FGM: Mothers are not to Blame

by Jekaterina Drozdovica

In February this year, the first ever female genital mutilation (FGM) case was found guilty by the British court. A Ugandan mother will go to jail for performing the cruel practice on her three-year-old daughter. But to assume she deliberately harmed her child would be wrong. While tradition can’t justify the child abuse act, the culture-based delusion is the underpinning of the wrongdoing.

Mothers cutting their daughters are pressured to do so. The stigma makes them believe they’re doing the right thing.

FGM is embedded in the cultural tradition in Sub-Saharan African region and in some areas of the Middle East and Asia. For FGM supporters, the clitoris is seen as the epicentre of irresistible sexual desire, which subverts women to cheat on their men. They’re often ignorant of the high health risks and mistakenly believe that mutilation is better for personal hygiene. The pre-cutting ceremony is happy and cheerful. The family showers their daughter with presents. In exchange, the gift granted to her by the mother nature is taken away.

The FGM campaigner Leyla Hussein says that in the past she would have let her daughter go with the practice@PA

The uncut women are doomed in traditional communities. They are shamed and excluded from social gatherings. Mothers of uncut daughters suffer pressure and isolation from their families, as shown in a research paper by Canadian scientists. One of the common beliefs is that uncut women have bad prospects in marriage. The peer pressure convinces victims to support the practice. For example, the documentary by Christina Pitouli showed how some immigrants from Africa choose the mutilation voluntarily.

We need to understand that the mothers who cut their daughters are not the ones to blame. They are, themselves, the victims of the ignorant tradition derived from centuries of gender inequality. The FGM campaigner Leyla Hussein openly states that before, she could have easily allowed her daughter to go through the practice. Information is the key, yet there is a fine line between educating and degrading.

follow the author on Twitter and Instagram

#fgm #motherhood #slingshotmagazine