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WARNING: This story contains details about female genital mutilation/cutting
Shamsa Sharawe was six years old when she became convinced that her family was going to kill her.
“It felt so violent and so… just horrible,” she said. “I just thought, why? If you’re not trying to end my life, why would you do this?”
In a TikTok video that has been viewed more than 11 million times, Sharawe recounts the moment she was subjected to female genital mutilation, a practice that was normalized and celebrated in the Somali village where she was born.
In the video, she holds up a white rose and a razor blade, pinches and cuts off the petals, then roughly sews the remnants together.
“The feeling of being fucked alive, awake, is something I will never be able to describe,” said Sharawe, who now lives in the UK, just north of London.
Sharawe was a victim of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), which World Health Organisation is defined as “the partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genitalia for nonmedical reasons.” It may include cutting the clitoris and removing or suturing the labia together.
In addition to the severe pain, heavy bleeding and the risk of infection or death, physical and psychological complications can also occur in the long term.
A UNICEF update shows that there are approximately 230 million victims of female genital mutilation worldwide. An estimated four million girls are subjected to the practice each year, mainly in African countries, followed by Asia and the Middle East, but survivors can live anywhere.
Survivors and activists are calling for better support for a community they say is vastly underserved, especially those living in countries where FGM/C is not a traditional practice. They are calling for access to reconstructive surgeries, better mental health services, and more in-depth education for health care professionals, both in Canada and abroad.
“[People] “I naively see this as something that only happens on the African continent, which is absolutely not true,” said Alisa Tukkimaki, national director of the End FGM Canada Network.
Increase in reported casualties
Sharawe’s grandmother took her to church to be circumcised, but she said her family had no bad intentions.
“These women are programmed and brainwashed to continue this practice, even though they are survivors themselves,” she said in an interview with CBC.
No religious text promotes or condones FGM/C and it is widely recognized as a violation of human rights. Yet there is a 15 percent Global increase in the number of reported victims since 2016.
In areas where more than 90 percent of girls and women aged 15 to 49 who have undergone FGM/C, such as Somalia, Guinea and Djibouti, the procedure is embedded in many of their cultures. Sharawe said girls in her village who did not undergo FGM/C were bullied and excluded from society.
“They made it seem like this is a great thing and that you’re going to be respected and loved,” the 31-year-old activist said. “And somehow everything that needs to be removed is dirty.”
Sharawe moved to the UK in 2001 when her family fled the civil war in Somalia.
But there was one thing she couldn’t escape.
“As a child I couldn’t handle this, and even as an adult I couldn’t handle this,” she said, describing how the chronic pain from her FGM was so debilitating that it hurt to sit down or even wear underwear.
Shamsa Sharawe, 31, was a victim of female genital mutilation as a child in the Somali village where she was born. She now lives in the UK but recently paid for reconstructive surgery in Germany and is calling for more support for survivors.
Reconstructive surgery not available in the UK
Sharawe underwent a variant of FGM/C in which her clitoris glans, labia majora and labia minora were removed. The remaining skin was then stitched together, leaving a pin-sized hole at the vaginal opening.
“My whole life I felt less than a woman,” she said. “I felt like half a woman.”
After years of health problems, another survivor told her about a type of surgery that reduces pain and provides more sensation in the clitoris.
Dr. Dan mon O’Dey was the pioneer of this microsurgery. In this, the vaginal opening is widened to normal conditions and the entire vulva is reconstructed, including the labia. The nerves of the origin of the clitoris are freed from scars and cysts.
“The point has been faked,” said O’Dey, founder and director of the Center for Reconstructive Surgery of Female Sexual Characteristics at Luisenhospital in Aachen, Germany.
“The nerves can sprout from inside the tissue,” he added.
O’Dey said he performs as many as four of these surgeries a week and that there is a waiting list of up to a year and a half to undergo one of his surgeries. He said he has operated on FGM/C survivors who have traveled from all over the world, but primarily from Europe.
Sharawe spent months raising money on GoFundMe to pay for the procedure, but she is still in debt after other related expenses. She is scheduled to have her surgery in December 2023.
“I’m happy with the way it looks, with the functionality of it,” Sharawe said. “I tested the engine and it works perfectly.”
Sharawe said she had undergone surgery partly to “prove a point” to the British government, to show that while FGM is illegal and not traditionally practiced in the UK, there are still survivors living in the country. Support systems, she said, such as access to reconstructive surgery, should be in place.
There is no data available on the number of survivors of FGM/C in the UK. The nearest estimate was published by the National Health Service England. most recent VGV/C reportIt shows that almost 38,000 women and girls who had experienced FGM/C were seen on the NHS “where FGM/C was relevant to their attendance” from April 2015 to March 2024.
Survivors in Canada receive no support, doctor says
Reconstructive surgeries of one kind or another are also performed in Canada.
Dr. Angela Deane is a gynecologist, obstetrician, and surgeon who practices at North York General Hospital in Toronto. Although she uses a different technique than O’Dey, her procedures can also include clitoral reconstructive surgery.
In a questionnaire Deane conducted a survey of Canadian health care professionals published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada, which found that over 90 percent reported that they had not received adequate training on FGM/C.
“The consequences of female genital mutilation are profound, variable and very personal,” said Deane, who is also an assistant professor at the University of Toronto.
“So it’s really important that as we advocate for more surgical care, we need people who are really good at talking about this issue from a medical perspective, and especially from a mental health perspective.”
Although it is difficult to trace due to the culturally sensitive nature of FGM/C, there is evidence that many survivors live in Canada, where it is also illegal. Sharawe said she has family members in the country who have experienced FGM/C.
Canada is home to many diasporas from areas where FGM is traditionally practiced. Statistics Canada states that approximately 94,900 to 161,400 women and girls in the country may have experienced female genital mutilation, or are at risk of experiencing it in the future.
“It’s a huge global problem that Canada and the people who live in Canada are facing,” Deane said.
Eliminating VGV/VB through education and awareness
Sharawe says she is still regularly asked by medical professionals whether she will subject her 10-year-old daughter to female genital mutilation.
“I got an education and reprogrammed my mind,” she said.
“I said no when she was five. I said no when she was six. I said no when she was seven,” she added. “How long are you going to criminalize me?”
VGV/VVB is a multi-layered problem, but education is one way to eradicate it. UNICEF statesMore education for children at risk of FGM/C can create safe spaces to encourage discussions about the dangers associated with the practice and the right to consent.
Furthermore, more training for medical professionals would provide more facilities to properly treat survivors of FGM/C.
“We have to protect the next generation,” Sharawe said. “If we don’t, we are just as guilty as the person holding the knife.”
