Luoghi della migrazione e corpi della tradizione. Aggravanti e attenuanti culturali in materia di modificazioni dei genitali femminili

The law prohibiting the female genital mutilation was passed by the Ital- ian Parliament in 2006 (Law 7/2006). This article presents an anthropological review about Law 7/2006 and its application. First of all, the author reviews the ambiguous use of the term “mutilation”. Then, she reconstructs the case of a Nigerian woman, G.O., arrested in Verona for allegedly having performed the “mutilation” of a three-month-old girl. Police tracked down G.O. near Verona, apparently en route to carry out the same surgery on a two-week old baby. In the first instance, the process led to the condemnation of G.O and of the parents, guilty of mutilating their daughters. On appeal, this ruling was overturned be- cause of the non-existence of specific intent to injure the body of the child.