Female Genital Mutilation as a Correlate of Intimacy of Married Women in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

The study examined the relationship between female genital mutilation and intimacy of married women in Ibadan. The descriptive survey research design of the ex-post facto type was employed in carrying out the study. The participants used for the study were 250 married women who had been genitally mutilated. A questionnaire tagged “Female Genital Mutilation and Sexual Intimacy Questionnaire” (FGMSIQ) was used to collect data for the study. It has a reliability coefficient value of 0.87. The data collected were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). Three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study established that there was a significant relationship between female genital mutilation and sexual intimacy of the married women (r= .32, p <.05). The study also showed that there was a significant relationship between female genital mutilation and emotional intimacy of the married women (r= .24, p <.05). Furthermore, the study revealed that there was a significant relationship between female genital mutilation and social intimacy of married women (r= .242, p <.05). Based on the above findings, the study recommended that medical social workers should provide adequate information to the people about the core reasons why female genital mutilation should be stopped and they should give extensive sensitization to men in the community since they are the major decision maker on whether a girl should be circumcised or not. It was also recommended that necessary legal measures should be imposed in the society by the policy makers to ameliorate the practice of female genital mutilation.