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Original poster

Call the Midwife - FGM

229 replies

Littlepiglittlepig3letmeIN · 26/02/2017 21:08

At first I thought the programe makers were doing a good job at highlighting how wrong this practice is, and yet at the last moment, they normalized it by making out it's tradition.
I felt they missed a good opportunity to get through to the right people.

The programme makers can try and dress it up however they want - trying to make out it's tradition and it's the women that facilitate it.
Women may carry it out, but
It's men who are behind it.

It's heartbreaking to think that even in this day and age, little girls are still being butchered and disfigured by these barbaric animals.

OP posts:
DesolateWaist · 26/02/2017 22:12

No wonder there are never any prosecutions with attitudes like this

I understand that this has upset and shocked you but you are talking like everyone else is sitting back and allowing this to happen.

DesolateWaist · 26/02/2017 22:13

What I mean, Cake, is that it can be harder to realise that it has happened because it has happened outside the UK.

PlonitbatPlonit · 26/02/2017 22:13

Please sign the petition to save Acton FGM Community Clinic www.change.org/p/save-the-acton-fgm-community-clinic?recruiter=9747609&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

cakebaby · 26/02/2017 22:14

Sorry, misunderstanding Blush

rugbyballz · 26/02/2017 22:14

hefzi The 'attempt' that was brought against the doctor was a complete pile of shite.

Basically, I think they saw a situation where they thought 'at last, we can get a prosecution here! Who cares if it's actually FGM, and we ruin a good doctor's life!'

It was bullshit.

It is incredibly difficult to prosecute.

Change will happen, and is happening, through education and prevention. But we need to keep the girls at the centre of that, and not go gung ho in making their lives worse, just because of our ideology. I feel CTM got that well. The woman didn't want to save her sister, but did save her daughter.

Original poster
Littlepiglittlepig3letmeIN · 26/02/2017 22:17

Okay, taking the girls from their families is a bad idea.

But surely there should be more prosecutions of the people performing the procedure?
I believe there are people in this country performing it. Not just abroad.

Also, why isn't there more public awareness of it? I know so many people who have never even heard of it.
Yes you will have heard of it if you work in healthcare or the education system, otherwise not so much.
There should be more on tv, magazines and so on. It would encourage people to be more open about it and possibly shop the people doing it, which would lead to more prosecutions.

OP posts:
MrsJayy · 26/02/2017 22:17

I don't think they turned it to the womans choice I think they turned it on the somalian womans belief it was the right thing to do and choicethe midwives knew the little girl was sent to be butchered . A very hard watch tonight and i suppose midwives had seen this periodicaly back then the mum to be was meant to be going back to have her baby wasn't she?

NeedsAsockamnesty · 26/02/2017 22:18

hef

Was the attempted one an actual FGM as in the dark recesses of my mind I'm recalling a doctor who was trying to repair one after childbirth, or have I compleatly made that up?

rugbyballz · 26/02/2017 22:19

www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/04/doctor-not-guilty-fgm-dhanuson-dharmasena

www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/04/first-female-genital-mutilation-prosecution-dhanuson-dharmasena-fgm

The doctor was stitched up. The woman was appropriately stitched up! The poor doctor had death threats, and the woman had no voice whatsoever.

If that's what prosecutions look like, I'm glad we have so few.

PlonitbatPlonit · 26/02/2017 22:20

Agree, the case against the doctor was stupid. It wasn't against a doctor performing the primary FGM, it was a case of how a doctor performed a postpartum repair in a woman who had already had FGM. The court ruled that the suturing performed (which the prosecution had argued was reinfibulation) was medically necessary (to prevent bleeding, following childbirth) and the case was (rightly) thrown out.

CPS taking a case like that does nothing to prevent FGM from happening.

rugbyballz · 26/02/2017 22:22

If you have nothing to do with the small communities who perform FGM, you're never going to 'shop' someone doing it. Sigh.

If you do work with those communities, you'll be trained. It's a big issue, and education is pushed. Those communities who perform FGM and girls felt to be at risk are having a lot of work put in. Personally, I'd much rather FGM charities spent their money focusing on the communities who perform FGM, the people who work with them, and helping the girls, than spending money on a general public awareness campaign so people have something to go 'Oh, how awful' at, on a Sunday evening.

