fight against gender-based violence includes the end to female genital mutilation
BRIANNA PILLAY
farzana doctor,
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writer, activist, and psychotherapist, grew up in India with her family in the Dawoodi Bohras community ( a sect of Shia Muslims). Adherents of the sect regularly practice female genital cutting (known as "khatna" within the community) a mandatory practice done to young girls by female elders.
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It's a ritual Doctor wants to end.
The secretive practice of FGM happens to girls around the age of seven, the same age that Doctor was cut. It took her many years to finally deal with her trauma of being a victim of FGM, and further make sense of her community and the harmful practice.
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While some people can fully remember their traumatic experience others have suppressed memories around it, which makes it harder to heal. Doctor said she tries to use her work with activism as a coping mechanism to handle her experience with FGM.
"I was very, almost obsessed with the activism when I began doing it," she said. "It's because there's some kind of personal connection, something I'm working through, so, around the time that I began really engaging in the activism that's when the trauma memory started coming up for me."
Doctor recalls her trauma coming back to her in body memories and nightmares.
She decided to go to therapy to help her understand the recollection of memories and how to deal with them.
"I have these very patchy memories of what happened, but not a full understanding of what the dynamics were, you know, that's the adult mind creating an explanation for what the child couldn't understand," she said.
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During her time as an activist, she started writing books and one of those was her award-winning novel "Seven" which talks about Female Genital Mutilation. Doctor felt she had to decide on whether she was going to speak about her own story as an FGM survivor and how this will impact her trauma healing.
"I decided, okay, I will come out as a survivor and I will try to figure out what my boundaries are, and I did some mock interviews with a therapist and a couple of journalists, friends, and I had them ask me the most intrusive questions so that I could figure out how did that feel in my body and how do I redirect? Doctor said.
She said the importance of these kinds of exercises was to avoid what some call trauma brain.
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"I see a lot of survivors who go into trauma brain when they're answering questions, they don't look grounded, they look really glazed over," she said.
Doctor said she wanted to make sure she did not end up in a place where speaking about her book and answering personal questions made her uncomfortable.
"Often survivors do public speaking because there isn't that many of us who will, and I did a little bit of that too early, and I would just find like I wouldn't sleep that night," she said. "I would be irritable all day, I would just be nervous and overwhelmed."
Figuring out what her boundaries were around speaking about her experience with FGM was truly what helped her become comfortable with public speaking and continuing her activism.
Doctor understands the need for advocacy around FGM and how silence is harmful.
are living with the physical and psychological trauma of undergoing FGM in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. However, this practice impacts girls and women in more than 90 countries worldwide. Survivors of this practice live in all areas of the world, even North America. According to the World Health Organization FGM is now a global issue and impacts women and girls from birth onwards. FGM is now recognized internationally as a human rights violation and is considered a form of gender- based violence that exemplifies discrimination against girls and women. The World Health Organization deems this practice to also be a violation of a person's rights to health, security and physical integrity; the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; and the right to life, in instances when the procedure results in death.
During the COVID-19 pandemic prevention programs had to put a halt to advocacy efforts and further activism which may have caused a rise in girls being cut. United Nations health officials fear another two million cases of FGM will arise by the year 2030. They also predict that many school closures at that time put girls at risk to be further isolated at home and being subjected to FGM.
the world health organization classifies FGM into four types
The World Health Organization describes Female genital mutilation (FGM) as a practice that involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
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Type 1 is called a Clitoridectomy. This is the partial or total removal of the clitoris, (the small, sensitive and button-like part of the female reproductive system, mainly used to heighten sexual pleasure,) and/or the prepuce which is the clitoral hood or fold of skin surrounding the clitoris.
Type 2 is referred to as Excision. This is the partial or total removal of the clitoris and the inner labia, with or without excision of the outer labia. The labia are the "lips" surrounding the vagina.
Type 3 is Infibulation, the narrowing of the vaginal opening by creating a covering seal. The vaginal opening is reduced by removing all or parts of the genitalia such as the clitoris, labia minora and labia majora and sewing or pinning the remaining tissue. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner or outer labia, with or without removal of the clitoris.
Type 4 refers to all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, including pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area. Breast ironing is also a practice that is included in this category although it is not part of the genitals.
Giselle Portenier,
journalist and documentary filmmaker has dedicated her career to making documentaries about the human rights of people especially those of women and girls. In her documentary "In the Name Of Your Daughter" she documents a safe house in Tanzania for girls escaping planned FGM procedures.
