The Women’s Institute for Freedom of the PressPresentation and Discussion on FGM
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): New Efforts in the Campaign for Eradication
by Elana Denise Anderson, PhD
WIFP Associate Director
In a world where war has become a common occurrence with its victims hailing from every walk of life, it is easy to dismiss what some may think of as a “culturally relative” practice as less important than the wars that are deemed “necessary” by mainstream corporate media entities. The war against women’s bodies that continues to be waged mercilessly finds fodder in the form of female genital mutilation, sometimes referred to as “cutting”. While semantics often play a significant part in propagandist efforts to shift the focus away from the heinous nature of this continued practice, there is nothing that can lessen the horrific impact that it has on the bodies and psyches of women and girls upon whom it is visited.
On February 14, 2016, the Women’s Institute for the Freedom of the Press and Global Woman Peace Foundation hosted a lecture by the renowned Tobe Levin von Gleichen, CEO of UNCut/Voices Press. The primary focus of Dr. Levin’s lecture was on efforts to raise awareness of female genital mutilation through both activism and education. Her talk was both informative and engaging; it included highlights of the workshop “Contestations around FGM: Activism and the Academy” held on March 7, 2015 at the University of Oxford, as well as film clips of “The Cruel Cut”, a documentary by Leyla Hussein, herself a victim of FGM. Dr. Levin has begun a new initiative that is designed to gather experts around the topic, that it may find place in higher education with regards to research, teaching and advocacy. Publications by UNCut/Voices Press were available at the event.
Those present included Global Woman’s Amie E. Jallah and Arielle Buchmann; WIFP’s Martha Allen, Elana Anderson, Tanya Smith-Sreen and Jonathan Zeitlin; Casey Carter Swegman and Dina Baky of the Tahirih Justice Center; Stephanie Black of She’s the First (American University), and Destiny Casson of Howard University, and others. As each organization gave a brief overview of their efforts in the campaign to eradicate FGM, it became more and more evident that this is a war that can be won and must be won. The lives of future generations of women depend on it. Let us come together to stop this-NOW!
Informal discussions continued after the event:
Some of the participants gathered together afterwards for a photo:
Participating Organization Links:
UnCut/Voices Press: http://uncutvoices.com and https://uncutvoices.wordpress.com
Global Woman PEACE Foundation: http://globalwomanpeacefoundation.org
Tahirih Justice Center: http://www.tahirih.org
Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press: https://www.wifp.org
A few other Resource Links:
Leyla Hussein’s documentary The Cruel Cut: http://leylahussein.com/the-cruel-cut/
UN: http://www.unfpa.org/female-genital-mutilation and http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw52/statements_missions/Interagency_Statement_on_Eliminating_FGM.pdf
Equality Now: http://www.equalitynow.org/fgm
