A Collaborative Effort to Address Female Genital Cutting and Advance Racial and Health Equity

[Cambridge, MA, September 23, 2024] The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) has announced the 2024 awards of the Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds (the Funds). As part of these awards, DPH, the Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA), and the implementing partner Health Resources in Action, Inc., will join with Sahiyo U.S. and 26 other organizations across Massachusetts and more than 40 of their community partners, including non-profit community-based organizations, municipalities, and coalitions. All of these organizations, including Sahiyo U.S. have committed to leading efforts to address the root causes of health inequities by disrupting systemic barriers to health and tackling institutional and structural racism head-on. During the pandemic, the need to support such efforts is even more imperative.

In total ~$15.8M in grants will support 26 lead organizations and more than 40 of their partner organizations implementing strategies, ultimately impacting 458 cities and towns across the state. Sahiyo U.S. has partnered with the U.S. End FGM/C Network and UMass Chan Medical School Collaborative in Health Equity to develop systems of care and response for the prevention of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and support for survivors in Massachusetts.

Sahiyo U.S. Co-Founder and Executive Director, Mariya Taher, expresses her excitement about this initiative and the work ahead, “FGM/C is such an unaddressed issue in Massachusetts, let alone the United States. We’re excited about this project, because the funding allows us to really address this issue by providing us the capacity and time to gather those who are impacted by FGM/C and/or who work with impacted communities throughout the state and create a real community-based solution on how to address this topic, and how we can build a collaborative approach to both support survivors and work towards prevention of FGM/C amongst future generations.

The goal of The Funds is to work with community partners to disrupt barriers to health, increase awareness, and address the impact of structural racism on population health, and create long-term, meaningful changes in population health outcomes.

The Funds invest in initiatives in three core areas of focus including:

• Working on long-lasting, community-driven policy, systems, and environmental changes that will make it easier to lead healthy lives and which will reduce health inequities such as racial patterns of segregation in communities and a lack of affordable housing production;
• Organizing and coordinating Community Health Improvement Planning efforts which convene multi-sector partnerships to collectively set and address community health goals, and;
• Working to address policies and systems that increase opportunities for healthy aging.

Recognizing the complex ways in which systems impact health, the investments will support a wide range of activities across the Commonwealth. Sahiyo U.S. aims to build a comprehensive network of stakeholders and service providers to implement a coordinated, systems-based approach to address how FGM/C is treated in Massachusetts; facilitate equitable access to healing and improve health outcomes for survivors of FGM/C, with a special focus on people of color; and prevent FGM/C among future generations by increasing resources to disrupt barriers such as lack of awareness among service providers regarding FGM/C and connected social issues.

U.S. End FGM/C Network Executive Director, Caitlin LeMay shares, “This is an opportunity to engage in longer-term, intentional, cross-sectoral systems change that will directly reduce health inequities for survivors of FGM/C in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the very state where I call home. Being able to approach this work through various systems and different strategies, including healthcare provider training, policy advocacy, coalition building, increasing service delivery, and more, is really exciting.” 

The Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds were created in January 2017 when DPH completed a landmark revision of its Determination of Need (DoN) regulation, which authorized the creation of these Funds. DPH provides overall guidance to the Funds and Health Resources in Action, Inc. acts as a fiduciary and implementing partner. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA) partners with DPH to support the Healthy Aging Fund.

More information about the Funds can be found at https://mahealthfunds.org/.

By: Bakahn Jamal

Talking about FGC with others is not always easy, especially when speaking to men about the subject. Over the month of June, Sahiyo held an awareness campaign in honor of Fathers day, highlighting the importance of engaging in conversations with men about FGC. In connection with that campaign, Sahiyo reached out to Bakahn Jamal, a Project Supervisor for Wadi, an organization promoting self-help programs in the Middle East. A large part of her work is going to rural communities and creating dialogues with local leaders about the dangers of FGC. 

Below, Bakahn shared her experiences and advice for engaging in conversations with men about FGC, and why those conversations are critical to the movement to end FGC.

1. How did you start initiating dialogue with men about FGM/C?

When working with women regarding the topic of FGM and [its consequences] – such as intimacy and sexual issues – women will tell us that we should also speak with their husbands about the implications of FGM because “he does not understand why I might act or feel in certain ways.” Through these conversations, we realized the importance of involving men in a dialogue about these issues.  That is how we started working with men — by asking them what their knowledge of FGM was and also asking them how they felt about the practice. From there, we were able to ask them to help advocate to end the practice in their own communities. 

