On the day of the International Day of
Zero Tolerance to Female
Genital Mutilation/Cutting, I thought I would write something about this practice.
I have always said it is not the same hearing or reading about a situation. It
is when one experiences it that one knows how it feels. What is Africa
doing about this? A large percentage of FGM enthusiasts are in Africa and because of globalization, this practice is now
virtually a global problem. FGM has always been done in secret which could be
why not much was known to the rest of the world. I was brought up in a
community where most people actually encouraged young girls to have their
clitoris longer if there was a way of doing this rather than remove them. There was no form of initiation one had to go
through besides the natural menstruation that every woman has to go through.
Having any person tampering with my genitalia was unheard of. But that never stopped a few people in the
neighbourhood from performing this practice. They were different from us and it
was their culture.
I vowed to check it out. I was young
then but I have realised that ignorance is no excuse. Some African people I have come across for
example just don’t want to talk about FGM and sees anyone who does as an attacker
of a culture. I have been attacked by men,- African men for talking about this.
Let’s not fool ourselves. Ignoring something will not make it go away. We have
a problem, a violation of women and girl’s rights. Let’s not stand by and
watch. Lets not be accomplices in
perpetrating violence against fellow beings. Let’s stand together, young and old,
men and women and end this evil practice.
Mothers should be brave enough not to
let their children go through a procedure that does not add value to the
sexuality of a woman. Female Genital Mutilation has no place in any girl’s
life.
Author of ‘Married to a Devil’
My book on Female Genital Mutilation
will soon be out. Read for yourself first hand information on the evil
practice. Please keep checking my blog and help spread the message to end this
evil practice.
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