UK mother convicted of FGM

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Posted in chat but thought it’s more a feminist issue. First person in the UK to be convicted of FGM, hopefully a push in the right direction but that poor little girl. How awful

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-47094707

Liberal or 'fun' feminism is useless for anything like this.

It's got no structural analysis and focuses mainly on things which will benefit men.

Nothing I agree with your points. A mixture of deep seated misogyny and racism, girls simply don’t matter enough.
I also agree that it isn’t racist to say cultural practices that mutilate children are unacceptable, hiding behind ‘cultural sensitivity ‘ is both lazy and cowardly.

I also read an article somewhere where someone says the health service, teachers where culpable for FGM continuing. No, the cultures that enforce FGM are culpable; the mothers who live with side effects yet continue to do this to daughters, the fathers who sit by and allow it to happen, the men who expect to marry a mutliated woman, the desperation for their daughters to be married into their own ‘culture’ in order to uphold their ethnic identity.

One conviction, finally. Fucking disgrace.

"the father of this poor child was said in the radio to be Ghanaian, which is not, I think a country where FGM is commonly practiced? So he may not have been aware of the risk his Dd was facing."

Thats not the case. In Northern Ghana, FGM rates approach 30% and are performed on under 5s, while in Uganda (where the mother was from) FGM is rate (0.3%) and usually performed at adolescence.

FGM is usually a woman's crime tho, so I would be amazed if she was not involved or at least aware, but the pattern of it suggests that he had at least an influence.

I don’t know which part of Uganda the mother was from, but I’m sure I read that in some Ugandan regions the FGM rates were as high as 95%. May well be irrelevent to this specific incident, but highlights how prevalent it is in some places.

I worked in child protection for a number of years - including delivering training on FGM to police, social workers etc. I am happy to explain what the difficulties are in prosecuting these cases if you’re interested; but you are wrong if you think that police are not interested in the offences because the victims are girls.

I agree that there often seems to be a reluctance to speak out against crimes committed by certain minorities. If only feminists and the left were as quick to apply class analysis to race as they are sex...

Thanks Spirited I’m interested in your views on this subject so I can better understand the situation.

Thanks chewyLouie I'll try and organise my thoughts and be succinct but there are lots of issues. On the face of it it should be very straightforward, FGM is a type of physical abuse and out of all the abuse types it's probably the easiest to prosecute since there are injuries that can be seen and used as evidence. However we run into problems with how the police are made aware that the crime has been committed in the first place. Realistically how would this happen?

1. disclosure by the child - younger children may not be aware that they have had a procedure ( babe in arms) or may have no knowledge that it is unusual/illegal. Older girls may understand but are hardly empowered to speak up against their community / culture. If the cutting has already happened what is the incentive to disclose against the family? That typically only happens where there is ongoing abuse but this is generally a one off catastrophic event.
2. Accidental disclosure by child - in some instances a child may make an unwitting disclosure to another person ( e.g. Teacher) this is likely to trigger a joint social work / police investigation. The difficulty then is how we gather the evidence necessary to meet the charging standards. If the child is verbal they are expected to provide a statement regarding the assault. This is done on video usually and is a tricky skill to master. There is no way to make a child talk if they don't want to. They would also be required to undertake a forensic medical examination. If they are under 13 ish then the child is unable to consent to this examination and we would need someone with parental responsibility to consent. Over 13 they can probably consent but imagine these cultural groups facing the prospect of intimate medical examination. There may be occasions when SS could request an order but we would need to show there were ongoing fears for the safety of the child ( there may be no further concerns)
3. Third party / professional - in this case the abuse was discovered because the mother called the ambulance and the girl was treated by Drs. The injuries were seen and examined as part of emergency treatment to treat the child. The Drs were not conducting a forensic medical examination purely for the benefit of evidence gathering but were able to use that information as part of the investigation. The little girl was interviewed but that evidence was supplemented by evidence from the foster parent who was able to relay comments she had made to her. Sadly parents may not seek medical attention for fear of prosecution.

