Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is deeply ingrained in the identity of women in many societies, where it symbolizes feminine traits valued within these communities, such as purity or conformity to the community. This paper examines the impact of the expansion of fast internet, arguably a powerful catalyst for identity transformation. Using Nigeria as a case study, our findings indicate that exposure to fast internet reduces the prevalence of FGM and diminishes support for the practice, particularly among women.
The results suggest that the effect is not driven by exposure to online explicit anti-FGM content. Instead, we find evidence of a broader identity transformation among women, with less stigma around promiscuous behaviors and premarital sex - stigmas that are associated with FGM in Nigeria - thereby reducing the social relevance of FGM. Specifically, we show that the expansion of fast internet increased the number of reported sexual partners, decreased age at first sex but not age at marriage, and increased the number of extra-marital relations for women. Conversely, we rule out wealth and migration as major drivers of the effect of fast internet on FGM.
We use cookies to provide you with an optimal website experience. This includes cookies that are necessary for the operation of the site as well as cookies that are only used for anonymous statistical purposes, for comfort settings or to display personalized content. You can decide for yourself which categories you want to allow. Please note that based on your settings, you may not be able to use all of the site's functions.
Cookie settings
These necessary cookies are required to activate the core functionality of the website. An opt-out from these technologies is not available.
In order to further improve our offer and our website, we collect anonymous data for statistics and analyses. With the help of these cookies we can, for example, determine the number of visitors and the effect of certain pages on our website and optimize our content.