“Everything was Taken Away Gambians Relate Their Anguish with the FGM Prohibition

Fatou Sanyang says she still suffers intense pain that seems like “hot water is being poured on me” decades after having female genital mutilation (FGM) done to her as a teenager in The Gambia.

The treatment, which includes removing all or part of a girl’s external genitalia, stirs up strong feelings in the small West African country. And last year, two babies died, which made the news. The UN and World Health Organization both say that FGM is a violation of human rights.

Still, religious traditionalists want to get rid of a restriction from 2015 that isn’t often implemented. The Supreme Court case they brought in December is set to start up again any day now. The court case is between Islamic authorities who say FGM is an important religious and cultural freedom and those who say it hurts women’s health, sexuality, and well-being.

Sanyang was told she will visit family when she was six. Instead, she ended up in an unfamiliar place “filled with old women,” who are traditional cutters in Gambian society. The 30-year-old added that “everything was removed” during the procedure, which was a reference to her external genitalia.

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