FGM on year 5 school curriculum

[MermaidMummy]

I'm really not sure if I'm being unreasonable, so I'm interested in everyone's thoughts.
My 9-year-old's class has just started learning about puberty. We have been told that the next lesson will cover terminology such as erection, sperm and female genital mutilation.
I just don't get why they need to learn about FGM at 9 years old. Some of these kids are very "young" for their age, and mine is very sensitive (won't watch the news in case an "adult topic" crops up).
What is the rationale for teaching this in year 5? There is nobody in the class from a cultural background likely to carry out FGM, but even if there was, would a 9 year-old know that it might happen to them and inform a teacher (if that is the rationale for teaching it)? From what I have read they aren't told anything about it in advance. If it has already happened to them, what is the benefit of bringing it up in class? Couldn't it be damaging and stigmatising?

'We are telling them that they don’t have to go through with it'

?

It's not really their choice is it though.

Or is that just phrased a bit funny.

contact not alter

FYI- any school where the children are being offered a workshop on FGM the staff will also have been trained spot warning signs- including support staff like the attendance officer.

FWIW what I have heard about the current approach seems fine, if I have understood correctly.

Secondary school for all.
Primary school in at risk areas.
Not presented as a risk for any and all girls.

I am really interested in links about this spreading amongst christians in UK.

I do think a trick is being missed not talking to boys about it. They are the ones who will have the power to effect change in their communities when they grow up.

I hope the community stuff for adults isn't all aimed at women as well. Talk about invisibilising the cause and just treating the symptom.

And the criminal justice system needs to step the fuck up. Not much chance though as VAWG seems to be legal more or less in practice, if not in theory.

@MenuPlant

They need to know that if they tell someone at school someone can and will step in to stop it happening.

And it is not their fault. Nor is their body disgusting or needs sanitising for the sake of men.

Is that a better wording?

Good God the GFs are out in force!

Bottom line is that if men want /expect cut wives then that is what they will get.

There is a risk they will just start cutting younger.

The market needs to be got rid of. Men need to say, in the future girls must not be cut, it is not what we want for our children.

This is as well as
Education, support etc and criminal justice system

But it's not about hygiene is it.

It's about faithful wives.

@MenuPlant

As I said before, it is just one aspect of a multi agency approach. Maybe go read about what Nimoco Ali has been doing to end FGM.

The bit in schools is about finding and supporting the girls. It is only one part of the whole. But an important one.

Girls are often told it is for ‘cleaniness’ Or to make them more marriageable or for their own good. Much if the narrative is about making them ashamed.

They may be told that but it is not the reason.

The real reason is extremely important.

Without it the root cause is obfuscated and harder to tackle.

It is the men who are at the heart of this, it is done for them, to give 'faithful' wives.

The men could stop it tomorrow if they wished.

BelleSausage does that ever happen? (a child telling a teacher and Ss removing them from the home and rescuing them from fgm) a genuine question not being goady!

I mean hygiene is not the reason.

It will make them more marriageable as women who have had this done are seen as unlikely to stray. Depending on the level. The man cuts the woman who is sewn up on her wedding night, so he knows he is the first. The clitoral removal is about removing / reducing possibility of pleasure, so she will not be tempted elsewhere.

The less extreme versions come from the same place.

If men and boys are out of the picture this will never stop. It is done for them.

The idea that women do it to women for reasons that women have (hygiene) really makes this a women's issue for women to think about and women to solve.

Where are the men and boys.

“BelleSausage does that ever happen? (a child telling a teacher and Ss removing them from the home and rescuing them from fgm) a genuine question not being goady!”
A child confiding something (fgm) to my dd and her telling a teacher led eventually to that child being removed from the home.

Would just like to point out that many middle eastern people are white. For those who seem to believe that white people only live in western /developed countries.

So all this FGM is happening and children are being removed from homes because of it.

And yet there have been no prosecutions? Or perhaps one? Since 1985?

Because that’s the age FGM can happen. Because children are taken on holiday and go through it then sent back to school.
As I work with children we are all trained in seeing the signs, it’s hidious and we need to protect the girls it may happen to.

“So all this FGM is happening and children are being removed from homes because of it.“

Sadly no. It is incredibly difficult to detect and stop. Education is the only long term solution.

The man cuts the woman who is sewn up on her wedding night

It’s become a bit of a thing in some communities for the men to not cut it, instead they just force their penis in. As a sign of manliness or some shit. I know of two girls who this happened to and they ended up in A and E.

I agree with MenuPlant, males really need to be targeted and educated too. Teen boys need to grow up knowing the realities of FGM and it’s effects so they don’t expect a cut wife. They need it to be graphic so they don’t want their daughters to suffer it.

It really is only about having a ‘pure’ wife, it’s nothing to do with physical cleanliness.

@BertrandRussell

At last! A voice of reason!

@Fibbke The whole point of projects going into schools is to raise awareness and help support girls to come forward for help. It is very, very hard to uncover FGM, as it is with most child abuse.

All I know is that school moves very quickly once a child has disclosed. We keep children in school and wait for the police.

Interventions after this point are led by police and social services.

It’s not only FGM. I have worked in schools before where we have not let a child go home because we know that parents are waiting to take them out of the country to take part in underage forced marriage.

One reason why it is so hard to prosecute is it is difficult to get witnesses to testify and many tens of thousands are taken out of the country to do it- hence why attendance officers are trained to keep an eye of suspicious attendance patterns.

I’m with you OP, if I thought my child would be upset I would remove her for that part of the lesson. She is your child and if you think she will be upset you are the best judge. That’s why you can remove her.