and gendered treatment within FGC to understand its cultural significance and contextual reasoning of continuation within the Dawoodi Bohra community- despite international efforts to curb the practice by the year 2030.