Reflections from a Retreat in The Adirondacks: Confronting Leopold’s Ghost and The Fight for Autonomy and Democracy
Between May 13th and 17th, Sahiyo, Equality Now, and The U.S. End FGM/C Network hosted a convening of FGM/C survivors, advocates, policy experts, and LGBTQIA+ allies at a retreat center in the Adirondack Mountains Participants gathered to hold conversations centered on building shared understanding and strategic messaging around bodily autonomy, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), gender-affirming […]
Why New York’s Laws on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Still Leave a Major Gap
By Harshita Dasot Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a global issue; however, in the United States, it is often incorrectly recognized and associated with only occurring in immigrant communities. In fact, in the United States, over 500,000 women and girls are at risk, with New York having one of the highest populations at over 48,000. […]
The Data Problem: Why the United States Still Struggles to Measure the Risk of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
By Harshita Dasot Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is often discussed as a global issue, occurring elsewhere, but in recent years, within the United States, policymakers, healthcare professionals, and advocacy organizations have increasingly recognized that it is also a domestic concern. Despite growing public awareness and stronger legislation, one major challenge shapes nearly every conversation around […]
Reflections from a Retreat in The Adirondacks: Finding Ourselves in Each Other’s Stories
Between May 13th and 17th, Sahiyo, Equality Now, and The U.S. End FGM/C Network hosted a convening of FGM/C survivors, advocates, policy experts, and LGBTQIA+ allies at a retreat center in the Adirondack Mountains Participants gathered to hold conversations centered on building shared understanding and strategic messaging around bodily autonomy, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), gender-affirming […]
Consent is Universal: Reclaiming Bodily Integrity for Every Child
By A.M. This piece explores how I came to believe that no person who cannot consent should be subjected to any form of genital alteration. When I first learned about female genital cutting (FGC), I immediately questioned the male equivalent. A quick Google search taught me that FGC is incredibly dangerous and has significant, long-term […]
The U.S. Must Preserve Integrity of Law Against Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting and to Condemn Its Harmful Conflation With Gender-Affirming Care
The U.S. End FGM/C Network, the Global Platform for Action to End FGM/C and the Americas Alliance to End FGM/C are joined by civil society organizations from across the United States and around the world in co-signing this open letter urging the U.S. Government to preserve the integrity of the existing federal law prohibiting female […]
Bringing female genital cutting to the forefront: How Sahiyo helped Nevin Sutherland attend the 2024 Asian Studies Conference
This past March, Sahiyo had the honor of supporting Nevin Sutherland in attending the Association for Asian Studies 2024 Annual Conference. This annual conference focuses on facilitating conversations about and around Asian cultures. Nevin, a current PhD student at Delhi University, sought to highlight the issue of female genital cutting (FGC) in the hopes of […]
The Washington Coalition to End FGM/C Interview Series: Dr. Muna Osman
Recently, policy interns at Sahiyo have been interviewing members of the Washington Coalition to End FGM/C to learn more about coalition members’ important work toward policy creation on female genital cutting (FGC). Sahiyo’s policy intern, Sara Khattak, talked to coalition member Dr. Muna Osman, DNP FNP-BC, a prominent advocate in the work to end FGC […]
The forgotten history of female genital cutting in the United States
By: Sara Khattak Female genital cutting (FGC) is a practice involving the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to female genital organs for non-medical reasons. While FGC is a form of gender-based violence that is often mistakenly understood to only occur in certain cultural traditions in Africa and the Middle East, […]
Reflecting on the 2024 Asian Pacific Institute for Gender Based Violence National Summit
By: Samman Masud In August 2024, I, along with Sahiyo U.S. Executive Director Mariya Taher attended the Asian-Pacific Institute for Gender Based-Violence (APIGBV) National Summit in San Francisco, California. This year’s conference was aptly titled, “Growing from our Roots,” and focused on honoring the founding leaders who came together to form APIGBV in 1993, who […]