Marion Scott Stevenson (18 May 1871[1]–1930) was a Scottish missionary with the Church of Scotland Mission in British East Africa (Kenya) from 1907 until 1929.

[5][6][7] According to theologian James Karanja, citing a Church of Scotland memorandum, in 1929 Stevenson coined the term "sexual mutilation of women" to describe what was then known as female circumcision, a practice of great importance to the Kikuyu people, Kenya's largest tribe.

The Kenya Missionary Council followed suit and began referring to it that year as sexual mutilation, rather than as circumcision or initiation.

[1] Her older brother, William Barron Stevenson, became Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages at the University of Glasgow.

Stevenson acquired the name, Scott wrote in 1932, when her chequebook was stolen and she refused to give evidence against the suspected thief, who had worked in her home.