Female genital cutting (FGC): the term sounded ruthless the first time I heard it. It was not long ago that I was introduced to this term. While going through my Instagram feed, I read a story about a law student who was spreading awareness about FGC, and I was clueless about what it was. Immediately I searched this issue online and learned how serious it was. Then, I pondered why I hadn’t known about it earlier. Why had no one around me talked about it?
Upon researching it further, I came to know how deeply rooted this problem was in communities and cultures. My will to do something to end it became stronger. I looked for organisations working to end FGC and came across Sahiyo. I soon joined the organisation.
The first time I spoke about FGC to my friends they said, “What is that?” I wasn’t surprised by their reaction because I, too, was unfamiliar with it. I asked them to research it on their own, and then I explained more about the harms. I told them the World Health Organization and the United Nations declared FGC a human rights violation. Then I introduced them to the groundbreaking Mumkin app created by two co-founders of Sahiyo, Priya Goswami and Aarefa Johari, where my friends could learn more valuable information about this issue.
What are the hurdles in encouraging abandonment of or ending FGC? FGC is also often seen as a necessary ritual for initiation into womanhood and can be linked to cultural ideals of femininity, purity and modesty. A strong incentive to continue the practice is family pressure to adhere to conventional social norms. Women who break from this social norm can face condemnation, abuse and rejection from family or community members. Patriarchal society can help perpetuate it generation after generation.
Female genital cutting should stop immediately, as a woman should have full rights over her body and no woman should be harmed because of societal norms and expectations. I am now an advocate to make sure FGC ends.
Dear Maasi is a column about everything you wanted to know about sex and relationships but were afraid to ask! It’s a partnership between Sahiyo and WeSpeakOut, and is for all of us who have questions about khatna (female genital mutilation/cutting or FGM/C) and how it impacts our bodies, minds, sexualities and relationships. We welcome you to submit your anonymous questions.
This month we received lots of questions through our anonymous form. Dear Maasi will answer two interrelated questions for February’s column about the clitoral hood and sexual pleasure:
Dear Maasi,
Can you please send us links to see how actually a circumcision is done? What part is snipped? The hood or half of the clitoris?
—Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
Khatna, aka female circumcision, aka Type 1 FGM/C, involves cutting the clitoral hood. Other Types involve cutting or doing harm to other parts of the genitalia. Have a look at this diagram.
However, there isn’t standardization because 1) each body is different 2) most khatnas are done by amateur cutters 3) khatna often happens under duress (think about how precise a cut would be if the child squirms or resists).
I’ve heard of survivors who have scars on their hood, no hood at all, or a partial hood. Some khatna survivors report that the nub of the clitoris was cut. Learn more about the parts of the clitoris here.
The best way to understand what parts of your genitals were cut is to use a hand mirror to have a good look. If it’s hard to see, you might ask a trusted medical professional, partner or family member to describe what they see. For example, under bright lights, my gynaecologist was able to detect a thin scar on my hood. But do keep in mind that some survivors have no detectable scars at all.
—Maasi
Dear Maasi,
It’s said that khatna increases the sensuality of the clitoris, and it directly affects the sexual appetite of the female subject in a positive way. How true is it? How does FGC impact pleasure and orgasm?
—Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
I have heard pro-khatna advocates sharing the opinion (or shall I say myth?) that a cut to the clitoral hood improves pleasure and orgasm.
Some survivors have said that khatna has no impact on their pleasure. I haven’t heard of anyone who thinks khatna improved their sex life, but I wouldn’t argue with them if they felt this way. Psychosexual functioning is very individual and impacted by physical and emotional factors, including trauma.
For many survivors, khatna was a sexual trauma. Sexual trauma can impact a survivor’s ability to trust and to experience sexual comfort and pleasure.
—In a Sahiyo survey conducted in 2017, 35% of respondents reported that FGC had affected their sex life, and of those, 87% felt that it had been impacted negatively.
