FGM and the myth of modernity among Dawoodi Bohras

normal upbringings in the United States. We were members of one of the more secular congregations in the in the US. My parents always pointed out to me how different we were from other Muslim sects. Our community stressed education for our sons and...

FAQs

loved ones in trouble by reporting FGC to authorities. The people who perform the FGC might be relatives or friends. The parents of the child who had it done might be sent away if FGC is criminalized in their country. These are legitimate concerns for...

'I am relieved more parents are saying no to female circumcision'

ritual” traumatized me for quite awhile. I remember having nightmares about it too. I am relieved that more and more parents are saying no to FGM. Now that I have a son, I will educate him not to practice FGM when he has a daughter with his future...

My parents would not have cut me if they had the right information, says a Sri Lankan Bohra

me. My next memory of the day was arriving home, I remember there being discomfort between my legs. I was kept in my parents room the entire day. They were exceptionally caring and sweet to me that entire day, and my naughty mischievous brother was not...

In the Name of Your Daughter: A film for change

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...

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Work of the devil?

and we are learning day by day, how it is used to mislead those who believe without questioning. Witness how the young parents of our community are systematically fed disinformation, building on that same principle of blind faith. But blind faith in...

FAQs

loved ones in trouble by reporting FGC to authorities. The people who perform the FGC might be relatives or friends. The parents of the child who had it done might be sent away if FGC is criminalized in their country. These are legitimate concerns for...

Female Genital Cutting: Religion has nothing to do with it

Country: United States Age: 34 Around the age of seven, unbeknownst to me at the time, extended family members asked my parents when they would be taking me to have khatna done. In the country we lived in at the time, it was the norm for girls in our...

How I learned that FGM happens in India

openly talked about khatna. M was in college and an aunt was visiting from abroad. She heard her aunt speaking to her parents about the “mindless practice of female circumcision.” She joined the conversation, speaking publicly for the first time about...

A love letter to my mother who cut me

In a way, this is my love letter to my mother. I hope that my story will leave a positive lasting impact and reach Muslim parents and survivors. To parents, I hope we’ll choose our children over harmful social norms because I want to see a future where...

A conversation on Khatna with Suleimani Bohras

On the path to healing: My journey after experiencing female genital cutting

taharah took place in Cairo, Egypt, while visiting relatives. This was the second time I visited my parent’s homeland. My parents were unaware, or at least this is what I’d like to believe, of what had occurred, as my sister was in a coma at the time...

U.S. Court's dismissal of FGM/C charge in Michigan case is disappointing, but does not condone genital cutting

will be appealed by the government, but this response worries me because without the law, what can we point to, when parents and families are trying to do the right thing and not succumb to the community pressure they face in having their daughter...

Zehra Patwa on Sahiyo and the Coalition to End FGM/C’s recent panel discussion with Connecticut legislators – and why it was a positive step forward

because they're told they're not good enough and need to be fixed. That’s just not a humane way to view a child. We give parents a lot of leeway, but parents don’t – or can’t – always make the best decision. I realize that there are parents who feel...

Our Fight to End FGM in The Gambia: Who is Listening?

this practice on my daughter. That statement, in itself, is the ultimate victory. And yet sadly, there are still many parents in The Gambia who are fighting for this practice to live on, ignoring our cries for it to end. Still, we refuse to be silenced...

'My mom regrets that she allowed khatna to be performed on me'

I simply understood that it was one of the many rituals that I, as a Muslim girl, would experience. So one night when my parents and I were at the markaz for an event, my mom took me with her to the back room storage area where a young woman introduced...

We must find culturally sensitive methods to end FGC and protect girls from further trauma

traumatized. Additionally, carrying out a witch hunt on all the mothers, possibly separating the girls from their parents, and asking for a ‘permanent termination’ of rights to parenting, are all methods that might force the Dawoodi Bohra community into...

An ode to every woman fighting social norms around the world

were forced to take an oath that they would never marry for love — instead, they would only marry husbands chosen by their parents. In a third shocking incident, 10 women applying for a government job in Gujarat were stripped and subjected to a...

The complexities of female genital cutting in Singapore: Part IV

of my interlocutors answered in the negative. Conversations about FGC and debates on ithave been ignited, and more young parents are questioning the cut’s necessity. Once parental pressure is no longer a factor and this procedure has skipped a...

Healing as Activism: Finding my way out of the darkness

this for the safety of my health, but I can never talk about it again. As a child, fully in the protection and care of my parents, I agreed and suppressed the experience because it was what I was told to do. Until this moment was when I realized this...