Opinion
As I often remind readers, what the media won’t tell you is often more critical than what they do. Most often what they won’t tell you about are certain chosen racial or religious groups.
For instance, when media report on alarming rates of child marriage in certain states, they carefully omit any mention that child marriages are almost exclusive to certain, ahem, communities.
As are other horrors inflicted on young girls.
Police in Sierra Leone are investigating the deaths of three girls who underwent female genital mutilation (FGM).
Adamsay Sesay, 12; Salamatu Jalloh, 13; and Kadiatu Bangura, 17, died during initiation ceremonies in the country’s North West province last month, according to local reports.
Make no mistake, FGM is horrific. The old favoured term, “female circumcision”, was an anodyne euphemism that tried to draw a false parallel with male circumcision.
FGM involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, and is considered a violation of women’s and girls’ human rights. In 2012 the UN passed a resolution to ban it, but it is still practised in about 30 countries.
Which countries? Don’t ask — they don’t want to tell you.
Despite calls from activists and human rights advocates for the practice to be criminalised – including from the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls – it remains legal in Sierra Leone. A national survey in 2019 found that 83% of women had undergone FGM, a slight drop from 90% in 2013.
The procedure is part of a traditional initiation ritual that marks a girl’s entry into womanhood. It is carried out by soweis, senior members of the all-women Bondo secret societies.
The Guardian
Although the Bondo, or Sande, societies are a long tradition in Sierra Leone, the particular practice of FGM is closely linked to the country’s dominant Muslim religion. What is likely is that older, animist traditions (I’ll spare you the details of what some Australian Aboriginal traditional law forces on young girls) fused with Islam, where FGM is either mandatory or strongly recommended. The result is the horrors inflicted on young girls such as Adamsay, Salamatu and Kadiatu.
For those tempted to screech, as the media routinely do, that it’s Nothing To Do With Islam™, why is it that “the predominantly Christian Sierra Leone Creole people are the only ethnicity in Sierra Leone not known to practice FGM or participate in bondo/sande society rituals”?
The nexus between FGM and Islam is undeniable.
In the year 2012, the United Nations passed a resolution imposing a ban on it. However, it is still practised in nearly 30 countries.
WION News
Notice anything in common about those countries?
Nothing to see, here.