2. What has been your experience engaging with men about the practice in their communities? 

The subject of FGM with men is always tricky because one will not know what to expect.  Traditionally, FGM is considered “woman’s territory,” meaning men will avoid talking or associating themselves with such conversations about the practice. Most men will immediately shut down such conversations, and some will even get embarrassed or aggressive, but one thing for sure is that they have little to no knowledge about the practice itself. This is why including education within our advocacy work with men is so important because it leads to more productive conversations.

3. Has this experience been positive or negative?

I get both positive and negative reactions. Some men get really upset and shame us for talking about such “embarrassing and shameful” topics. However, there are also men who welcome the topic and tell us that they have many issues within their marriage related to FGC. We also had men who we’ve worked with start advocating for ending the practice in their communities once they fully understood the negative effects FGM has on women and girls. One very good example of this is a man who we worked with called Kak Sarhad. He was a mayor in a village by the name of Tutaqal. His leadership and willingness to speak on the practice was one of the reasons the village became FGM-free. He helped [save] many girls from being cut in his community.

4. Has speaking to men about FGM/C changed the way you approach your work to end FGM/C and if so, how?

I’ve realized that men can be a very big help in ending the practice. There are many influential male figures in our society who can make a huge positive change in our communities, from clerics to mayors, to tribal leaders or even the head of family. When men understand that FGM  endangers their daughters, wives, and close female relatives and friends, they start to understand how their indifference toward the practice only makes the matter worse. We especially try to engage with fathers on the topic because they are often the decision-makers in a household in our society. So, if they say “my daughters are not to be mutilated,” I doubt that anyone in the family would go against that. If you have the support of a well-respected male figure no one will question your motive, even when you are advocating for ending a very deep-rooted tradition. 

5. What message would you like to give men about the importance of ending FGC?

What I want to say to every male figure regarding FGM is that FGM is not only a female issue — this practice also impacts men and the well-being and future of their families. FGM can be very destructive. Without men realizing it, it can impact very small details of their lives and it can also become deadly to their loved ones. So please educate yourself and know ignorance might cost your daughter, your sister, or your wife the future they deserve.  

Related:

• Breaking the Silence: A Conversation with My Father About FGM/C

• The practice of khatna on girls must stop / છોકરીઓ પર ખત્નાની પ્રથા બંધ થવી જોઈએ

• Starting the Dialogue: Sharing Your Experiences on Initiating Conversations with Men about Female Genital Cutting

• Ending FGM – Fight the Mansplaining, Toxic Masculinity, and Patriarchy

Brad Mazon, PhD, is a Bhaiyo volunteer, nonprofit consultant, husband, father, and an advocate against female genital mutilation/cutting worldwide.

When and how did your involvement with Sahiyo first begin?  

My involvement first began I would say two or so years ago when I found Sahiyo on social media. I became actively engaged when I donated to the annual International Women's Day fundraiser and Comedy Show.

But I’ve been involved with the issue of FGM since 1988 when I was an intern at the U.S. State Department in Somalia. I have come in and out of working on the issue, through various organizations, so when Sahiyo and the Bhaiyo program came onto my radar about two years ago, I became a donor and have remained involved ever since.

Why did you decide to donate to Bhaiyo, Sahiyo’s male engagement program? 

My time working in Somalia and my upbringing really influenced my decision to donate. I attended a conference in Mogadishu, Somalia. It was all women who had been impacted by FGM. This event made a huge impression on me because a lot of the women I met with reminded me of my mother.

I was raised by a single mother and I have always been in awe of her strength and resilience. It was the same strength and resilience that I saw in women I met at the conference. 

I realized very quickly that had my mother been in a situation where she was cut, she likely would have never been able to provide for me and for my family the way she did. I began to understand how FGM impacts women not just physically but also psychologically and socially. It wasn’t that these women weren’t as smart or as motivated as my mother was – it was that the opportunities to thrive had been taken from them by the patriarchy that surrounded them.

I also understand that the impacts of FGM are different in different contexts. Being cut in Somalia may be different from being cut in the American Midwest, but…being cut anywhere is a violation of women's autonomy and an act of patriarchy.

Why do you feel it’s so important to support male engagement and voices within the movement to end FGM/C?

