Child brides, FGM and the ILk.

[wildkittydeer]

Some of you may have seen or heard the programme on the BBC last night about child abuse in some religious orders. The whole subject is sickening but it highlights something I feel so aggravated about that I could kick the door and the windows to smithereens. There has been news recently about an article in the National Geographic concerning child brides. I ask anyone not familiar to make themselves so for it is unbelievable in its awfulness. The woman who wrote it says it is not a simple issue and that such children cannot be just rescued. I found her attitude shocking because no human could research what she did and not feel they would want to return to the area armed to the hilts. Girls as young as 6 or 7 are being abused and the males in their area state 'well here the man is king'. Some hospitals in India now no longer have any female births, women and girls in lots of countries in Africa and Asia undergo the most horrific abuse to their sex organs, do not allow this to be fobbed of as FGM, always claim it for what it is not just an abbreviation. Yes terrible things happened according to the BBC in boarding schools, most of it 20, 30 even 40 years ago. This abuse is happening now, not just in far off countries but it is being facilitated here. Yes it makes the news but it is so couched in PC language, so bound by fear of no upsetting certain groups and yet the reality is enough to make any woman suffer nightmares. Do not buy the shite that it happens in all cultures, no it does not and most cultures where it is an aberration, it is condemned out of hand. This is not routine in places where it is genuinely believed that women are either sub human, evil or born to be kept in their place.

But if, say, the subject of FGM was incorporated into lessons here, then any girls who have been subject to it or are at risk would know to speak out.

Just my thought.

i think that would be a great idea

FGM was part of a research project i did this year, i had to give a presentation i have many muslims in my class and although all condemned the practise non were willing to accept that it is a big problem within the muslim community and just dismissed it as being non muslim. but it is an issue when 98% of women that have suffered are muslim. it needs to be tackled from within with understanding and education

Frued- if we took a tough stand and made the family subject to investigation it would help. It would force those countries that supposedly outlaw it to allow us to investigate. Remember that not everyone is a backward poor person who is doing this. The cases found in Scotland last year were professional people.

I am in my fourties i can remember girls of fourteen being sent back to their homeland and no one asked where they went, when i was at school, that has now changed in terms of stopping underage marriages, other practices should also be questioned. I cannot take my DC out of school for a weeks holiday, why can a family that live here send their children out of the country during term time (which happens) without investigation to what may be happening. Even if it is taking place over the school summer holiday i think questions should be asked as to where the children are staying and who with. UK born people cannot do this without being accussed of abandonment.

Flag passports?

you are right it has helped with young girls being sent away to get married. i do not think that alone would stop it happening but would help some girls.

teaching children here i think is a really good way forward too.

lunabelly Everything you say is right.

What should we all be doing about this?

It is very very easy to skew someone's thinking. Isolation works a treat.

I lived in a Mediterranean country with a bloke, he got me sacked from my job, kept me locked up in the house and my only company was a goldfish and a gender-confused cockerel. I was so isolated that it got to the point that if he had told me that the moon was made of green cheese I would have believed him.
If I had had access to a wider community then I might not have been brainwashed for almost three years and got deeper into a spiral of suicidal depression and borderline agoraphobia and major trust issues that have never REALLY left me.

Now...you may wonder where I am going with this....but many communities who would be likely to practice FGM in the UK are not what you'd call integrated. THIS needs to change as well. Closed communities have GOT to be discouraged, integration needs to be big-upped. Learning the language NEEDS to be heavily enforced. (Trust me when I say to you that knowing what was being said was a huge help in plotting my escape!!). Isolating women should be discouraged by law Then the people who are at risk will know that there is somewhere they will be safe, know that there is someone they can speak to, know that this sexual mutilation is not acceptable.

I have been that strange, oddly dressed and isolated prisoner far away from home who could only stare out of a window. :(
If only my bastard Ex's actions had been prohibited by law and enforced. An open society is a free and caring society. That doesn't need to stop you from being religious or wearing an abaya if that's your bag, but it does give you far more protection that being kept prisoner in your own home ever could.

OP I'm trying to find the program you are talking about on Iplayer as this is a subject very close to my heart but I cannot find it.

What was it called? What channel was it on? and what time? Thanks

anyone?

Can't find it.

Right Got it...I think. Abused: Breaking The Silence was on BBC1 on Tuesday 21st June at 22.35. 4 days left on iPLayer.

If I knew how to do links here I would link it for you. But I am crap.

Thanks Lunabelly but i'm confused, that says its about men taking their abusers to court

I think (but am not sure) that maybe it kicked off a train of thought for the OP?

Oh OPPPPPP!!! Where are youoooo? Did I find the right programme and could you clarify please??