Desert Flower, The Movie

[Ardo Askari]

loooooooool@buuxo walaahi u summed it all.

[Chimera]

Originally posted by chocolate & honey:

Nonesense, No an absolute, outright lie. Men are not aware of it kulahaa, sheekooy ku nacay. It is one thing to feel ashamed to be associated with such barbaric practice, it is another to completely put the blame on the victims.

The blame is put on the 'Mothers' not the daughters. Your telling me that the same Somali women who can rule their households, own multiple businesses in Somalia have somehow no say on their daughters future?.

 

Buuxo ah another good reason why Somali activists should be the ones behind the eradication of this practice not foreigners.

[-Lily-]

^^^And where are the dads? Where are the Imams and religious scholars who have influence? They hide behind 'tradition'.

 

And saying Somalia is not the only country does not absolve it of the shame. Sharing the blame doesn't make you any less guilty. I am not talking about this woman and whatever she has done but FGM itself.

 

SS, well said.

[Resistance]

^ Could not have agreed more. We cannot moin about the negative publicity these fame seeking indiviuals will cause, after all as a community we have failed to tackle the issue and to this day is still is a major taboo. U never hear a 'muxaadiro' dedicated to FGM and how unIslamic it is yet every day Sheiks will bang on about other lesser issues so is no suprising that the unsavoury types amongst and some who are gewine are left have to bark about FGM to the UN and other Wesrtern establishments to help eradicate it.

[Chimera]

I'm getting the feeling most of you know very little about FGM & Somalia and have simply lumped the situation there with all the countries that practice it. For starters where are the up to date governmental statistics that say the practice of FGM is still as high as it was in the 70s before Somali women organizations began campaigning against it? FGM was banned from all hospitals, this had an immense impact on the tradition, as this was the main area where it was practiced. Western NGO's have a habit of inflating statistics on Somalia or they simply magically come up with rough estimates based on 'nothing', so excuse me for taking their data with an ocean full of salt:

 

Initially like Egypt Somalia started it's eradication campaign by encouraging partial clitoridectomy, rather than infibulation, under use of anesthesia and antibiotics(today all forms of FGM are banned). The Somali Campaign was innovative because it's message focused on the four premises associated with the practice: ''It was not healthy, not clean, not islamic and did not even guarantee virginity''. In Somalia the impetus to eradicate came from within: It was strongly advocated by the Somali Women's Democratic Organization. The measures advocated included the need for an educational effort throughout the country to present medical facts and re-examine traditional attitudes: co-operation with community leaders(religious leaders, doctors etc) to combat this practice and the use of mass media to encourage change and to establish a different relationship between the sexes. Eventually one of the women leading the campaign and the Author of 'Sisters in Affliction:Circumcis ion and Infibulation of Women in Africa' by Raqiya Abdullah became the deputy minister of health in 1983. -Women in Muslim societies: diversity within unity pg 53

 

My entire original point had very little to do with ''shame'' but more with the gross misrepresentation of the situation in Somalia and why eradication of FGM will come through the hard work of Somalis based in Somalia and not foreigners.

 

The fact that i have put Somali women in the center of the problem has resulted in the misunderstanding by some here of me being a 'Somali brother putting the blame on the sisters' which is completely untrue. I'm very sure none of you are aware of the fact that a Somali mother after giving birth to a child does the exact same proceedure to herself again, this popular misconception that this tradition is a 'male weapon to subjugate women' is a western fabrication and one it seems alot of people are willing to believe in.

[Buuxo]

^What Somali women have it done again after childbirth? Where did you get that info from?

 

Adam,I agree.Social conditioning wa cajiib and noone will challenge Female genital Modifications,with foreigners and Waris declaring us as 'savages'.They make it sound as if ,we collect the parts and cook it, with their barbaric this and mutilation that :mad:

[Chimera]

Hey Buuxo i got it from this book:click

 

Good to know you are getting my point sister, these opportunists have demonized us as a society just to ride a few sympathy waves. The practice of abortion is far more barbaric and also has a lasting damaging effect on a woman's private parts but since the West practices this method of 'killing a human', it's not considered such.

 

My earlier post makes it quite clear the fight against FGM was being won by Somali women Organizations in alliance with Somali Shaykhs, doctors, politicians and hospitals. I'm pretty sure had the civil war not occurred we would now have up to date statistics that would show a massive decrease or complete eradication of the practice in Somalia.

[Buuxo]

^Apparently in the west Women have a 'choice' over their body but the same can't be said about African Women. :rolleyes:

 

Adam,thanks for the link.I don't if the Author is wrong or not? I would of thought

reinfibulation is not a common practise in Somalia.But I like way she studied the practise.It definetly echoed my sentiments in regards to the discussions about this practise by westerners.

 

Thanks for pointing out the progress made prior to the civil wars.I did not know this.

[Chimera]

Welcome sister! The reason i posted the info on the progress made in the pre-civil war era is because it beautifully illustrates that the eradication of the practice can only from Somalis backed by Somalis.

[Cara.]

^It doesn't actually. Just because one method works, doesn't mean that it is the only method that could work.

 

I completely agree with you regarding the roles of men and women in FGM. It has always been "women's business", and only by educating women can the practice come to an end.

 

Nice find.

[Chimera]

Cara, this issue is not like Khat where if foreigners were to burn the Ethiopian and Kenyan fields where it's cultivated you would end up with a 'Khat free Somalia'. This practice is deeply rooted in our society and the only group that can reach and eradicate this traditional archaic part of our culture without being seen as offensive or insulting are Somalis themselves.