It is 423 BCE, and the orders have just been sent: every woman must be circumcised. Rumor has it that the new pharaoh is not very well endowed and wants the females of his country to be circumcised to increase his sexual pleasure (qtd. in Gruenbaum 43). Although such a narrative seems amusing, female circumcision and its effects are real. . Female circumcision is believed to have existed for at least twenty centuries (Gruenbaum 193). Despite its age, female genital cutting has only recently become discussed and debated in the United States. In fact, the issue itself had not really been considered nationally until 1975, "when the Australian delegation to the first United Nations conference on women in Mexico moved a motion condemning it" (Greer 64). Since then, opposition to female circumcision has been part of American human rights policy (Mackie 999). The US Agency for International Development also helps “African organizations working to eradicate it” (qtd. in Mackie 999). Today the world knows about FGM and wants to do something about it, but change will not come suddenly because of its long tradition. Female circumcision involves cutting or removing the female genitalia. According to msn.com, female circumcision is "the practice of circumcising adolescent girls in some cultures that usually involves the surgical removal of the clitoris or sewing up the vaginal opening." There are many different names for this practice. Some call it “female genital mutilation,” and others call it “female genital mutilation.” Often, women who practice FGM are extremely offended by such terms; so this is the simplest and least offensive way to refer to the middle of the article......on: Caring for patients and child protection. " BMA. 2001. November 3, 2003. Greer, Germaine. "Why Genital The Cut Continues. " Newsweek International. (1999): 64. Gruenbaum, Ellen. The Controversy Over Female Circumcision. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001. Mackie, Gerry. " Ending Footbinding and Infibulation: A Tale of the Convention. " American Sociological Review 61 (1996): 999-1017. Nour, Nawal. “Female circumcision and genital mutilation: a practical and sensitive approach.” Contemporary OB/GYN 45 (2001): 50-55. Pulsipher, Personal interview. 1st November 2001. Walker, Alice, Pratibha Parmar Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and Sexual Blindness of Women New York: Harcourt Brace & Company., 1993.