What do Australian Bohras feel about Khatna today?
By: Anonymous Age: 32 Country: Australia Khatna is not a topic discussed very often amongst Bohras. Maybe because there is no reason to ever bring it up. However, since the case in Sydney, Australia, in which the aamil, Shabbir Mohammed Vaziri was sentenced to jail for being an accessory to Female Genital Mutilation, the topic […]
Memories of a cry: A Bohra woman’s poem on her Khatna
by Sunera SadicaliCountry: Portugal / Spain Memories of a cry When I was eightwas too young to complaintoo old to forget. Went on a family tripKarachi was warm, humid, overwhelming, tasty, spicy.Had long hair and soft brown skin.Went to MadrassaLearnt to recite some verses by memory.Laughed out loud, met new friends. It was hard, sometimes…the […]
Female Genital Cutting exists to preserve patriarchy: A Bohra survivor speaks out
by Mubaraka MotiwalaAge: 18Country: India (This essay was first published on the Safe City blog on January 22, 2017) Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. Ever wondered why it’s done? Well I did and I found out what […]
Sahiyo blog post wins a Laadli Media Award
A Bohra woman’s personal essay about her experience of Female Genital Cutting, published on Sahiyo’s blog last year, has won the prestigious Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity 2015-16. The essay, titled ‘It was a part of me…part of my womanhood‘, won the award for Best Blog in the ‘Web-blogs’ category in the eighth edition […]
Telling one’s personal Khatna story can lead to another’s not continuing FGM/C too
By Alifya Sulemanji Country: United States In the past few years, we have seen an increase in the awareness of FGM/C in the Dawoodi Bohra community, and it has led to many discussions amongst community members. There is a large number of people who were hesitant about the procedure, and due to a lack of […]
81% want Khatna to end: results of Sahiyo’s online survey of Bohra women
On the occasion of International Zero Tolerance Day for Female Genital Cutting, Sahiyo is proud to present the complete findings of the first large-scale, global research study on the subject of Khatna as practiced by Dawoodi Bohras.The report of the study, titled ‘Understanding Female Genital Cutting in the Dawoodi Bohra Community: An Exploratory Survey’, was […]
Sahiyo launches special toolkit to help the media report sensitively on Female Genital Cutting
On the eve of International Zero Tolerance Day for Female Genital Cutting 2017, Sahiyo is proud to launch its first media toolkit developed to promote sensitive and effective depiction of Female Genital Cutting/Mutilation (FGC/M) with special reference to Khatna in the Dawoodi Bohra community. This toolkit will be available as an open-source, freely downloadable and distributable […]
Deen and Duniya (Religion and the World) a film by Alisha Bhagat
By Alisha Bhagat Country: United States & India I made Deen and Duniya in 2004 before my senior year in college. I received a Vira Heinz grant for women in leadership and thought it would be interesting to turn an anthropological lens on my own community – the Dawoodi Bohras. I am particularly interested in […]
My daughter is the joy of my life. There was no way I could have her cut.
by Ashraf Engineer Age: 41Country: India Picture this if you can without your heart racing and eyes welling up. A girl, let’s say she’s seven years old, is dressed up by her mother and told she’s being taken for a walk and an ice cream. She clings to her mother’s arm in glee and follows […]
Sahiyo participates in kick-off event for Women’s March in Frankfurt, Germany
On January 20th, the Modern Abolitionist Global Campaign will start a two day campaign, with a kick -off event that will be a screening of movies dealing with gender violence and discrimination against women. The following day, on January 21st, the Modern Abolitionist Global Campaign will hold the Frankfurt Women’s March on Washington. Sahiyo will […]