The First Female Genital Mutilation Clinic for Girls Opens in UK

[Liberal_in_LA]

In the UK alone, more than 60,000 girls are at risk or suffering from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), according to a new report. The study, done by Equality Now and City University London, prompted the University College Hospital Clinic to open a monthly service dedicated to helping girls who are dealing with the ramifications of this practice.

It aims to both educate and council, with a focus on girls under the age of 18. Statistics have shown that if families are educated about the practice, it could save younger siblings from FGM. Although FGM clinics do exist in the UK, this will be the first one primarily devoted to minors.

It will work closely with families, social services and law enforcement. Referrals as well as surgery, when necessary, will be offered.

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One woman, who agreed to speak about her experience with FGM, is a successful, modern 27-year-old living in the UK. A daughter of Eritrean immigrants, she was ‘nicked’ when she was a child. “You know the worst thing,” she says, “Is people assuming I’m somehow broken because of this. There is a stigma surrounding it and I rarely bring it up with boyfriends because of that. They all assume I’m defiled and ruined…I don’t need pity though.” She related that she still enjoys sexual activity and can achieve orgasm. “I am still a whole person; not defined by this.”

She said she would never perform the same ritual on her daughter, but holds no ill will towards her parents for what they did. “It was cultural, and they didn’t know any better. If there had been someone to explain to them why it was wrong, or even unnecessary, they probably wouldn’t have done it. It’s a matter of educating people.”

This is exactly what the FGM clinic for girls is hoping to achieve. While many within the west see FGM as unimaginable, the point of the clinic is not to shame or castigate, but simply to help parents and children who are grappling with this issue. It hopes that by treating the youngest subjected to FGM, and opening a dialogue, they can stem the tide of this practice for future generations.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/the-first-female-genital-mutilation-clinic-for-girls-opens-in-uk.html#ixzz3ENWMD0sJ

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. OK. That title really had me thinking the clinic had the opposite purpose. nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. Me too. I had to read the article to get the point of the clinic.

[Luminous Animal]

35. Really. Because the UK, a modern western country is ALL about facilitating FGM. (snort)

The title had me thinking about healing.

This is how degraded women have become in the US. That people would actually read that title and think that the UK, THE UK, a modern western country, would allow a clinic to open to facilitate FGM.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

55. What kind of dickish reply is that? I'm somehow degrading women because for a fraction of a moment

the title sounded far fetched? That's exactly the point. "Wait, I can't be reading this right. ". Or "How long before a place like that gets shut down by authorities or burned to the ground? " etc, etc. So yeah some of us did a double take. So fucking what?

[smirkymonkey]

2. OK, WTF?

Is this to help those who have been mutilated or to continue the practice? I am a bit confused.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. Seems the purpose is to provide care to those have already been FGMed

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. It seems like its purpose is both to help victims and educate to put an

end to the practice. It's a bad title.

[smirkymonkey]

8. Yes, a very bad title.

Thanks for explaining.

[Luminous Animal]

12. Are you also confused about HIV clinics?

[yeoman6987]

30. Really? Kinda snarky.

DU is a place to learn.

[Nye Bevan]

6. That is about the most horribly worded headline I have ever seen.

Not blaming the OP, because I know it's on the original article. It should have been worded something like "Hospital opens service to help girls who are dealing with the ramifications of genital mutilation".

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. yes but if a clinic is named "The TB clinic" everyone would assume its purpose to treat TB

not to infect people with TB.

[SomethingFishy]

9. Yeah but this is the first of it's kind..

I wasn't sure till I opened the page but you only need to glance to see what it's about. No foul

[Luminous Animal]

13. As were the first HIV clinics. Nobody confused them with wanting to give people HIV.

[JI7]

15. because FGM is done to females on purpose by those close to them , HIV isn't treated the same way

[Luminous Animal]

17. Many cities have rape treatment clinics, Would you assume that these clinics are there to

offer rape?

