In the recent past we have had very many women speaking of their horrific experiences with female genital mutilation. Girls and survivors from all over the world have shared their experiences on the hands of mutilators and the pain they had to undergo thereafter while, having sex and delivering among other complications. Well this is very good, it passes information very well and makes people understand how bad FGM is. I assure you this is duplicated in most of the anti-FGM campaigns that happen all over the world. Women take the centre stage in most of them. Back in rural areas in most cases we target girls in schools, churches and all over to sensitize them on FGM.
The question begs when will we get men to share part of their story? When do we get men to own this problem of FGM in the society? Most men feel that that FGM is a women issue and they should not be involved , is this where we are going wrong in our fight? Are we encouraging this feeling by not giving men room to share part of their story? I long for that day when men will stand up in community meetings and conferences all over the world and share how they lost their spouses and daughters to complications as a result of FGM. The day we will have young men sharing how they lost their sisters, cousins and friends to FGM.
The fact is; if all men said no to FGM today then this battle will be over once and for all. Then why do we still continue to ignore them in this fight? If we have to achieve an FGM free generation that we so yearn for then it’s the high time we got our men and especially youths involved in this fight. I believe men have their stories too and we need to massage their egos by giving them a platform to express themselves on this issue hence #MenENDFGM.
