Monday 11 June 2012

http://medscope.blogspot.ca/2011/02/female-genital-mutilation-in-ireland.html
Upon starting this project I have come to realize how easily I have it here. I never imagined a problem such as this existed until just before I started this blog project, and now that I'm more aware of this particular global injustice I feel so compelled to tell more people about all that I learned from my research. I can't imagine being one of the young girls who is in danger of being tricked into thinking that getting a female circumcision done with enhance her health and beauty, or worse, knowing the costs of the procedure but being forced to do it anyway. The pain that I've seen from the videos I've watched and pictures I have seen online is indescribable.
I opened up this blog with a story about my pierced ears and the scars they left behind to give a general "first world" understanding of  what this issue could be like. I cannot stress enough how overwhelming understated my example was.
These girls go through so much more, and their scars run so much deeper.
This entire situation makes me wonder why I don't hear more about this in the news or online when I'm NOT searching it up myself. I feel that people aren't educated enough on the subject since every time I've mentioned it to anyone outside of class, they have no idea what it is. Further, they sometimes think I'm making this issue up, that only men get circumcised.
 
http://barenakedislam.com/2012/04/30/british-muslim-leader-caught-on-camera-advocating-for-female-genital-mutilation/

I feel like we are still stuck in the dark days when I think about the power that men have over women in regards to this issue. In North America and other Western parts of the world, most  people don't live in fear of shaming our families by not getting married. I don't know anybody who would go through what these girls go through just for the sake of one day having a husband, especially when you reflect on the medical impacts this procedure leaves behind.

One thing I did notice though, was that Western societies' "need to fit in" isn't too far off from this. Many girls (and boys) here will often do "whatever it takes" to fit in, whether it is changing their personality or their body,  much like the girls in Egypt and Pakistan and other countries, though to a lesser extent.

No comments:

Post a Comment