[JI7]

19. no, because rape is not treated as the same as FGM by those close to them, the thing with FGM

is it's seen as acceptable and positive and done to the girls by those close to them such as parents .

[Luminous Animal]

24. Really. It's considered positive in the UK?

[JI7]

26. yes, among certain immigrant communities

[Luminous Animal]

27. Are you really going to advance the notion that the UK would allow this. Really.

So, you read the OP, which clearly states that it is a clinic in the UK... a modern western nation with a strong history of ant- FGM feminist activism and policy...

And you are somehow confused that the UK... a modern western nation with a strong history of ant- FGM feminist activism and policy...

[JI7]

28. no, i never said the UK would allow it

[Nuclear Unicorn]

56. One would assume the UK with a strong history of being anti-child rape

would move to end a cultural practice of child rape; but after the Rotherham affair came to light all bets are off.

[AngryAmish]

60. Immigrant communities? Like the Irish?

[leftynyc]

61. In some communities that would be a YES

So you can stop pretending it's outrageous that this poorly worded title was misinterpreted. Especially when some aspects of sharia law have already been adopted in Great Britain

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10716844/Islamic-law-is-adopted-by-British-legal-chiefs.html

snip
Islamic law is to be effectively enshrined in the British legal system for the first time under guidelines for solicitors on drawing up “Sharia compliant” wills.
Under ground-breaking guidance, produced by The Law Society, High Street solicitors will be able to write Islamic wills that deny women an equal share of inheritances and exclude unbelievers altogether.
The documents, which would be recognised by Britain’s courts, will also prevent children born out of wedlock – and even those who have been adopted – from being counted as legitimate heirs.
Anyone married in a church, or in a civil ceremony, could be excluded from succession under Sharia principles, which recognise only Muslim weddings for inheritance purposes.
Nicholas Fluck, president of The Law Society, said the guidance would promote “good practice” in applying Islamic principles in the British legal system.

[Warren DeMontague]

52. No, because, for one, the word "treatment" is in there.

Maybe if this was worded FGM treatment clinic instead of FGM clinic, people might not have the same initial reaction.

[Art_from_Ark]

18. TB and HIV are diseases-- they are not medical procedures

Some people *want* to mutilate the genitals of their daughters, so in this case the meaning of "female genital mutilation clinic" could be interpreted either way (although since it is called a "clinic", rather than a "counseling center", it tends to imply a place for medical precedures).

[Luminous Animal]

22. First dog fighting clinic opens in the UK. Yep the first thing that would pop into my head is it is

a clinic to promote dog fighting. Not.

Clinics are for healing.

[Art_from_Ark]

40. A clinic is a place for medical procedures

A plastic surgery clinic is not particularly for healing.

If you heard of a circumcision clinic, what would your first impression be? A place where victims of circumcision could get counseling, or a place where circumcision was performed?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

44. So then, a Pain Clinic is where one goes ... to get ... what ... ?

Pain ... ?

lord.

[Luminous Animal]

48. In the western world (i.e., the UK, THE UK, mentioned in the subject line) an FGM clinic would be

therapeutic. Because in the UK, as in the US, FGM is ILLEGAL. So when I read a headline that a clinic has opened in the UK, for FGM in a country where FGM IS ILLEGAL, my immediate thought is that the clinic is therapeutic.

Not that the headline is unfortunate.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

43. FGM is not a medical procedure. You understand this, Yes?

[Luminous Animal]

10. Exactly. Clinics treat people.

[KittyWampus]

36. and a "fertility clinic" is for those who are IN-fertile.

[Luminous Animal]

11. Really. What would be your alternative title to an HIV clinic.

[Nye Bevan]

16. The difference is that nobody wants HIV,

whereas it is a horrible fact that many people actually want their daughters to undergo genital mutilation. And I am not the only DUer who initially misunderstood the headline as referring to a clinic that catered to this horrible wish.