There are lots of other issues ( the fact that the child may be sent overseas for the cutting as an example) that make prosecution problematic. I don't know about other forces but in London FGM has been on the radar for a long time and there are officers within Child Protection who specialise in partnership work dealing with the community to try and eradicate FGM and other issues like witchcraft / spirit possession etc. There are regular initiatives and training events with partner agencies but there is no way to measure offences that we have prevented. Like anything there could be more people working on this but huge budget cuts over the last few years means we are endlessly trying to do more with less. Everyone ( I mean everyone) in CP has been trying to get this prosecution and I'm so happy that they've had success with this case. I no longer work in CP but am happy to clarify anything I've written. Sorry for the long post

It was a chilling read poor little soul. How could a woman do this to her child

I think that we do need to get past the taboo of discussing issues that happen in certain ethnic communities. It may be true that the large majority of violence is committed by men, but a white accountant from Kensington probably isn't going to have much influence on what happens in ethnic communities in Rotherham.

Although, as others have said FGM is often a 'female' crime so women need to be working together and speaking out on this practice like men need to on VAWG.

I think that we do need to get past the taboo of discussing issues that happen in certain ethnic communities. It may be true that the large majority of violence is committed by men, but a white accountant from Kensington probably isn't going to have much influence on what happens in ethnic communities in Rotherham.

Although, as others have said FGM is often a 'female' crime so women need to be working together and speaking out on this practice like men need to on VAWG.

Mona Eltahawy can be found on Twitter. Her book 'Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East needs a sexual revolution' is a really excellent read. Here is her flaming hot thread about the first prosecution for FGM in the UK and where the power lies.

mobile.twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1091360126638964741

I am surprised you think FGM is an issue to only be discussed on the femanist forum.
The fact that a woman would inflict this barbaric butchery on an innocent child should be discussed on an open forum.
Every one needs to be involved and made aware of the pain and suffering inflicted on little girls by their mothers and grandmothers.
And of course some baby boy's are subjected to a form of MGM, only this is called circumcision, barbaric.

In my city it is estimated that up to 95% of Somali girls are cut, either in the UK or when they go abroad on holiday. I have been going nuts about this at work for over a decade, but nobody wants to know. Trying to explain that it is massively fucking racist not to pursue safe-guarding concerns for certain ethnic groups because some local authority consensus says that we need to work with and not alienate the community has fallen on deaf ears and had me labelled a loose cannon. I have confronted parents about FGM in the same way I would if a child presents with other suspicious injuries or symptoms, and been told to back down. Most it ever achieved has been the police seizing passports thus preventing foreign travel. Which means nothing when our city is a 'cutting capital'. A disgrace.

I think a large part of the issue is that many people talk a good game but don't actually follow it up in real life. The principle classes discussed on here are men and women (for obvious reasons) by this say that ethnicity is probably more divisive in the real-world. I'd certainly find myself to have more in common in terms of life experience with a woman from a similar background than a recent male refugee from Somalia.

but I'd say that was meant to read.

What I'm trying to say is that it's difficult for a lot of people to tackle issues that occur in a sphere totally removed from their own existence.

But Dough , that is why there are really strict protocols surrounding safe-guarding, so that it is not incumbent upon any individual to make what can be tough judgement calls. Most people who could feasibly be expected to come across situations where they need to safeguard at risk children have had the relevant training so it shouldn't be an issue. I have been told to 'tread carefully' after disclosures of corporal punishment, as this is apparently the norm in some cultures. No way. Keep telling until someone listens. If it was a White British child SS would be all over it. It is Victoria Climbie all over, every week.

FGM is almost a perfect storm of things that make tacking abuse difficult

• affects girls
• affects girls from BAME communities
• affects girls from communities where English may not be widely or well spoken (making outreach difficult)
• involves close family members
• seen as a traditional activity; "it happened to me", "it's what we do", "you wouldn't understand as you aren't one of us"
• the victim will probably fear getting their parent into trouble
• taking action involves SS, police, medical professionals... (multi agency working is not always a strong point)
• not believed to be a risk of ongoing harm after the cutting has happened (so low down on the SS radar of children in need)
• involves genitals (we are bad about talking about them anyway, less likely to be seen in a normal school or other setting than other harmed boy parts, embarrassing for the victim to bring it up / have to undergo examination)

So fucking depressing that we are failing to protect so many young girls