Police watchdog pulls advice stating men at risk of female genital mutilation

Guidelines warning that men may be at risk of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) have been removed by the College of Policing pending a review.

Investigating officers of ‘honour’-based abuse were told that they can apply to the family courts for an FGM protection order (FGMPO) to safeguard men who claim to be non-binary or who self-identify as a woman.

The quango’s advice was published in August, four months after the Supreme Court ruling that the definition of a woman in the Equality Act is determined by biology not ideology.

‘Fantastical’

The guidance stated: “As well as women and girls, FGMPOs protect any other person who has female genitalia (meaning vagina or vulva) and is at risk of harm from these practices and procedures, including intersex, non-binary, trans men and women, with or without a gender recognition certificate.”

Helen Joyce of campaign group Sex Matters told The Daily Telegraph: “It should be obvious to anyone with half a brain that men cannot be subjected to ‘female genital mutilation’ – the clue is in the name.”

She added: “Men who have their genitals removed in pursuit of a fantasy of becoming women don’t end up with female genitals, only a superficial imitation. The idea that they are at risk of FGM is similarly fantastical.”

The instructions have now been removed. A College of Policing spokesman said: “Applications to a family court for a Female Genital Mutilation Protection Order only apply to biological women and girls at risk of Female Genital Mutilation”.

Non-compliance

Earlier this month, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) urged service providers to fulfil their legal obligations on single-sex spaces ahead of Government approval of a new code of practice.

In August, the watchdog threatened 19 organisations with regulatory action for wrongly suggesting that men and women who say they are transgender have a legal right to access single-sex spaces and services “according to their self-identified gender”.

According to the EHRC, the affected organisations — which span policing, education, healthcare and public services — “must respond with assurances that policies will be withdrawn” and “set out any proposed timetable to revise their policies”.