FGM in Sembene’s Moolaadé
Moolaadé, directed by the Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene and released in 2004,tells the story of a group of young African Muslim girls who have refused to undergo a “purification” ceremony in an...
View ArticleFGM in Kristof and WuDunn’s Half the Sky
After watching Moolaadé, I recalled that I had come across a story several months ago of how FGM is combated in Senegal in Kristof and WuDunn’s Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for...
View ArticleWho Will Defend the Defenders? Gambian Activists Face Smear Campaign
Dr. Isatou Touray and Amie Bojang Sissoho are two prominent women’s human rights defenders in the Gambia. They are the executive director and program coordinator of the Gambia Committee for Traditional...
View ArticleSarabah Reviewed: Sister Fa and FGM in Senegal
Sarabah follows the life of Senegalese rapper Fatou Mandiang Diatta, better known as Sister Fa, and her quest to address female genital mutilation (FGM)* in her village in Senegal. After releasing her...
View ArticleHalf the Sky Documentary Revisited: Somaliland
My review of the Half the Sky documentary for MMW last month made little mention of any redeeming aspects of the film. On the whole, I felt that the film was sadly overshadowed by the American...
View Article“A Tiny Cut”: Female Circumcision in Southeast Asia
I once asked my mother why boys had to be circumcised, but girls didn’t. Growing up in Singapore in the 1990s, it was more common for boys to be circumcised at the age of 7 or 9, where it resembled...
View ArticleFriday Links
How to keep a hijab on when skydiving in Dubai? A Canadian female skydiving instructor discusses how Muslim women can experience all the excitement in the emirate of Dubai. What made a young...
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