We've covered the abuse of Female Genital Until survivors before, in Female Genital Until and The Right Side of History. However, something else is afoot - and so we tak a brief journey into the mind of Jessica Pin, @MediClit.
Pin is not a medical doctor, but educated herself on clitoral anatomy after she went for a labioplasty which was botched, resulting in her clitoral nerve supply being damaged.
She has taken on an important topic but in doing so has also spoken on FGM as analogous to her botched surgery. While she may even be correct the results are similar (i.e. FGM type II, when carried out by a qualified doctor) I'm fairly sure the surgery she had, which included things she did not consent to, can't really be compared to the horrific patriarchal abuse that is female genital mutilation. And while in Egypt it may be normally carried out in hospitals with sterile equipment, this is not the case for other hotspots and still doesn't account for the psychological impact for victims of this practice. Jessica will be traumatised, of course. But I don't believe it can match even the most sanitised version of FGM.
Jessica clearly feels under attack from various people, and I am loathe to add to another woman's distress, but I feel given the denial of this very serious exchange it's ok to document it. Armed with trans rights activism-speak (although has fallen foul there, too), Pin went full steam into insulting feminists
Hibo did not 'like' tweets which were derogatory. The resolve of this woman to only entertain useful conversation and never react with anger is breathtaking, she is remarkably focused on positive action and has spectacular dignity. Strangely, Pin seems to be very happy to tell other women to stoic and take responsibility while perceiving every disagreement as an attack
The conversation veers off on to domestic violence and then back to FGM
After one woman explains she spent years being coerced sexually, Pin shared screenshots of her tweet and continued to talk about her in disparaging tones
For all of Pin's important work, she has quite a problem with feminism...
Back to Hibo
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What is Hibo doing to stop FGM? Other than painstakingly translating literature from Somali to English, word by word, as a young mother and refugee with poor English (then - not now!) in libraries, on her own, to write a book about it? And spending her whole life educating and pouring her heart out? Talking of her most intimate trauma?
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I stayed a while for the anecdotes...
'One lady' who knows that cosmetic surgery done under anaesthesia, for cosmetic reasons on adults, is somewhat different to cultural purity standards which require butchering of little girls without anaesthesia, without sterile equipment (the "cutters'" tools are sometimes considered sacred and are not even washed) that results in complete removal of external genitals, stitching up so only a tiny hole is left for menstruation and urination... Hibo, Jana, were subjected to FGM type 4 - infibulation. This is a specific human rights issue which deserves its own words and campaigns
I wish women like Miss Anthrope were heard more
How is mutilation to girl's genitals a deterrent from prostitution and promiscuity unless it renders sex painful (excruciating) and free of pleasure?
I don't know if I'd have the audacity to speak over an FGM survivor to say the intention is not causing suffering. It's all rather strange...
One thing which has been pointed out is Jessica's dad has a tendency to intervene in rows, messaging people to instruct them on how to behave. Incidentally, this just happened...
And towards the end, a knight in shining armour appears...
This continues, with accusations of FGM survivors being 'tokenised' to attack Pin and threads of tweets running into lettered and numbered points. But back to my exchange with Jessica:
So I'm now blocked. But yeah, if anyone believes I've unfairly misrepresented Jessica, let me know
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