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Original poster

FGM in the UK

54 replies

PotholeParadies · 10/12/2020 23:33

I don't know if this was discussed at the time, but I came across this earlier.

However, CCGs for North Kirklees, Airedale and Scarborough & Ryedale found most victims had been cut in the UK where the practice is banned.

Cut. In. The. UK.

This is horrendous.

It goes on to say

In March last year, a woman was jailed for 11 years at the Old Bailey for carrying out FGM on her daughter when she had been three years old. The landmark case was the first - and to date, only - where someone in this country has been jailed for the practice.

One conviction.

I recognise that perhaps it may not always be in a child's best interests to prosecute, but all of them?

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/crime/horrifying-figures-reveal-extent-female-genital-mutilation-victims-yorkshire-2881897

OP posts:
stumbledin · 12/12/2020 16:06

Okay - have just checked women can ring the Domestic Violence National Helpline.

But I wonder how many would think of turning to this number, and it isn't signposted on any of the community web sites nor the National FGM Centre.

Sad
stumbledin · 12/12/2020 16:03

It will only stop when the adults (and leaders) in the communities concerned no longer see it as a custom the want to continue.

So working with groups who are from those communities is the best hope of ending it.

What I am not sure is whether a young woman fearing being cut is eligible to make use of refuges.

Whilst the custom is still practiced there has to be an escape route for young women who feel able / want to escape.

The FGM centre doesn't seem to offer any escape routes, but seems more focused on other adults eg a teacher or doctot, reporting a girl at risk. ie it comes down to children's services being informed. Which bring up the issued of cultural barriers again.

I hadn't realised but both the Orchid Project and Forward are just about advocacy. They do not offer actual support services!

This seems to mean that if a young girl wants to go against her family she has to approach statutory services and be taken into care?

DadSupportingOrchid · 12/12/2020 13:13

This link gives Orchid Project’s analysis of why FGC happens
www.orchidproject.org/about-fgc/why-does-fgc-happen/

This other link gives a case study example of how one local community organisation is working to end the practice in one community
www.orchidproject.org/how-non-judgemental-open-dialogue-can-support-an-end-to-fgc-a-case-study/

This is a complicated problem, not soluble through simple measures. Calling the women who do it barbarians or criminals will only end the opportunity for dialogue, potentially making it more difficult to actually stop the practice, which should be the goal. Regarding men, who are usually less directly involved (except in the case of doctors practicing FGC which should in my view be prosecuted as the crime that it is), instead of blaming the men, educating them about the practice, including how it will impact their own sex lives, could help to bring them on as allies in making the practice stop. Here is an example of that.
www.orchidproject.org/maasai-moran-tour-to-break-silence-around-fgc-s-a-f-e-maa-case-study/

The good news is, complicated does not mean insoluble. Also, because this practice is a social norm, and the behaviour is therefore persistent, it means that the practice of not cutting also has an excellent chance of become persistent, each time the norm can be changed within a particular community. That takes effort and money, which is why I think good charities working on this problem are a good way to spend one’s charity budget: Unlike many other “causes”, this is a problem to which any solution could become permanent under its own inertia.

QuentinWinters · 12/12/2020 09:37

The podcast i linked is very eye opening about the pressures girls are under and why they have FGM. Hibo Wardere asked her mum to be cut because all the girls at school were asking if she had been, kind of like a rite of passage. But she didn't know what she was asking for.
I'm not sure its as simple as "men demanding it" or "women doing it".It's embedded in the culture and so very hard to change.

Flaxmeadow · 12/12/2020 01:08

Ayaan Hirsi Ali campaigns against this. She has a charitable foundation concerned with it

Delphinium20 · 12/12/2020 00:14

Those poor girls and survivors. It's horrifying.

stumbledin · 12/12/2020 00:04

The UK’s only centre dedicated to stamping out female genital mutilation is facing closure after the government pulled its funding, putting women at fresh risk of harm. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/fgm-centre-closure-uk-government-pull-funding-a9636206.html

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Annual Report - April 2019 to March 2020 digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/female-genital-mutilation/april-2019---march-2020

stumbledin · 11/12/2020 23:54

Some people argue, in the same way as they did about "Honour Killings", is that if you are part of a community that feels it is not respected by the powers that be, whether police or the medical profession, and despite everything you want to remain part of your family, the last thing a young woman is going to do is go to any of the powers that be.

So in an ideal world women from the community should be the safe person to go to, but if those women equally feel they can not trust the main stream society, and want to retain their status within the community, then they are less likely to put themselves forward to be the protector of young women.