PlonitbatPlonit · 26/02/2017 22:23

I actually think that CPS would be better prosecuting doctors involved in FGCS (Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery) outside of RCOG guidelines - it would underline the point that all FGM is (or should be) illegal.

I thought the point Phyllis made (in CTM) was good too - clitoridectomy was a C19th treatment for 'female maladies' (including masturbation).

BertieBotts · 26/02/2017 22:23

Of course they don't take children away. What would that achieve? The child won't become magically uncut, untraumatised, have the memory deleted. Removing them from their family would just be another trauma to add to that.

They do try to prevent FGM in this country and it is possible to prosecute parents (and anyone else involved) either for performing it in the country or removing a child from the country with the purpose of performing FGM - theoretically. In practice it is very difficult.

I think the storyline was shocking and realistic.

rugbyballz · 26/02/2017 22:25

However, I would love to see fanny diagrams and education about the female anatomy on TV and magazines. Generally, there is so much ignorance about vulvas. Once people know normal, no one would want a funny looking fanny. Are you offering to fund it, littlepig?

Original poster
Littlepiglittlepig3letmeIN · 26/02/2017 22:26

What's your point rugby?

OP posts:
Original poster
Littlepiglittlepig3letmeIN · 26/02/2017 22:28

Personally, I'd much rather FGM charities spent their money focusing on the communities who perform FGM, the people who work with them, and helping the girls, than spending money on a general public awareness campaign so people have something to go 'Oh, how awful' at, on a Sunday evening.

The way I understand it, the FGM charities get their money from joe public.
So, Maybe aren't as knowledgeable about it as a person working closely within those communities. But surely,in order to get the funding, you have to raise public awareness.

OP posts:
rugbyballz · 26/02/2017 22:30

I'm wondering what good you think middle class well to dos saying 'OOOO, isn't it awful what those foreigners do!' will actually do those girls.

I'm wondering whether you're actually going to donate to an FGM charity, or are you just going to moan they don't spend money on TV and magazine articles?

My point here is that it has to be about girls in that community. Not what makes middleclass mumsnetters feel smug and judgemental.

BertieBotts · 26/02/2017 22:31

Sorry should have read right to the end of the thread.

I agree that the clinics and support groups are key. Like many other women's services they are particularly under threat at the moment, where these are one of the things which actually have the power to make changes. If you can empower a generation of mothers to break the cycle, their daughters not only won't have to go through such things themselves, it makes it much less likely that they'll justify it happening to their own daughters. Plus, it helps the women in the current generation who have suffered, to find a supportive, understanding community. Not just outrage and shock, which while understandable, can be taken as criticism or scorn. Not judgement and threats.Support, understanding, solidarity brings change.

Original poster
Littlepiglittlepig3letmeIN · 26/02/2017 22:33

Give it a break.
People are allowed to discuss what they want.
Being close minded and not letting other people in isn't doing those girls any favors either.
Also, how can you possibly know who donates to which charity?

OP posts:
rugbyballz · 26/02/2017 22:33

Bertiebotts, exactly. Threats will drive the practice more hidden. Education and support is improving things for these women and girls.

MorrisZapp · 26/02/2017 22:34

Are working class people a-ok with mutilating kids then?

Original poster
Littlepiglittlepig3letmeIN · 26/02/2017 22:35

Support, understanding, solidarity brings change.
and education.
Hopefully the change will happen eventually.

OP posts:
Original poster
Littlepiglittlepig3letmeIN · 26/02/2017 22:36

Well said Bertiebotts.

OP posts:
rugbyballz · 26/02/2017 22:36

It just feel like you're making an issue which is nothing to do with you, all about you. The very idea you could 'shop' someone!

TinselTwins · 26/02/2017 22:36

The thing is it is the women's choice to some extent

The MOTHERS are the one who take their daughters to the hut. Hold them down whilst they scream and teach them after care

The women/mothers don't see it as a choice!
I know someone whose mother took her to have FGM. Her mother did it because if she didn't, the child would have been an outcast in the village, she would have starved and probably have been raped multiple times and even possibly murdered. Having the FGM gave her some protection in the form of playing by the rules and possibly marrying and having some quality of life.

She says that she doesn't blame her mother, that FGM is wrong, but her mother chose it over a worse fate!