In western countries, female genital cutting is almost always portrayed using the most severe form (Type 3, infibulation) where the external clitoris, hood, and labia are removed with the vagina stitched almost shut. This is also the rarest type. In raw numbers of baby girls, South East Asia has the highest rate of FGM. However their practice, called Sunat (Type 4, scraping), consists of just a small cut on the clitoris or clitoral hood, leaving otherwise fully fuctional genitalia.

Every society that practices FGM also cuts their boys. For a given culture, the methods and conditions are the same. Tribes in the middle of nowhere in Africa that cut girls with dirty glass do the same to boy's foreskin. Wealthier Muslim countries such as Egypt and Malaysia have both done in a clinic by doctors. FGM is not always done to prevent women from having sex, nor is it always done in a heinous and barbaric way.