—In a 2018 WeSpeakOut study, nearly 33% of respondents said the same. They experienced many different emotions:
Fear, anxiety, shame, depression, low self-esteem, difficulty trusting people
“Low sex drive, inability to feel sexual pleasure, difficulty trusting sexual partners, and over sensitivity in the clitoral area were some of the problems identified by several women.”
The clitoral hood has an important function. It protects the sensitive clitoral tissue from over stimulation and irritation. There are also glands in your clitoral hood that produce a lubricant that helps the hood move smoothly over your clitoris.
Globally, one of the main arguments for FGM/C is to control sexuality. In recent years, those who resist the #endFGM movement have come up with all kinds of arguments about why it is “good” for girls and women. I’ll bet that this “increased pleasure” argument is one such fiction.
—Maasi
About Maasi, aka Farzana Doctor:
Farzana is a novelist and psychotherapist in private practice. She’s a founding member of WeSpeakOut and the End FGM/C Canada Network. She loves talking about relationships and sexuality! Find out more about her at http://www.farzanadoctor.com
Disclaimer:
While Farzana is full of good advice, this column won’t address everyone’s individual concerns and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical or psychological care.
Healthy Tomorrow hosted a film screening and panel discussion of In the Name of Your Daughter, filmed and directed by Giselle Portenier and released in 2018. The featured speakers of the panel last fall were Portenier, herself, and Susan McLucas, founder of Healthy Tomorrow. Healthy Tomorrow (in partnership with Sini Sanuman) is a U.S.-based group that actively works to stop female genital cutting (FGC) in Mali. A notable Sahiyo volunteer and former programs intern, Hunter Kessous, was involved in the event planning, as well.
The documentary is a deeply intimate piece about young girls in Tanzania who bear the societal pressure to undergo FGC. Following the stories of several young girls in Tanzania and a charismatic African activist, Rhobi Samwelly, the audience is taken on an emotional journey into the heartbreaking circumstances in which daughters flee their families to escape FGC and their planned child marriages.
For me, the topic of FGC was not unfamiliar, but I had always read medical analyses and journal articles that characterized the girls’ bodies by their body parts. To watch the film and hear firsthand from filmmaker Portenier and activist Susan McLucas was eye-opening. I believe the film succeeded beyond expectations.
In the highly divisive rhetoric of anti-FGC activists against cultural traditionalists, Portenier presents the complexities of fighting against an ingrained tradition in detail. Most notably, she wedges parental authority against legal authority. In one scene, the school authorities and police receive notice that parents are preparing for cutting season, the summer months of June, July, and August when thousands of girls in Tanzania undergo FGC from traditional community cutters. Gathered in a small classroom, the local police, schoolteachers, and activists face off with parents. They go head-to-head, arguing about who has the authority to determine their fates. Tears flow, and it is a heartbreaking scene; the parents must decide between a heavily ingrained cultural tradition and the wellbeing of their daughters, while the young girls decide whether they can trust their very own families.
The second front that I believe Portenier succeeds on is to elicit a heart-wrenching response from the audience on behalf of the young girls. She presents a heart-wrenching juxtaposition between the girls’ perceived social roles and their own autonomous dreams. In the initial scenes, we are taken with Samwelly to a community market as she asks men about their beliefs regarding marriage, FGC, and women. One man pointed to the cows surrounding them and commented. “A cut girl is worth ten to twelve cows,” he said. “An uncut girl is worth six cows, sometimes less.” Another man chimed in, “I am an entrepreneur,” he said. “My business comes from selling cloths and items for the ceremonies. If you stop FGC, you are infringing on my rights as an entrepreneur.”
Throughout the film, young girls are constantly compared to their marriage value or dowry worth in cows, and criticized for promiscuity or uncleanliness. In the last scene, we see a montage of young girls, each with a dream. One wants to become a doctor, another an aerospace pilot. As Portenier commented in the panel discussion after the screening, a human rights perspective is needed in fighting FGC above all else. When the girls realize their autonomy and impact of FGC on their bodies, they instinctively flee because it is an infringement upon their human rights.
