Anti-FGM campaigner Hibo Wardere comes under attack

[JustTurtlesAllTheWayDown]

Again. I know Hibo has put out more than one video clarifying that her focus is on women and girls and on stopping FGM, but she did another one last night after being piled on and called a hater for not being 'inclusive' in her language.
mobile.twitter.com/HiboWardere/status/1362100744216866825
I am bloody angry about it this morning.
Hibo Wardere is a personal hero of mine for the amazing work she's done.
Attacking her for not focusing on other issues is the lowest of the low. The misogyny is rank.
(Also, if anyone hasn't got her book 'Cut' on their feminist book shelf, I really do recommend it. It's not an easy read but I found her journey incredibly inspiring).

[Truthlikeness]

This issue has become a real touchstone for MRAs. I read a FGM post the other day that didn't have the inevitable 'but what about men' pile on and was genuinely surprised. I guess they just hadn't found it yet.

[Winesalot]

Those who send her abuse for refusing to redefine what happens to millions of girls need to really think about who they are doing this too. They want to talk about being the most vulnerable and marginalised, yet they are absolutely not. Not by a long shot, yet they cannot see it. To use their terminology, they are ‘punching down’ but society has told them that no one is more vulnerable or marginalised than them so they take it as permission.

Hibo and the others working on this campaign deserve the highest respect. They are ‘literally’ trying to save the lives of girls who suffer extreme forms of abuse in what they do.

Hibo, if you are reading this, you are an amazing woman who inspires me. That you have to keep going through the hate around the very language you use to describe FGM is shocking.

[rawalpindithelabrador]

Finally people are waking up to the misogyny and gynephobia of a movement which is trying to erase women.

[GCAcademic]

I think a lot of these people are racists as well. They also like to go on about how the term "womxn" is inclusive of black women, as if black women were not women, or are only women in the same way that males who identify as women are.

[CharlieParley]

When I first became aware of this debate, this was one of the two most upsetting aspects of the self-id campaign. This and the reaction to female victims of male violence who express their need for female-only spaces and are called hateful for it, helped me realise that there is something very wrong going on here.

Very early on I came across another woman who was raising her voice against FGM on Twitter and she was being full on lectured about her language being exclusionary. And I just thought who the fuck does that? Who tells a woman who was mutilated as a little girl in this horrific way, who has gone through suffering too awful to contemplate that she cannot name herself? That she cannot talk about who and what gets cut. That she must censor her words because they upset males? The same sex that demanded girls get cut in the first place.

I thought it was an aberration, some misguided, overly zealous supporters of the self-id campaign. But I've seen it happen too often now to continue to believe that. If I ever had any doubts about being "on the right side of history", these unhinged attacks on victims of FGM blew them away. The right side of history does not vilify women for seeking to stop the suffering of millions of little girls.

I hope Hibo is surrounded by people who love her. I hope she knows how much we love and admire her for her courage and her bravery.

[Mumofgirlswholiketoplaywithmud]

Unbelievable. Hibo is doing amazing work.

[vivariumvivariumsvivaria]

Hibo, and the others who campaign for awareness raising and cultural change are heroes.

That bloke whining on about foreskins is an idiot.

The language police are disgusting.

Good for her, I hope she can let this nonsense wash over her - women and girls need her.

[Thelnebriati]

Stopping women talking about their lived experience is not inclusive.

[Sophoclesthefox]

Fantastic clip from Hibo there!

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

I really can’t imagine what people who would oppose her work are thinking. This is an issue about the abuse and oppression of women and girls. Not sure how that is at all hard to understand.

[OhHolyJesus]

This is so vile I'm also fuming, for Hibo and for the women and children girls she fights for.

How dare they! It's really not hateful to talk about women/girls and biology and things that happen to women and girls because of their biology.

I'm with Rawal - the misogyny and gynaephobia is rife and obvious - they aren't even trying to hide it anymore.

[DaisiesandButtercups]

Love and respect to Hibo. She is such a brave, strong, energetic and supportive woman. A true heroine putting all her energy into making the world a better place.

