This month, for our Annual Campaign #endFGMmyths, we are answering the question "Are some forms of FGM less harmful than others?" 🤔
Today, we want to talk about medicalised FGM and why it's not less harmful than other forms of FGM!
❓ What is medicalised FGM?
▶️ It's when FGM is carried out in a hospital environment.
❓ Why does it happen? 👇
❓ Why shouldn't be accepted?
👉It doesn't necessarily lead to a lesser impact on Survivors' life.
👉Replacing one form of FGM with another won't necessarily lead to it being abandoned.
👉It can make raising awareness on FGM more difficult, as health professionals support it.
Medicalisation does not:
👉Resolve the problem of FGM being a type of child abuse and Gender-Based Violence.
👉Put into question the reasons behind FGM, in particular the desire to control women’s sexuality.
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#Hadeel spoke about the Purple Chair series and how Youth activist have been using videos on Youtube to raise awareness on FGM, GBV, access to services and knowing your rights.
This year, for the #16DaysOfActivism, we are sharing about different (& original) ways to do activism against #GBV every day!
Today, let's talk about a traditional way for women to fight for their rights and ideals, but with a spin! 👇 #orangetheworld
Lysistrata, an anti-war comedy by the Greek playwright Aristophanes, talks about a sex strike 💪
The women in the play, led by Lysistrata, want the Peloponnesian War to end, so they stop having sex with their husbands as a strategy to secure the peace.
And nowadays?
Let's talk about three different sex strikes!
1⃣ Huelga de piernas cruzadas ("The strike of crossed legs"), Pereira (Colombia), September 2006 ▶️ A strike to curb gang violence.
♀️ In Europe, girls & women are constantly exposed to images of what our patriarchal society considers a perfect female body.
This goes beyond thigh gaps or big breasts, and includes standards on how a “desirable” #vagina should look like. (1/7)
To live up to these expectations, some women & girls undergo operations, including of cosmetic genital surgery.
Some examples to achieve this #BarbieLook?
Continue to read our thread! 👇 (2/7)
1⃣ Vaginoplasty➡️an operation that aims to “correct” the vulva’s appearance and makes it "flawless".
2⃣ Labiaplasty➡️an operation to reduce the length of the labias. 2015/2016: In 🇬🇧, more than 200 girls under 18 had labiaplasty. More than 150 were under 15.
(3/7)
This month's theme for our Annual Campaign #endFGMmyths is "In Europe, are women's genitalia treated with respect?".
This week, we decided to dive in history to find out what the past can teach us! Read our thread on “The construct of a virginity imposed on women" 👇
❓ What is virginity? It qualifies people who have not had sexual intercourse. This definition raises questions, as noted by @hanneblank in her book “Virgin: The Untouched History”. ⬇️
✅The truth is that the concept of virginity has always been oriented especially towards women and girls.
👉 A male centred heteronormative perspective has placed the act of penetration (penis+vagina) as the only sexual intercourse considered to assess virginity.