There's no sex that's greater than the other. I believe that I am an anti-patriarchy and feminist man. At the end of the day, as I have gotten older and have become a father and now a grandfather to a little girl, I have realized – and certainly living in America right now –  how strong the patriarchy is on so many things. 

I resent in my heart, mind, and soul that men think that they have some sort of power over women. I wanted to do something as a man, coming from a male perspective that could combat that false narrative.

That's why Bhaiyo was so exciting to me. On my first call with the group, it was with men from around the world who were doing the frontline work of going into villages and speaking to people about the dangers of FGM [and] of what it could do to their little girls. I was thrilled to be a part of that work through donating.

But at the same time, I was very mindful, and still am, of my white privilege and also my Western privilege in the same sense. And when I say privilege, I mean it in a structural and economic way, because I know there is beauty, wisdom, and knowledge in Africa and Asia. I wanted to be mindful of that as I engaged in conversations with these male activists who I have great respect for.

But I also wanted them to be mindful that while it’s important for men to be in the conversation, women still need to be supported to speak out at an equal level. We can do that in many ways, big and small. I’ve started changing the hashtag I use in posts from #menendFGM to #menandwomenendFGM. What I’m trying to say here is that while it’s great that we’ve got men involved, let's not do it in a way that pushes women out.

How would you like to see Bhaiyo and Sahiyo grow? 

I think in terms of Bhaiyo, the main thing we need is more men involved. I’ve tried to do this in my circles by sharing the survey on my Linkedin and with various people in my life. I’m always shocked at how many men aren't involved. 

I also feel like we need to make FGM more well-known in the U.S. through any means necessary. We need some celebrity to get men fired up about this. Or even more high-level people in our government talking about FGM.

But I’m also under no illusions that I’m doing the hard work. I know those gentlemen on the frontlines going from village to village spreading this message who are the ones pushing this work, and they have my full support and respect. I also know that getting this issue into the rooms of power in the U.S. and the world beyond is key to this movement, and we can do that by talking about FGM loudly.

Why do you think others should donate to Sahiyo?  

I think more people should donate to Sahiyo because people don’t realize that FGM is an issue that has a tremendous impact on the world. It's shocking to me how FGM is such a quiet menace not only to survivors but also to men who are affected by it – with their wives and sexual pleasure – or the ability to have children. I'm just surprised how it's a form of violence, yet it's one that seemingly the world is not comfortable talking about publicly.

I also want people to understand that FGM is a form of domestic violence. In the same way that we talk about abuse and other harms against women, FGM needs to be included in those conversations. And we can only do that by educating more people about the topic.

Most importantly, I want people to know that FGM is an issue that could affect them too. I have a little granddaughter and just the thought of her being cut or hurt forces me into action against this harm. I know that every man has either a mother, sister, wife, daughter, family member, or friend who could be at risk of this. That right there should be enough to get involved.

By: Samman Masud

In August 2024, I, along with Sahiyo U.S. Executive Director Mariya Taher attended the Asian-Pacific Institute for Gender Based-Violence (APIGBV) National Summit in San Francisco, California. This year’s conference was aptly titled, “Growing from our Roots,” and focused on honoring the founding leaders who came together to form APIGBV in 1993, who have made landmark contributions to the field of gender-based violence and culturally specific advocacy since 1993.

The three-day summit welcomed many attendees across the country, including grantees whose community-led, gender-based violence projects are funded by the ARP Support for Survivors Program. As one of the grantees, Sahiyo U.S. has used the funding to grow our Activists Retreat Project, a program that seeks to grow a network of anti-FGC activists and survivor-advocates doing critical advocacy work to end female genital cutting (FGC) in the U.S.

The summit was brimming with positive energy with more than 400 attendees present as well as a great agenda, which welcomed speakers and guests from various organizations working in their respective ways to address the culturally specific needs of survivors, advocates and community members.

Sharing a physical space, enjoying food together, and having vibrant conversations with folks dedicated to social justice work gave me a sense of community that I so badly needed in this moment, which was laden with anxiety from events both on the domestic and the international political front. And so, I didn’t miss the chance to also join the summer soirée hosted by Survivors, Organizations, Allies, Rising (SOAR),a member collective dedicated to addressing gender-based violence issues among South Asian diaspora in the U.S. We gathered at the beautiful Chandran Art Gallery on Geary Street in chilly San Francisco, had great food, and made plans about the future of SOAR with a focus on areas of improvement, such as increasing youth representation, the importance of data collection and project duplication in our advocacy efforts.