[HermitsLife]

I have so much respect for Hibo

"I am a woman, get over it" ✊✊✊

[persistentwoman]

Demanding a hierarchy that places a remarkably influential, generally white group above some of the poorest girls / women of colour. Racist and completely unacceptable.
The only consolation is that this repeated overreach and incessant attacks on women are what has alerted people to what is happening. Hibo is a great campaigner and these continual attacks are vile.

[PotholeParadies]

Transactivists/men's rights activists chased Jana Cornell, the FGM survivor and campaigner, off twitter too.

[BarbaraofKent]

I wonder if #imawomangetoverit can start trending on Twitter.

What a fucking fabulous woman she is.

[FionaMacCool]

Thanks for linking to that OP.

This insanity is so encompassing, that I have to step outside myself sometimes, and think back to a time, maybe 12years ago? when the idea of someone like Hibo being attacked in this way would have been unimaginable.

Yet, here we are. Bonkers. Absolutely bonkers.

If I ever had any doubts about being "on the right side of history", these unhinged attacks on victims of FGM blew them away. The right side of history does not vilify women for seeking to stop the suffering of millions of little girls...... bang-on, @CharlieParley

Brava Hibo, keep going, the silent majority are behind you (though we need to be less silent).

[OvaHere]

I love Hibo. Her work is fantastic. The attacks on her show we have plummeted to new depths of a terrifying dystopia where all reason and moral compass have been completely abandoned.

All because the opportunity to showcase vile misogyny with impunity has presented itself and so many people, mostly men, have grabbed that opportunity with both hands.

[Ereshkigalangcleg]

Jana Cornell replying to JK Rowling to thank her for her posts centring women, due to anti FGM campaigns being targeted. The responses, by privileged American woke types, were appalling:

twitter.com/radfemjana/status/1269389904175419392?s=21

[Ereshkigalangcleg]

A particular gem:

twitter.com/annakayerogers/status/1269397504644259841?s=21

[Whatwouldscullydo]

I'll watch this later. Thanks.

I've seen posts she's done before. She's so strong in the face of what must be horrific pile ons. For saying "no"

I have alot of respect for her! Keep fighting , we are behind you

[Jaypreen]

This tone of the comments on thread is massively encouraging. FGM is alive and well in Britain. It's another one of those "awkward and frank discussions" that Theresa May promised us -- that never took place.

[gardenbird48]

I read that part of the issue is that if that type of surgery is prevented on Hibo's little girls by law, it could also prevent certain surgeries on other groups of children and the activists don't want that.

[HermitsLife]

Wow Ereshkigalangcleg that is disgusting.

The problem is how do you discuss the reality that too many girls and women face here and now with people who are determined to deny reality?

There is nothing transphobic about discussing FGM it has nothing to do with transgender issues, and don't get me started on the men getting offended about women drawing attention to FGM.

[EmbarrassingAdmissions]

Lost my post.

I admire Hibo and these attacks are abhorrent.

There are academics and clinicians who are concerned about some of the collateral consequences of successful outcomes of FGM campaigns and these have nothing to do with Hibo's focus of concern.

Important to recognise the successful efforts of decades of law/education/ community engagement in UK, but more recent 'hostile', punitive policies drive racial stereotyping & harm in the tickbox name (but not spirit) of safeguarding

twitter.com/susan_bewley/status/1358786238451503109?s=20 in response to:

www.forwarduk.org.uk/forward-publications/fgm-safeguarding-bristol-study/

Plus from SB again:

The great Ali McFarlane takes on misleading numbers on FGM in the UK…. It's a largely successful story, but FGM 'industry' here exaggerates local risk & distortion whips up ££ & hate

twitter.com/susan_bewley/status/1358794836346822658?s=20
based on:

www.euronews.com/2021/02/06/fgm-covid-19-pandemic-thought-to-have-sparked-a-rise-in-female-genital-mutilations-say-exp

[Darcinian]

I think many of them are keyboard warriors in a purity spiral.