Sign the #EndFGM petition on change.org
A new change.org petition calling for an end to Female Genital Cutting in the Bohra community was started in September by Ranjana Sehgal and Umi Saran. The petition is addressed to Dr. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, the spiritual leader of the Bohra community, and was started in response to the Syedna’s visit to Indore to give sermons during […]
Is the Dawoodi Bohra community truly as progressive as it claims to be?
By Saleha Country of Residence: CanadaAge: 45 Having lived in South-East Asia, and being exposed to multiple races and cultures, I grew up in a very open-minded family. As a child, my family and I occasionally went to the local Bohra mosque to socialize with others in the community. I loved going to the “masjid” […]
On The Supreme Court Hearings and The Pro-Khatna FAQs Circulated by Bohras
By Shabana FerozeCountry: Bahrain The Supreme Court of India is very close to deciding a ban on Female Genital Cutting (FGC) or khatna, and I couldn’t be happier. As a survivor of FGC myself (I live in Bahrain but had khatna done to me in a shady house in Hyderabad, India), I want to see […]
A conversation with change makers: women who chose to speak up about Khatna
By Priya Ahluwalia Priya is a 22-year-old clinical psychology student at Tata Institute of Social Sciences – Mumbai. She is passionate about mental health, photography and writing. She is currently conducting a research on the individual experience of Khatna and its effects. To read Priya’s first blog in this series, visit ‘How I found out […]
Why the new survey on Khafz (Female Genital Cutting) among Bohras is biased and unscientific
By Mariya Taher, MSW, MFA Last week, many Dawoodi Bohras around the world received the link to an online “research” survey with questions about Khatna/Khafz practiced in the community. Khafz refers to cutting a portion of a girl’s clitoral hood – a type of Female Genital Cutting – and this new online survey by Dr. […]
બોહરાઓ વચ્ચે આધુનિક્તાની ખોટી માન્યતા
આ આર્ટિકલ પહેલા સહિયો દ્વારા તારીખ 11 મે 2017ના રોજ અંગ્રેજીમાં પ્રકાશિતકરવામાં આવ્યો હતો. Read the English version here. લેખક: અનામી ઉંમર : 33જન્મનો દેશ : ભારતવર્તમાન નિવાસસ્થાન : અમેરિકા હું દાઉદિ બોહરા કુટુંબમાં જન્મેલો મરદ છું. યુનાઈટેડ સ્ટેટ્સમાં મારો અને મારા ભાઈનો ઉછેર એકદમ સામાન્ય રીતે થયો છે. અમે અમેરિકાના એક ખૂબ જ ધર્મનિરપેક્ષ […]
Building the data on Female Genital Cutting in the Bohra Community
In February 2017, Sahiyo released the findings of the first ever large scale global study on Female Genital Cutting in the Bohra community in order to gain insight into how and why this harmful practice continued. A year later, this February 2018 saw the release of a second large-scale research study entitled “The Clitoral Hood […]
ફીમેલ જેનિટલ કટિંગની આ પ્રથાને ફક્ત એકલા કાયદા દ્વારા જ સમાપ્ત કરી શકાય નહિં
આ આર્ટિકલ પહેલા સહિયો દ્વારા તારીખ 26 એપ્રિલ 2017ના રોજ અંગ્રેજીમાં પ્રકાશિત કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો. Read the English version here. લેખક : સબિહા બસરાઈ દેશ : કેલિફોર્નિયા, અમેરિકાઉંમર : 34 વર્ષ એફ.જી.સી. અથવા બોહરા સમાજ જેને ખતના તરીકે ઓળખે છે, તે મુદ્દો અંધકાર માંથી બહાર આવ્યો છે અને લોકો તેના વિષે ખુલ્લેઆમ વાત કરે છે […]
Shifting terrains: Lessons learnt from the first U.S. Activists Retreat for Bohras against Female Genital Cutting
(This post was originally published on the blog of Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, the Berkley Forum) By Mariya Taher, MSW, MFA In this day and age when social media has penetrated our lives, 24-hour news cycles shape our worldviews, and there is never enough time to process the influx of […]
Here I am, sharing my story: Watch a Dawoodi Bohra woman narrate her Khatna experience
In October 2017, at Sahiyo’s third Thaal Pe Charcha event, a young Indian Bohra woman, Saleha Paatwala, shared her experience of being subjected to “khafz” — also known as khatna or Female Genital Cutting — with the other participants. On this International Day of Zero Tolerance towards Female Genital Cutting (FGM/C), watch this poignant video […]