DadSupportingOrchid · 11/12/2020 23:43

One organisation that has been working for many years to end the practice of FGM / FGC is the Orchid Project: www.orchidproject.org

I learned a lot from them, and their non-judgemental tone really resonated with me. I have supported them for a number of years. I would very much like to see the practice ended.

I am posting about them here in case others might also find Orchid Project’s website informative, and perhaps some people here might even decide to support them as well.

Divebar · 11/12/2020 23:14

I used to work in child protection in the police and I can assure you it’s taken very seriously.

endofthelinefinally · 11/12/2020 23:14

I looked after a lady who had recurring clitoral abscesses due to fgm. She had to be referred to plastic surgery and have an elective caesarian section. Her husband didn't want her to have any sort of repair. Grim.

justgeton · 11/12/2020 23:11

Yes, to be thought of as 'clean' and right for marriage, so that they will have a husband who will support them. If they're not cut, then they are less likely to be married.

I once listened to a speaker who herself had undergone it, who was clear that the motivation was to be able to marry, and until men wanted their wives to be uncut then it would continue.

It was probably the most disturbing training in a nursing career spanning almost 40 years.

Lougle · 11/12/2020 23:07

It's not only illegal here, but healthcare professionals, social care professionals and teachers have a legal duty to report if they know of FGM in the UK, or suspect that a child is being prepared for FGM. I suppose that these children are being kept away from people that might notice.

alexdgr8 · 11/12/2020 23:03

@justgeton

This is one of the very few subjects I would generalise men as being mostly to blame for this.

My understanding is it is because men prefer to have a bride who has undergone this.

Men need to be educated and change their thinking.

i'm not sure about that. from what i have heard it is mostly women, mothers. aunties, grandmothers who insist that the practice continue, so that their daughters will have the right status, be regarded a clean, uphold community values, etc. and it is always women who perform it, with female relatives who hold down the child. apparently it is happening in most uk towns. children are told never to tell anything, else they will be taken away from their families and put into care. it is celebrated a a right of passage, even by the child, before it happens, as they cannot imagine what it really involves. and afterwards they are too traumatised, and anyway it has been done by then. what can they do. they feel resignation. and pain of course. so little progress has been made on this practice, in nearly 40 years. most disappointing. guess need better education, including health education, with cultural awareness.
Original poster
PotholeParadies · 11/12/2020 22:58

@justgeton

This is one of the very few subjects I would generalise men as being mostly to blame for this.

My understanding is it is because men prefer to have a bride who has undergone this.

Men need to be educated and change their thinking.

Nimco Ali, a British campaigner (and herself a survivor of FGM) has said that the biggest driver is lack of financial independence for women and parental fear for daughters' future. Families think that their girls will never be able to get married if this is not done to them, and that girls must marry to have any income.
OP posts:
grassisjeweled · 11/12/2020 22:52

The National FGM Centre, run by children's charity Barnardo’s and the Local Government Association, has now said warning signs that a girl may be at risk of being cut could go unheard while children across the UK are not attending school during the coronavirus lockdown.
^

Another covid repurcussion.

More survivors of FGM need to stand up and protest against this inhumane act.

endofthelinefinally · 11/12/2020 22:47

It seems to happening at top speed in the last few days, with no inkling of any reason.
I am not very tech savvy. Sad

PurpleHoodie · 11/12/2020 22:44

end

Always a good idea to archive the threads (for those who know how)

Or screenshot posts/threads.

Future Historians will thank you/us

justgeton · 11/12/2020 22:44

This is one of the very few subjects I would generalise men as being mostly to blame for this.

My understanding is it is because men prefer to have a bride who has undergone this.

Men need to be educated and change their thinking.

endofthelinefinally · 11/12/2020 22:40

The thread deletions are getting beyond a joke.

PurpleHoodie · 11/12/2020 22:35

Not only that, any discussion, anywhere, about serious crimes against the girls and women of WY are in danger of being shut down.

Also this is a VERY important point by Flax

PurpleHoodie · 11/12/2020 22:34

It is absolutely appalling.

Flaxmeadow · 11/12/2020 16:16

Unfortunately crimes against girls in WY are not on anybody's list of priorities

Not only that, any discussion, anywhere, about serious crimes against the girls and women of WY are in danger of being shut down.

SophocIestheFox · 11/12/2020 16:02

@endofthelinefinally

Unfortunately crimes against girls in WY are not on anybody's list of priorities.
That sadly seems to be true.

Have made a donation. I find it unfathomable that this still happens in the Uk.