I told a nurse at work that it's genital mutilation and she disagreed. But she did think female genital mutilation for religious reasons is wrong (it is). And I agree that mutilating a girl so she never experiences sexual pleasure (and possibly experiences pain) IS worse, but both are still mutilation. The best weak argument I've heard is hygiene. Teach your children how to clean their anatomy. It's not that big of a deal. I believe about 400 babies per year die from infection after the procedure. Could that be reduced? Maybe, but it's still unnecessary genital mutilation and I'm not budging on that at this point.
Discussion
The most common form of fgm is literally the exact same as circumcision. They remove part of the cliteral hood. It protects the clit in the same way a foreskin protects the glands.
It has almost the exact same effect regarding sexual pleasure as male circumcision.
Both are wrong either way, but there are more extreme forms for women. Hopefully it is rare.