![]() Children with female-typical sex characteristics in Western (and many other) societies are legally protected from medically unnecessary genital cutting and modification, however ‘minor’ the cutting may be, and even if sought by parents for religious reasons. Though simple, this position is at odds with most current policy in Western liberal societies. The position I advocate is fairly simple: children should be protected from medically unnecessary genital cutting and/or modification until they are adults once they become adults, they should be permitted to have their genitalia modified should they so choose. Once a person has become an adult and is deemed competent to make considered decisions about practices that involve surgical risk and typically permanently alter their sexual anatomy, the state should not seek to prevent them from pursuing such operations. ![]() The aim is to protect all children, whatever their sex-trait characteristics or associated sex category assignment, and whatever the sociocultural preferences of their parents, from medically unnecessary Footnote 1 genital cutting and modification practices until they reach an age of legal majority. Some authors argue in favour of the child’s right to genital integrity grounded in the value of genital and sexual autonomy for all individuals. The idea of the child’s right to bodily integrity has increasingly been defended in bioethical, philosophical, and legal scholarship.
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