Book review: When the girl-child dies

A review of Titilope Adefunke Laniran’s ‘Save The Girls: The Tragic Truth About Female Genital Mutilation’ By Folorunsho Moshood

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been identified as the greatest act of brutality against girlhood, womanhood and motherhood. It kills the spirit in the soul of the feminine gender because of the excruciating pain, physical torture, psychological trauma and complications arising from it. One of the reasons put forward to justify FGM by its practitioners is that it curbs promiscuity in girls and infidelity in women. FGM is the cutting of the external tip of the clitoris, which may create a hole in the vagina, leading to many health consequences.

In some parts of the world, this harmful cultural practice is carried out to rush the Girl-Child into womanhood with funfair in a carnival-like atmosphere. In some instances, the woman dies right from the formative stage of the Girl-Child. And when the Girl-Child dies, a nation is buried with her.

The book, ‘Save The Girls: The Tragic Truth About Female Genital Mutilation’, written objectively by Titilope Adefunke Laniran and published in 2021 by OAK Initiative the UK, reveals the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about this harmful cultural practice called FGM

The preface shows what motivated Titilope to pen this 81-page seminal book, ‘The primary motivation for writing this book is to draw attention to the sheer level of violence that girls and women are subjected to in the name of genital mutilation’. The preface also reveals five thought-provoking questions that this book,which is an evidence-based research work, provides answers to.

In all, the book is divided into eight distinct chapters, and each chapter deals with different subject matters that are weaved together into a seminal book. Chapter one, ‘The Practice of Female Genital Mutilation’, pops up with a general introduction about FGM. The author poignantly reveals the incidence of this harmful practice among the womenfolk as contained in the 2016 data by UNICEF’. In this chapter, the vivid description of how FGM is carried out and the explanation of terminologies to enhance the reader’s understanding about FGM connect such a reader to the excruciating experience a Girl-Child passes through in the process of having her clitoris cut with sharp instruments.

Since some healthcare professionals are also carrying out this practice, Titilope opines that irrespective of who performs FGM or where it is performed, it will still involve the removal and damage of valuable and normal tissues in the bodies of the victims causing grievous bodily harm to them. Chapter one also addresses, ‘Why is Female Genital Mutilation Carried Out?’, ‘Origins of FGM’, and ‘How it was practised in Ancient Times’.

Chapter two, ‘The Cultural Dynamics of FGM’ takes the reader through a long debate on whether FGM originated as a religious rite or a strong cultural practice and resolves the debate through empirical evidence that rejects religious coloration of FGM.  However, the author believes that FGM is a feminine issue because girls and women are seen as mere objects of men’s sexual desire coupled with the fact that the patriarchal society and its wanton ideology always prefer and favour the boy-child in the scheme of things.

Chapter three x-rays ‘The Health Consequences of FGM’, which is divided into three – short term consequences, long term consequences and consequences at childbirth. Violent pain, Haemorrhage, Lesions to neighbouring organs, urine retention, acute and tetanus infections among others are short term consequences of FGM while complication during childbirth, Anaemia, Formation of cysts and abscesses, Keloid scar formation, Damage of the urethra resulting in urinary incontinence, Dyspareunia, Sexual dysfunction, among others, are long term consequences. However, the consequences at childbirth are Episiotomy, Extended Hospital Stay, Post-Partum Haemorrhage, Prolonged and Obstructed Labour, Foetal Death, Obstetric Fistula among others.

From chapter four, ‘Saving the Girl-Child: FGM and the Law’ to the last chapter, ‘Current and Future Impacts of Activism Against FGM’, the author unleashes her activism potential on the reader. Titilope expertly explains FGM within the context of local and international legal instruments including relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She sufficiently covers the following thematic areas, Gender Discrimination, Human Rights Violation, Gender Inequality, Social Oppression and Child-Abuse. Most of these legal instruments that defined these thematic areas can also be used to protect the Girl-Child from this harmful cultural practice.

Educators always present FGM as a key barrier to girls’ education, but in her own empirical finding, Titilope sees the education of the Girl-Child as one of the key strategies to end FGM. This is logical because an educated mother will never succumb to the fear that usually pushes uneducated mothers to do the unthinkable to their beloved daughters.

Apart from the fact that Titlope proffers many ways of putting an end to FGM towards the concluding chapters that read like ‘Eradication, Control and Management of FGM’, she uses the storytelling genre to arrest the interest of the reader. Three powerful short stories about survivors of FGM are told expertly by Titilope like a griot. From the story of the Kagwe sisters to that of Nike Adeojo and from there to that of Stella, the settings are different, but the storylines are the same – victimsturned to victors!

Titlope has taken the findings of her research about FGM to a level of appropriate significance. This is a great book about a global contemporary issue that some cultural bigots and profiteers would rather sweep under the carpet of their misconceptions. Even if FGM is finally eradicated, it would continue to be relevant to the present and the future contextual and conceptual frameworks of gender, feminism, women’s rights, education, sexuality, culture and tradition. A nation only dies when the souls of its women are buried. This is a must-read for social workers, policy makers and gender activists.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

FALSE! Yoruba Not An Official Language In Brazil

Claim: A national newspaper and multiple online platforms claim Brazil has adopted Yoruba as its official language and that the language would be included in primary and secondary schools curriculum.

Verdict: The claim is false. The content of the article published by these online platforms is not new; it has been recirculated several times and has been debunked.

Viral Voice Note On WhatsApp Billing False

Claim: A viral WhatsApp voice note, purportedly made by the director and CEO of WhatsApp, claims users will have to start paying for WhatsApp services.

Verdict: The viral WhatsApp voice note claim is a hoax. The content is not new and has been circulated as a broadcast message several times in the past.

Marburg Virus: What You Need To Know About Disease Recently Detected In West Africa

On Monday, August 9, 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed the first case of Marburg virus in West Africa in Guinea. This development has sent shivers down the spines of West Africans who are still grappling with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. But before this dreaded disease is greeted by rumours and misinformation, here is what you have to know about the virus.

FACT CHECK: US Did Not Give Nigeria 48 Hours Ultimatum To Detain Abba Kyari

CLAIM: Several social media posts claim the United States of America (USA) gave Nigeria’s Federal Government 48 hours to detain suspended Deputy Police Commissioner, Abba Kyari, or face severe sanctions.

VERDICT: The claim is false and misleading. The US did not give Nigerian Federal Government 48 hours ultimatum to detain Abba Kyari.