Video - Egyptian Theater Student Explains Refusal to Undergo FGM Despite Pressure: Your Body Is Your Own.

Egyptian Theater Student Explains Refusal to Undergo FGM Despite Pressure: Your Body Is Your Own.(Memri).

Iman Hussein, an Egyptian theater student, was interviewed by the Egyptian DMC TV channel on the issue of female circumcision. She recounted that at the age of 10 or 11, she had discussed it with her mother and told her that this was her "own private matter," resisting pressure mounted by relatives and acquaintances. Hussein sent a message to young girls: "Your body is yours... In order to avoid the pain of sexual harassment, FGM, or things like that, you must confront it with all your might." The interview aired on February 12.

Iman Hussein: I was raised in a place called Bashayer, where my mother used to work. We were educated against FGM, and I knew my rights on this matter. Later, when I went to school, my friends were undergoing this operation. I told my mother that my friends at school were undergoing female circumcision, and I started discussing this with her. I told her that this was wrong because this is a part of the body. My mother always said to me: "This is your body, and nobody can touch it."

First Interviewer: How old were you?

Iman Hussein: I was 10 or 11 years old.

First Interviewer: At such a young age...

Second Interviewer: Right.

Iman Hussein: Then my mother's friends at work started to ask her: "Why haven't you done the operation to your daughters yet?" Some of our family members, like my grandmother, also raised the issue. I said to my mother then: "This is up to me. You can't do this." I'm into theater, and I watched some shows about FGM...

First Interviewer: And you must have heard stories from your friends at school.

Iman Hussein: Yes, one of them told me that she could not move for 3 or 4 days, and was hemorrhaging. Stuff like that. I was very scared, and I tried to imagine myself in such a situation. Besides, I am small, not like my friends, who are...

Second Interviewer: You are petite.

Iman Hussein: Yes... My mother's friends and our relatives told me that after the operation, my body would develop and I would put on some weight. But I didn't want that. I wanted to stay the way I am. This is my own private matter. So I told my mother that I was not doing this. She was also against it, but every now and again, she would say: Maybe we should consult a doctor? But I said: No way. What doctor are you talking about?! Why should I let a doctor see me? This is my own private matter.

Second Interviewer: Iman, we'd like to hear your message to girls your age or younger, who might find themselves in this situation one day.

Iman Hussein: Your body is yours. You are the one who will have to deal with the pain and everything. In order to avoid the pain of sexual harassment, FGM, or things like that, you must confront it with all your might. Our body deserves to be protected from these things.

Second Interviewer: I salute your courage and your position against all the pressure.

1 female genital mutilation case reported every 96 minutes in England.

1 female genital mutilation case reported every 96 minutes in England. (RT).

Cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) are being reported at a rate of one every 96 minutes in England, according to the latest official health figures.

Data released on Friday shows that between October 2014 and September 2015, 5,484 cases of FGM were reported to authorities. Experts suggest the actual number of cases may be far higher.

London had the highest level of reported cases, with 758 flagged over the year. The Midlands and east of England came second with a combined 227 cases brought to the attention of authorities.

Female genital mutilation involves some or all of a girl’s exterior sexual organs, particularly the clitoris, being surgically removed or stitched up for non-medical purposes. At its most severe, FGM can make sex and urination painful and can lead to a host of other medical problems.

The data, compiled by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, was released ahead of Saturday’s International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM. The cases themselves are those reported to medics this year, but many were carried out years ago.

Plan UK chief executive Tanya Barron said the full scale of FGM in England had been hidden until now.

“FGM has been a hidden danger – only now is the full scale becoming clear. “Recognizing that FGM is a fundamental abuse of girls’ rights is the first step to ending the practice.”

FGM survivor Nimco Ali, who later set up Daughters of Eve, which works to prevent FGM, explained that stopping the practice was possible, even within families who see it as tradition.

“FGM is a brutal practice, but it is also a very simple one to end. If you stop one woman having FGM done to her, then you break that link and prevent it being done to the next generation.
“I came from a family that was 100 percent FGM and that has gone down to zero in a generation. It is something that can be ended.
“We are finally shaking the taboo of FGM, but we have to be vigilant and cannot be complacent,” she added.

Ali also said FGM should be included in sex and relationship education in British schools.

Human rights organization Equality Now estimates 137,000 women and girls in the UK have suffered FGM. However, spokesman Brendan Wayne said the figures are “just to tip of the iceberg.”

90% of Egyptian Women Suffer From Female Genital Cutting Despite Ban.

90% of Egyptian Women Suffer From Female Genital Cutting Despite Ban. (ES).

The 2015 Egypt Health Issues Survey (EHIS) has found that around 9 in 10 women aged 15-49 have undergone female genital cutting (also known as female genital mutilation) despite a government ban on the practice.

The report is the second time ever a survey has recorded the prevalence of FGM among all Egyptian women aged 15-49. Previous studies focused on the prevalence of the custom among women who had been married or who are married.

*FGM, which the 2015 EHIS says have been a tradition in Egypt since the Pharaonic period, remains widespread across Egypt but is expected to decline. For example, seven in 10 women aged 15-19 have been circumcised compared to eight in 10 women aged 20-24. However, for women between the ages of 25-49, the percentage of women who have been circumcised ranges from 89 to 97 percent.

Comparing the results to the 2008 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS), there has been a four percent decline in the overall rate of FGM for women aged 15-49.

The study also found differences between rates of FGM depending on whether women lived in rural or urban areas and the level of education they have received. For example, fewer than eight in 10 urban women have undergone female genital cutting compared with more than nine in 10 rural women. 

Meanwhile, women with no education are most likely to have undergone FGM (98 percent) while women with education and greater wealth are less likely to have been circumcised (70 percent).

Additionally, the study found that virtually all of the women who were surveyed had been circumcised before the age of 15, with half the circumcisions being carried out by traditional birth attendants and 42 percent by trained medical personnel despite the government’s ban.

As for why FGM levels remain high in Egypt, the survey found that many parents believe that female circumcision is required by religion. 59 percent of men agreed that FGM should continue, compared to 54 percent of women.


The 2015 EHIS was conducted on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Population and is part of the DHS Program which is funded by USAID and supported by UNICEF and UNFPA.

Despite a large number of men and women surveyed believing that FGM is condoned by Islam, Egypt’s top Islamic authority has condemned the act as ‘un-Islamic’ and ‘barbaric’. Previous studies have found the phenomenon is not necessarily linked to Islam, with Christian women also having undergone FGM.

Egypt banned FGM in 2008. Article 242 of Egypt’s Penal Code criminalizes the circumcision of girls and the punishment for performing FGM is a prison sentence ranging from three months to two years or a fine of EGP 5,000.

Hmmm........* My guess the pharaonic circumcision mention is just not to point at Islam.

While the term infibulation has its roots in ancient Rome, where female slaves had fibulae (broochs) pierced through their labia to prevent them from getting pregnant, a widespread assumption places the origins of female genital cutting in pharaonic Egypt.

This would be supported by the contemporary term "pharaonic circumcision." The definition, however, might be misleading. While there's evidence of male circumcision in Old Kingdom Egypt, there is none for female.

"This was not common practice in ancient Egypt. There is no physical evidence in mummies, neither there is anything in the art or literature. It probably originated in sub-saharan Africa, and was adopted here later on," Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, told Discovery News.

@MFS001 It came to Sudan and subsaharan Africans from Arab invaders of Egypt.

— COPTIC NATIONALISM (@DioscorusBoles) December 10, 2015