The other day I just wanted to kick back.
So I curled up to watch a movie I'd chosen from Netflix
after barely skimming the description which said something about a young girl in Africa who escapes an arranged marriage and becomes a super model.
It sounded good...triumph over hardship, and pretty people in pretty clothes.
Had I read the description for Desert Flower a little closer I would have seen the words,
female, genital, mutilation
By time I understood where the movie was taking me
I was already caught up in the miraculous and inspirational story of Waris Dirie....
a female of courage and grace.
It's a wonderful move....and there are pretty clothes.
but there are heartbreaking minutes too...
a scene I couldn't watch.
Waris was born into a nomad family living near the border of
Ethiopia in the Somali desert in 1965.
At 13 she escaped her marriage by walking across the desert..
after many trials she makes it to London where she is discovered
and becomes a super-super model.
But what she didn't escape was having her clitoris,
and both major and minor labia cut from her when she was 5 years old..
These parts of her were fed to the birds.
Then she was stitched up with thorn as a needle
leaving only a hole the size of a match head.
There was no pain killer.
As though that torture weren't enough her legs were then bound together until her wounds healed.
the wounds to her soul never healed.....
This is what is known as extreme female circumcision
and it is happening to little girls all over the world,
including America and the United Kingdom where the practice is on the rise.....
both Muslims and Christians practice this horror
it is estimated that 8000 girls are cut everyday
because ''what is down there is dirty''
...this practice assures virtue and prevents sexual enjoyment.
It increases the girls marriageability....
on her marriage night her husband simply cuts through the scar tissue
and forces penetration
It boggles the mind. Makes my heart sick
I knew about female circumcision but averted my eyes.
I can't anymore
The Waris Dirie Foundation.
Posts
.jpg){kind=small}
2 comments:
Ain't no way I'm going to watch either of the films you provided. I know that all Moslems aren't a brutal pox on the earth, but enough of them are with their gender mutilations, beheadings, Sharia laws, fatwahs, beekeeper costumes, holy wars, 72 virgins, and sundry other persecutions, hatreds, and stupidities; that I can't think of another group I so despise.
Thanks for bringing this movie to my attention ... I will watch it ... and remember that only love is strong enough to change what we can't comprehend.
Post a Comment