Relearning Masculinity by Turning Culture into Care, not Control
By Noor Ul Sabah, Sahiyo Volunteer In every culture, stories about what it means to ‘be a man’ are told long before boys even learn how to talk. Young boys are told through gestures, silences, and rituals. They are shown in the ways fathers, brothers, and elders model strength. But when those stories teach that […]
15 States and DC Join Lawsuit Against Trump’s Executive Order Conflating Gender-Affirming Care and FGM/C
By Hiromi Nishida On August 1, 2025, the states of California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin joined in a lawsuit against President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14187, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation”. This EO […]
Funding Announcement: Asian Community Fund at the Boston Foundation
We’re thrilled to announce that Sahiyo has been selected as a 2025 grantee partner of the Asian Community Fund! This generous support will help us expand Sahiyo’s survivor-led storytelling and community-building programs to address systemic gaps with an innovative approach that centers lived experiences to drive healing, awareness, and cultural change. “The Asian Community Fund […]
Aiming for Alaska: The Struggle to Pass Legislation to Protect Children from Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Alaska
Alaska is one of nine states remaining in the United States (U.S.) that have yet to pass laws for the prevention and protection of survivors and/or at-risk individuals from female genital cutting (FGC). However, past attempts to pass legislation in the state have been made. Though we are unsure of what circumstances led to these […]
Mississippi is Missing Key Legislation: The Struggle to Pass Legislation Addressing Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in the State
Mississippi is one of nine states left in the United States that have not yet passed any laws to prevent and protect survivors and at-risk individuals from female genital cutting (FGC). Within the state, 442 girls and women are estimated to have undergone or are at risk of undergoing FGC. Two attempts have been made […]
The History of Addressing Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Nebraska
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a harmful social norm involving the partial or total removal of female-assigned external genitalia or other injury to the female-assigned genital organs for non-medical reasons. Globally, over 230 million girls and women have undergone FGM/C. FGM/C has a long history in the United States, and currently, over half a million […]
Why We Must Stop H.R. 3492: Protecting Youth and the Movement Against FGM/C
By: Khushi Prakash Congress is currently considering bill H.R. 3492, the Protect Children’s Innocence Act. At first glance, the bill appears to strengthen protections against female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). However, in reality, this bill goes far beyond banning FGM/C by redefining gender-affirming healthcare as “genital or bodily mutilation” and “chemical castration”. If passed, this bill […]
The History of Legislation Addressing Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in New Mexico
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a harmful social norm involving the partial or total removal of female-assigned external genitalia or other injury to the female-assigned genital organs for non-medical reasons. Globally, over 230 million girls and women have undergone FGM/C. FGM/C has a long history in the United States, and currently, over half a million […]
“The Weight of Silence” – What an Indian Dawoodi Bohra Discovered at an American FGM/C Retreat
By: Anonymous Twelve women of all ages sat patiently around neatly stacked piles of fuzzy, colorful craft sticks—black, brown, white, some even blood-red- but as the Sahiyo retreat progressed, the craft table appeared increasingly disorganized. I assume it was because of the intimate and uncomfortable conversations we were having. Most of the participants, including me, […]
Why I Came Back
By: Nur Bookwala Both sides of my family are Bohri. My Dad was raised Baha’i in a joint family with a Bohri matriarch – his grandmother. My mother was raised in a nuclear Bohri family in Bandra. My mom would convert to the Baha’i Faith in her late 20s when she moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. […]