On that note, Portenier makes the violence of the tradition crystal clear. In the film, she juxtaposes the stunning Tanzanian landscape, fields extending far past what the eye can see, with the intense night-time raids, as police rescue girls about to undergo FGC and arrest parents and cutters. Beyond the immediate physiological and psychological trauma, young girls that undergo FGC may hemorrhage or bleed heavily to the point of death. Long-lasting effects include problems with childbirth, pain during sexual intercourse, and sexual dysfunction. Additionally, arresting parents may not be effective for long-term change, as it is not to the benefit of the child in many cases and the girls will likely still be cut. Immediate family members can oversee the cutting without parental permission or in the case of the parents’ imprisonment.
By the end of the film, the audience is left heartbroken for the young girls, forced to make a life-changing decision between their families and their autonomy. Portenier ends on a positive note, highlighting Rhobi’s incredible work, including the Safe House built to house runaway girls. I do wish that she touched more on the relationship between FGC, traditions, and religion, as well as the growing medicalization trend of FGC being performed by healthcare providers. However, in the 1 hour and 25 minutes, In the Name of Your Daughter does a phenomenal job of drawing in and mobilizing the audience.
After the film screening, McLucas and Portenier discussed the impact of COVID-19 on activists’ efforts. The situation has worsened as families are selling daughters off into marriage at larger numbers due to the economic crisis in Tanzania. While the activists’ previous strategy involved law enforcement, largely through school involvement and night raids, the families have adapted. Cutting season comprises a full year potentially and schools are closed, leaving many girls vulnerable to the tradition. McLucas, whose work is focused on ending FGC in Mali, lamented that it is increasingly difficult to investigate potential cuttings. However, her organization’s strategy now focuses primarily on ensuring that uncut women gain value within their own societies. The task is daunting, to change the minds of a generation and more, but the activists in Tanzania are making an impact. The Safehouse, developed by Samwelly, has saved more than 300 girls so far, and continues to house girls in their time of need.
On February 2nd, Sahiyo partnered with GirlUp ESCP for their inaugural event to present an introductory overview of the issues surrounding female genital cutting (FGC), and educate their community on what they can do in their individual lives to help empower communities to abandon FGC. ESCP is an internationally recognized university located across Europe whose main focus is on business education. This branch of GirlUp is made up of student leaders and activities from the ESCP school who are passionate about women’s rights and empowering girls.
This educational and informational event began with a PowerPoint presentation and a screening of a select few of the Voices to End FGM/C videos. These videos helped to give context and personal connection to the often overwhelming statistics about FGC. They also helped to highlight some of the most pressing issues facing survivors, such as medical stigma, community ostracization, and the prejudices coming from non-survivors and people who do not come from practicing communities. These videos helped us to demonstrate the global scope of FGC and the diversity of experiences of survivors.
The event also gave participants information and tools to help them in their advocacy, including linking them to local organizations focusing on this issue in their area. The participants in this training left with a better, more comprehensive understanding of the issue and with the tools to immediately involve themselves in activism around FGC.
At the end of our presentation, our guests had the opportunity to have their questions answered by Sahiyo co-founder Mariya Taher.
Trainings like this one are incredibly important as they help to dispel the negative stereotypes that surround FGC and help all people become more enlightened and conscious activists. When done well, education can be a life-changing tool not only to address negative stereotypes, but to empower all communities to end FGC and gender-based violence. Presentations like these are just the start of a lifelong journey to understand how and why FGC happens, and what we all can do about it.
On March 16th, 10:30 am EST, Sahiyo and StoryCenter will be hosting the parallel session webinar, “Using Storytelling to Shift Social Norms and Prevent FGM/C,” at the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women meetings.
At this event, we will introduce our collaborative Voices to End FGM/C project, which centers on storytelling by survivors and those affected by female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) as a tool to challenge social norms that perpetuate the practice. Using a combination of didactic presentation, audience participation, and short videos, we will explore the theoretical underpinnings of the Voices Project, highlight the success of our digital storytelling workshops, and share how the project has supported women in their healing journey and furthered efforts to prevent future generations of girls from enduring this form of gender-based violence.