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She recalls a portion of her documentary where men discuss why FGM is done.
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"There is a section in my documentary, which is hugely powerful, which involves men talking about why female genital mutilation is necessary and they give many of the reasons why it's done, " Portenier said. "Those reasons include a girl being more pure. It includes a girl, being less promiscuous, being more, more faithful, and less promiscuous before marriage," she said.
Portenier said it also included men talking about how uncut girls are dirty.
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"It includes, an entrepreneur who says, what are we gonna do, if we don't cut our daughters?" she said. "How are we going to make our money if we stop cutting our girls?"
Portenier said communities rely on FGM to make money and create revenue through selling young girls.
She notes the primary reason why FGM is performed is to ultimately control the sexuality of their daughters.
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FGM has been prevalent for hundreds of years in places like Tanzania and is still happening across the world through practices like "vacation cutting". This refers to young girls being sent on a supposed vacation to their country of origin or a country where FGM is regularly practiced, to be cut.
The UN’s 2015 World’s Women report found the majority of girls who had undergone fgm were not even five years old yet.
Female Genital Mutilation is usually performed on girls from infancy to adolescence and sometimes on adult women. The reasons behind FGM vary from region to region it ultimately comes down to the control of their sexuality.
Doctor breaks down how girls are told nothing about the procedure and are usually tricked into going with their mothers to see "cutters," women who perform various types of FGM.
"So it's always about controlling sexuality across every community, it's about sexual purity." Doctor said. "And how it happens in our community, and any other community, there are variations for how it goes down, but typically in my generation, and I'm 51, about 85 per cent of the children assigned female at birth were cut."
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Doctor said fathers know little or nothing about it, upholding the secrecy of the process.
"Quietly, a grandmother, or mother-in-law would say it's time to take your kid for this, and children were usually not told anything about it because nobody took comfort in talking about it." Doctor said. "The children were told 'you're going to a party' or 'we're going for ice cream.' And then very often, children would be taken to an amateur cutter's apartment."
Doctor said most children would be asked why they are crying and told that this practice was good for them and beneficial. After the procedure took place the children were told not to speak about it.
She said those who do perpetrate the practice also believe it is harmless because of the lack of sex education within the community and the practice being deemed a social norm.
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FGM is usually carried out by traditional cutters, often with the use of unsterilized instruments like razor blades, scissors, glass and knives.
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End FGM Network Canada says there are no health benefits to female genital mutilation.
Indeed, it only does harm.
Where FGM is practiced it is supported without question and those who oppose this practice are often ostracized and condemned.
Doctor, who has worked with End FGM Network Canada said uncut girls also face harassment and are stigmatized as unclean, promiscuous and rejected as marriage partners. Although the main reason for FGM is sexual control communities that practice has a variety of reasons why it is performed, including socio-cultural factors.
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The Majority of people who support FGM do so for psycho-sexual reasons. Controlling the sexuality of young girls. They believe the partial or total removal of female genitalia will keep girls pure and ensure they remain virgins until marriage and the remain faithful to their husbands. This is also done for male pleasure.
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Female Genital Mutilation is also seen as a tradition and a rite of passage into womanhood. Many girls who are cut come from a long line of women who had the same procedure done to them. For some, this is integral to the honour of their families.
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Some associate FGM with religious beliefs and duties, but it is not mentioned in any holy books of any religion. It has a history that predates Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Circumcised mummies from the fifth century BCE were found and it is also believed to have been in Ancient Rome and along slave trade routes.
Economic factors also play a role in the practice. In many communities, female genital mutilation is something that is required before marriage. Girls who are cut have a higher bride price in places where women are seen as property.
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FGM is becoming increasingly medicalized and is an issue impacting women across the globe.
There have been cases of doctors in North America who have been caught performing FGM procedures. This Detroit doctor is one of them and was said to have done this to many young girls. People often think there is less risk when medicalizing FGM but it is still harmful, still a violation of human rights and a form of sexual assault.
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According to the World Health Organization
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The belief is that there is a reduced risk of complications associated with medicalized FGM as compared to non-medicalized FGM.
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The belief is the medicalization of FGM could be the first step towards full abandonment of the practice.
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Health care providers who perform FGM are themselves members of FGM- practising communities and are subject to the same social norms.
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There may be a financial incentive to perform the practice.