[Luminous Animal]

20. You honestly believe the the UK, THE UK, a modern western nation with a strong FEMINIST

history against Female Genital Mutilation, would allow a clinic to promote the practice?

What would you make of this headline?

First dog torture clinic opens in the UK.

Would your first though be the UK is opening up a clinic to torture dogs?

[JI7]

21. one might think it's a clinic which claims to do one thing but actually does FGM

[Luminous Animal]

23. One might think that if one lives in Egypt. But the OP clearly states the UK.

[JI7]

25. yes, and immigrant communities in the UK and elsewhere where it's banned still do it

[Luminous Animal]

32. In order for your argument to hold water, you would also have to believe the UK would allow such a

clinic to exist.

And that you find credulous that the UK, a modern western anti-FGM state, would allow a clinic to practice this barbarianism, reveals your prejudice against women.

[JI7]

37. i didn't say the UK would allow it , i know that immigrant communities in the UK and elsewhere

often do things within their families which are not legal there.

[Nye Bevan]

31. No, of course I wouldn't believe that.

But that doesn't mean that there aren't people who would jump to such a conclusion (one in six Americans believes that Obama is a Muslim). If a headline relies on the reader's knowledge and experience for him or her not to get the wrong impression, it is a poorly worded headline.

[Luminous Animal]

33. Any person who sees the UK in the title and would jump to that conclusion is a misogynist.

[Nye Bevan]

34. Or they could be deeply ignorant.

I bet there are is a significant percentage of Americans who do not know what "UK" stands for, for example.

[Luminous Animal]

39. Apparently there are many DUers who don't know what "UK' stands for.

The confusion digs deep into the depths of ignorance.

[KittyWampus]

38. anyone who makes broad generalizations about who is or is not a misogynist, especially based on

how one interprets a poorly worded news articles, is an obnoxious, argumentative agitator.

[Luminous Animal]

41. Consider this: NYC Opens Female Genital Mutilation Clinic

Who but the right wing insane would be confused and wonder if New York City us opening up a clinic to perform female genital mutilation.

I won't be lead by the nose by idiots.

[smirkymonkey]

51. Thank YOU!

Jeeze, talk about overreacting.

[bobduca]

57. yeah this whole subthread

is big on intentional outrage over genuine confusion about a badly titled article.

[kiva]

59. And yet the responses by many here

indicate that it is possible to know what the UK is, not be a misogynist, and still think the headline sucks. Which means that your conclusion is wrong and perhaps you should consider not accusing everyone who disagrees with you an ignorant misogynist.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

45. Nobody wants FGM either.

[JI7]

47. there ARE people who want it for their daughters including people in places like the UK

and US . usually immigrants from nations that allow it.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

49. ask the daughter if she wants it. done here.

[JI7]

50. the girls are usually minors

they sometimes don't even know what is happening until it starts.

i'm speaking reality of what happens. and reality is their own family including mothers and fathers often want it done to them and do it to them. and they are usually young .

[leftynyc]

62. If nobody wanted it

it wouldn't be done. EVER or ANYWHERE.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

63. what part of done here do you not understand? I am done here. capiche and peace out.

[leftynyc]

64. But you're wrong

It IS done in UK and the US and various other places. To pretend otherwise is to deny reality.

[Luminous Animal]

14. Because yes, female genital mutilations is what we do and open clinics for in the west.

[ZombieHorde]

29. I am saddened that this is needed,

but I am glad the clinic exists.

[Luminous Animal]

42. Me too.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

46. Me three.

[Warren DeMontague]

53. Chalk me up as another who supports the idea but thinks the wording is bad. NT

[intaglio]

54. Now let's start prosecuting the persons of dubious ancestry who enable this crime

We in the UK lag far behind on this.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

58. I hope more clinics are opened

And I pray and wish them all the success in stopping this horrible, horrible practice.