Sure to be an eye-opening exploration of one of StoryCenter’s and Sahiyo’s most impactful and transformative programs, “Using Storytelling to Shift Social Norms and Prevent FGM/C” is open to all who wish to attend.
In order to attend the event, please follow these registrations steps:
Register to attend and become a CSW advocate on the NGO CSW65 virtual platform here. Registration is free.
Once your registration is confirmed, you can log on to the virtual platform.
Navigate to the Agenda page by hovering over the “Schedule” heading in the top navigation bar of the NGO CSW65 virtual platform website and choosing “Agenda”.
Once you are on the Agenda page, choose “Tuesday, March 16th” from the dates listed at the top of the page. When you reach the page that lists all of the events happening on Tuesday, March 16th, scroll down to the 10:30 am time slot.
Find our event titled “Using Storytelling to Shift Social Norms and Prevent FGM/C.” Click on the ‘plus’ button in the right hand corner of the event description. The platform will automatically add our event to your CSW65 agenda.
You can add our event directly to your calendar by going to the event page and choosing “add to my calendar.”
On the day of the event, just click on the link to our event on your agenda, or find the event again by following steps 1-4.
You can also watch this short video on YouTube with a step-by-step tutorial of how to register on the NGO CSW65 virtual platform and find events!
Launching Sahiyo’s Newest Program, Bhaiyo: Male Allies United in Ending Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
Boston, Massachusetts, February 6, 2021
On Feburary 6th 2021, The International Day for Zero Tolerance to FGC, Sahiyo is launching “Bhaiyo” (“brothers” or “male friends” in Gujarati), is a program for male allies working to spread education and awareness on the human rights issue of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGC).
Bhaiyo’s mission is to build a community where men, Sahiyo members, and survivors will be able to discuss female genital cutting in hopes of changing the narrative, and creating a shift towards ending this harmful practice.
“Bhaiyo allows men to have open and honest conversation about a topic they may or may not know should be important to them. As brothers, it’s our collective responsibility to leave the world safer than we found it for those that we love. Bhaiyo aims to raise awareness to help advocates and survivors working to end FGC today,” said Murtaza Kapasi, Bhaiyo program lead.
FGC has been on the public radar as of late, due to a first of its kind indictment of a Houston-based woman who transported a minor out of the country, for the purpose of the youth undergoing FGC. Just days before, on January 5th, another major announcement came out: the H.R. 6100-STOP FGM Act was signed into law, an act which criminalizes female genital cutting and makes certain government agencies such as the Departments of Education and Justice, responsible for reporting to Congress on the estimated number of wome nand girls who have undergone or at risk of FGC in the United States. These are both groundbreaking legal moves, but Sahiyo knows it takes more than law to end FGC. Bhaiyo is another step towards engaging with communities, to change social norms and cultural tradition from within. By bringing men’s voices more actively into the conversation, we believe our program will accompany the law by bringing about societal change via dialogue and education.
In recognition of Bhaiyo, we will be hosting the webinar, “Everyone’s Responsibility” on February 23rd, at 12 noon EST. This webinar will focus on the role male allies play in prevention efforts towards ending female genital cutting (FGC). Four expert panelists will lead the webinar, Jeremiah Kipainoi, Murtaza Kapasi, Khadijah Abdullah, and Tony Mwebia. All of them have worked in the field of FGC prevention, encouraging men to become active in empowering communities to abandon FGC. To learn more about the role men play in FGC prevention, and how you can encourage male allyship, please register for the event. Feel free to grab a beverage or a snack beforehand and join us for what is sure to be an insightful and empowering conversation. This event is open to anyone who wishes to attend.
Register Today: http://bit.ly/EveryonesResponsibilityTickets For more information, contact Sahiyo at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Would you like to be a Bhaiyo? Submit an application here.