There were many portions of the Summit I enjoyed including a workshop on effective storytelling in advocacy work, a session on diversity and equity pitfalls in hierarchical organizations, and a difficult but important conversation on male engagement efforts in gender-based violence work. The discussions in these sessions provided important reminders, likethe need to “keep the lens on the survivor”, a goal that sometimes gets lost due to many challenges that arise with routine operational and administrative work in organizations.  

Recurring discussions about intersectionality brought to the forefront critical issues in gender-based violence work, for example, the need to fund flanguage access resources to help campaigns addressing communities of color. Stressing the importance of \ survivor-led efforts, and keeping the focus on the growing, intersecting needs of diverse communities in the U.S., helps to improve our work, as I hope to bring more language access to Sahiyo. One way of accomplishing this is hosting a community call in Hindi or Gujarati with members of Bhaiyo, our male engagement initiative at Sahiyo, a goal we hope to achieve later this year.

There were many great gatherings and conversations at the Summit, but for me, the highlight was listening to API-GBV Executive Director, Monica Khant in her fireside chat with activist and journalist Helen Zia. A key figure in the Asian American movement and a gender justice advocate, Zia talked about her earlier work in the civil rights movement. Sheemphasized the need to “humanize Asian Americans,” and touched on being Asian in America, which brings with it intersecting forms of oppressions like racism and sexism. 

As an activist working to address FGC among South Asian community members in the U.S., I could relate very well to Zia’s discussion of the challenges that intersecting dynamics can present to survivors and community members addressing gender-based violence. Zia also  stressed the importance of drawing lessons from other marginalized communities in the U.S., such as Black communities that rely on each other in times of crisis. She also emphasized the importance of continuing solidarity work with said communities to solidify the movement and address the root causes of universal, systemic causes of oppression: male privilege and the patriarchy. 

With that, I realize that gender-based violence work is hard, and gets increasingly difficult given other rapidly changing dynamics of the world. Being in community and listening to the success stories of achievements through solidarity makes the work a little bit easier, and the journey more worthwhile.

By: Sunera Sadicali

Trigger warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of female genital cutting (FGC).

Khatna (or FGC) is much more than a physical wound. It has stayed quiet in my mind. I was not conscious of the impact of FGC on me and had dismissed it with all kinds of justifications. My therapist uses eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) to help me process the trauma, and we decided to address this episode of my life that “I cared little about.” 

EMDR is an evidence-based trauma therapy that uses bilateral brain stimulation to process traumatic experiences. In a simple way, it helps the person to make sense of and resignify the trauma, resulting in a more adaptive and coherent narrative of the past experience and their life.

In a nutshell, this is how it is performed:

1. First, the therapist helps the patient identify the traumatic memory they want to heal from.

2. Through sounds, taps, or eye movements, the therapist guides the patient through processing the memory as the patient focuses on it.

3. The therapist and patient repeatedly do this until the memory is no longer disturbing.

With EMDR I go back in time; my therapist asks me, “Where are you? What do you feel in your body?”

I visualize the waiting room, the sliding doors, and my sister on my left side. She is small, and she is as scared as I am because nobody explained to us what was going to happen. Our cousin was taken, and suddenly we heard a loud scream.

“I feel in my body the fear of the pain, of the unknown. I feel fear in my whole body. I know that whatever is happening there, I am the next one.”

My eye movement continues from one side to another. I feel safe with my therapist, I flow, I am in my body.

Next, I am laid down on that gurney. The room is half dark, my aunt is on my right side, and my mother is on my left. In front of me, there is a woman, a doctor with a white coat.

“I feel the fear in my body again.”

They grab me from my legs, I am in a lithotomy position, and they hold me down with force. I can’t see my pelvis, I can't see what is going to happen, nobody is telling me. There is no explanation, no asking consent, no describing the purpose of the act.

“I feel the pressure of my legs, and suddenly, a sharp pain like an electric shock coming from my genitals.”

I cry all along in fear and pain. She tells me it is a little worm that needs to be cut. That's all. My eye movement continues from one side to another.

“I go back to the pain, to the fear.”

There is a silence between the act and the worm. There is a silence that has never ceased to exist, nobody told you before the worm, nor after the pain. There is silence between me and my sisters, silence between my mother, and between my aunty and myself. We never talked about the act itself. How it was done.

