Trigger Warning: This Blog may find uncomfortable or disturbing to read
Just wanted to brought the attention of the Class to a particular perhaps some sort of sensitive topic which I think never discuss in class as per my remembrance. This is
something new for me and shocking as well because this is happening in some areas of Pakistan such as in Sindh. People who practice female
genital mutilation are motivated by the belief that by mutilating the female genitalia, a girl will feel no difficulty in resisting “illicit” sexual acts. And also thought to be the prevention of sin. Although the fact is that this practice leads to a tremendous amount of pain, infections, a battle with child birth, infertility in women, and in severe cases, even death.
A genital Mutilation of Leena (Seven-Year-old Girl):
Leena Khandwala relaxed on the couch with her feet up, enjoying the onset of school holidays. Her mother asked her to accompany an aunt for shopping. Leena was taken to a small apartment in Saddar, Karachi. The strange lady pulled out scissors, then pulled off Leena’s underwear. Suddenly, she felt a sharp cut between her legs, and pain shot up her body. Leena screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. It ended as quickly as it began: she was wrapped in a big cloth diaper, then led out of the room.
“They tell us it is done to ‘purify’ girls and to limit their sexual urges,” FGM women said anonymously to GEO.
According to the World Health Organization, young girls who suffer female genital mutilation are later at the risk of shock, severe pain, bleeding, hemorrhage, infection, injury to surrounding tissues, shock, and even death. “Girls have to bear a lot of pain during this process as well as after it is carried out,” said a woman, who had gone through FGM, “Many girls face loss of blood for a very long time after it is done.”
In Pakistan, I have not seen awareness to this and I think we surely given not any attention on this topic or on the consequences of this practice. 6th February, the day of ???
This is a very important topic that you brought attention to! It is poignant to remember that a woman's very body becomes the site of conflict (and the conflict can be anything from rape (wartime, and otherwise), to honor killings, to FGM). To the best of my understanding, FGM is considered a way to purify a woman because it is thought to curb a woman's sexuality or desire, because of course a woman who owns her sexuality is seen as promiscuous and "behaya". No matter what the bigoted reasons for FGM, at the end of the day it is a brutal crime performed for no other purpose than to assert control and ownership over women.
Well written. A woman is not "purified" or has her virginity preserved via FGM. It is a procedure that mutilates women's bodies and causes the most heinous kinds of harm to them. Parents that force their daughters to do this heinous crime by holding their arms and legs down are not upholding their family's honour.
A prime example of a community in Pakistan that engages in FGM is the Bohra Muslim community. Bohra Muslims make up around 100,000 of the population, with the majority living in Sindh and other southern Pakistani provinces. FGM has become more common in recent years as a result of the Bohra Muslims' growing adherence to strict sect-religious rules.