Thread by @monaeltahawy

This is the 1st criminal conviction for #FGM in UK since it was criminalized in 1985. I support banning & fighting FGM everywhere. I have to ask why it’s a mother who is 1st to be convicted & not doctor/practitioner/others who subject girls to this horror bbc.com/news/uk-englan…

The 3yo girl subjected to this horror will suffer for years I know. She should never have been subjected to this. Remember that. Remember also that when it comes to #FGM, mothers are weakest link in a patriarchal chain that upholds FGM as a form of controlling female sexuality.

Too many women in my extended family have been subjected to FGM. It ended in our extended family just before I was born. I am lucky. It is a form of torture that continues today against too many girls in #Egypt, my country of birth.

When I am asked why mothers continue to subject their daughters to a pain and horror they themselves were subjected to, I suggest the question should be instead “Why do the men of the community continue to insist that girls be subjected to FGM or else they’re “umarriageable”?”

In 1994 when I was reporting on the UN population conference in #Cairo, an #Egyptian feminist group shared research they’d conducted. One anecdote about FGM and men’s demand for it has stayed with me. #EndFGM

A 17yo bride - who had not been cut - was returned to her mother on her wedding night with a note from the groom: “If you want your daughter to be married, you know what you need to do.” The mother called the traditional midwife and had her daughter cut and returned to the groom.

Mothers subject their daughters to a horror they survived because they don’t want their daughters to be rejected by the rules of a patriarchal society. Ask what power mothers have to upend those rules. Ask who has the power in any community & what is price exacted for disobeying.

It shatters my heart that so many women I love were subjected to FGM. It shatters it more when I reflect on how much more the pain was knowing their mothers were complicit and what that exacts - of mothers and daughters. Fight the powers behind FGM at all levels, not just mothers

We must fight patriarchy at all levels - community leaders, faith leaders, doctors and practitioners who perform FGM and parents - not mothers alone. A doctor was acquitted of performing FGM in UK in 2015 in 1st attempted prosecution google.com/amp/s/amp.theg…

In today’s conviction for #FGM in the UK - the first ever - only the mother was convicted and not her partner. Why? Always ask why and always look for power and challenge it. To be clear: FGM is a form of torture and MUST END everywhere. No excuse; not religion/tradition. #EndFGM

- There is NO excuse or justification for #FGM.
- There are ZERO benefits for it.
- It must NEVER be justified as “tradition” or “religious teaching” or anything.
- The goal of FGM is to control female sexuality.
- FGM is a harmful practice that must END. Everywhere.
#EndFGM

The extract up there 👆🏽 is from my book Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution, in which I devote a chapter - The god of Virginity - to #FGM and the obsession with virginity. #EndFGM

My dear friend, sister and comrade in the fight against #FGM @LeylaHussein best captures it: “We are sending out a strong message that children now come first,” she said. “However, the sad thing is we could have helped that mother.” #EndFGM google.com/amp/s/amp.theg…

“It’s positive this girl got justice but as an #FGM survivor I can’t help thinking the system failed her. Her mother has committed a crime and we need to be honest about that. But she could have been informed about FGM through her GP or midwife,” @LeylaHussein

“Hussein, who was born in Somalia and later emigrated to the UK, said it was not until she was 21 and her own daughter was two months old that a practice nurse raised the issue of her #FGM.” #EndFGM