“Why?” I believed it was not a big deal. Não era para tanto. “You don't have to complain because it was a very small cut, look how they do it to African women.”

Until today, I had not understood the seriousness of what had happened to me. The living body sensations it had caused. How it was carried out, and executed as the norm. The norm is that you are not allowed to complain.

Entering my body through EMDR, feeling the moment of Khatna again, before and after, allowed me to understand the beliefs that were generated from this act. The belief is that whatever happened to me is “not so important,” because it was not seen as important then. Traumatic experiences generate wrongful beliefs about ourselves. The belief that you have no right to complain. That it was for your own good, you were lucky enough that a doctor performed it, that you felt little pain. These are ways to cover up violence. Silence, lies, force, violence, continuing to perpetuate and defend a crime.

Since it was implemented, EMDR has been recognized as evidence-based psychotherapy by the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) and in 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the use of EMDR in adults and children with post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). 

The brain has the intrinsic capacity to heal itself from disturbing events and experiences, by forming different pathways. If this is not achieved, for example, because of the lack of emotional support in childhood to help integrate these experiences, or validation, reparation, or acknowledgment from the external world, parents, or attachment figures, the traumatic memories will be blocked and retained as an implicit memory...buried inside the mind without having permission to come out. It then becomes a wound that keeps inflicting damage, in our unconsciousness. This creates unhealthy beliefs about ourselves, especially as a child. Children need to protect their relationship with their parents, and their family, to keep the attachment and love alive; they will unconsciously excuse their parents, and if it's needed allow wrong beliefs about themselves to justify what has happened to them. 

EMDR, with its bilateral stimulation, helps me to connect and restore the balance in the systems that process traumatic experiences. It is a bottom-up therapy that installs positive information on various levels: the body, emotions, sensations, and belief systems.

I am currently receiving EMDR therapy, and I was recommended this modality — along with psychotherapy — to promote healing in general, especially from FGC as it happened in childhood and is related to sexuality and patriarchal mandates. EMDR works at a body level, and works on the memories of the body sensations, allowing the non-adaptive beliefs to emerge and to be replaced by new more positive, and resilient ones.

Related links:

• Learn more about Asian Women's Shelter support line for survivors of FGM/C in the United States
• Check out Sahiyo's list of resources for survivors
• Dear Maasi: Where do I begin with psychotherapy after undergoing khatna?

Sources:

• What is EMDR-Female Genital Trauma: Guidelines for working therapeutically with survivors of Female genital Mutilation
• SEMPYP (Sociedad Española de Medicina Psicosomática y Psicoterapia)
• Spanish Society of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy

Sahiyo is excited to unveil our new guide, Sharing Your Experience with Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), in partnership with the Voices to End FGM/C project. This project is a dynamic collaboration between Sahiyo U.S., Silence Speaks, and the Asian Women’s Shelter.  

This guide is designed to empower survivors, activists, and advocates by providing the necessary resources to learn how to share personal narratives publicly. This resource aims to amplify voices, educate communities, and, ultimately, mobilize individuals to take personal steps toward addressing female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).

What You'll Find Inside:

• Writing Tips: Practical advice to help you craft and share your story in a way that feels right for you.
• Emotional Support: Insights on how to prepare yourself emotionally for the storytelling process.
• Public Sharing Guidance: Tips on how to share your story publicly, whether with friends, family, or a wider audience.
• Trauma Education: Information on the impacts of trauma and how to manage the feelings that might come up.

We also encourage you to explore our Voices to End FGM/C website and discover the diverse stories from across the globe.

Why This Guide Is Important

Each story shared through this guide humanizes the issue of FGM/C, fostering empathy and inspiring action. 

For many survivors and advocates, sharing personal stories can be a powerful step towards healing and can also be a way for them to make a difference in their communities. Making space for people to tell their stories can help to transform feelings of helplessness into resilience and solidarity. By sharing our voices, we join in a brave community of survivors and advocates working to raise awareness and inspire change on this issue

Ready to Share Your Story?

If you’re ready to start sharing your experience with FGM/C, this guide is here to help. Your story is powerful and can make a significant impact in helping to raise awareness and support for ending FGM/C for future generations.

Get the Guide

You can access the guide today on the Voices website. You can also learn more about the Voices to End FGM/C program on Sahiyos website If you have any questions or need further support, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re here for you!

Contact Us

For any questions or more information on the Voices program, contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Your voice matters. Share your story and be part of the change.