Part or all of the clitoris is surgically removed. This leaves them with reduced or no sexual feeling. Orgasms are sometimes impossible to experience later in life. Many health problems result from the surgery. Travels in Mali by Ibn Battuta.
Travelers often view their sightseeing through the perspectives of their own culture.
One such early traveler noted how the women he saw differed from those he had known at home. University of Minnesota Human Rights Library Has information on FGM and many other human rights abuses.