Female genital mutilation survivors, experts push for better support in Canada and abroad
CBC
WARNING: This story contains details of female genital mutilation/cutting
Shamsa Sharawe was six years old when she became convinced her family was going to kill her.
"It felt so violent and so ... just horrific," she said. "I just thought, why? Like, if you're not trying to end my life, why would you do this?"
In a viral TikTok with over 11 million views, Sharawe retells the moment she was a victim of female genital mutilation, a practice that was normalized and celebrated in the Somalian village where she was born.
In the video, she holds up a white rose and a razor, pinching and slicing off the petals. Then, she roughly stitches the remnants together.
"The feeling of being sewn alive, awake, is something I will never be able to describe," said Sharawe, who now lives in the U.K., just north of London.
Sharawe was a victim of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), what the World Health Organization describes as "the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons." It may include cutting the clitoris, and the removal or stitching together of the labia.
Beyond excruciating pain, severe bleeding and risk of infection or death, long-term physical and psychological complications often occur.
A UNICEF update shows there are about 230 million victims of female genital mutilation worldwide. An estimated four million girls are subjected to the practice every year, primarily in African countries, followed by Asia and the Middle East, but survivors may live anywhere.
Survivors and activists alike are pushing for better support for a community they say is vastly underserved, especially for those who live in countries where FGM/C is not a traditional practice. They are asking for access to reconstructive surgeries, better mental health services, and more thorough education for health-care professionals, both in Canada and abroad.
"[People] see this as, naively, something happening just on the continent of Africa, which is absolutely not true," said Alisa Tukkimaki, the national director of the End FGM Canada Network.
Sharawe's grandma took her to be cut, but she said her family didn't have malicious intent.
"These women have been programmed and brainwashed into continuing this practice, even though they are survivors themselves," she said in an interview with CBC.
No religious text promotes or condones FGM/C and it's widely recognized as a human rights violation. Even so, there's been a 15 per cent global increase in reported victims since 2016.
