Cut: Exposing FGM Worldwide

More than a year ago, under the guidance of filmmaker John Chua, I watched this film, and for the first time came into contact with this cruel world that was completely different from my cultural environment. It is undeniable that for those ethnic groups and tribes that are prevalent in FGM, this is a sign of girls becoming women, and it is an inherent part of their ethnic and tribal culture and ethics.

However, as a woman, when I see FGM still exists in the world, I can only feel the creeps. What's more terrifying is that many women have gradually forgotten to resist in the highly masculine society and the long years, but have accepted FGM and implemented it on their daughters or younger generations. Sadly, just like the bad habits of foot-binding in ancient China, this is not something that can be solved by relying solely on policies and regulations and Western human rightsists. We still need a longer time to work.

I can't even be distracted for a moment when watching this documentary. I can't remember if I've ever heard of such a tragedy from any piece of news, but I'm sure I never realized how pervasive FGM is until I watched the film. It's an extreme tragedy to be born as woman in such a tradition, but it seems that living in a culture that treats women inhumanely has desensitized most women of that culture. We can find that a fixed and programmed culture has great control and restraint over the values, beliefs and behaviors of the people living in it, and it is extremely difficult to break out of such a cultural framework.

In addition, I also admire the prescient and revelatory nature of this documentary. If there is no resistance, tradition will always be orthodox, no matter it is righteous or evil, progressive or decaying. It is not easy to walk among different groups and communicate with people from different languages, cultures and beliefs. Therefore, I regard this documentary as a ray of light for the emancipation of women suffering from the torture of female circumcision. I hope this documentary can be known by more people, so as to play a larger role.

This documentary is shocking to me. I guess I am like many people who had only vaguely heard to FGM, and I think I had assumed it only happened in a small number of very remote areas and very primitive people and only to a small number of women and girls. For some reason, I assumed that this horrible, barbaric practice could not still be happening in the modern world. But obviously, the procedure is still very widespread. Even after watching this documentary, I am still in shock, and I simply can't believe that such a large number of people, men, and women, know about this and allowed it to happen. The misinformation and superstition that is used to justify this practice are difficult to understand. That governments don't prohibit this practice is hard to believe. There is no rule of law or, more importantly, enforcement of the rule of law to protect women and girls. I am saddened to live in a world where fathers and brothers allow this to happen to their wives, sisters, and daughters. Human ignorance and cruelty seem to have no limits

I watched this documentary when I was eating. However, the content made me feel that I can not eat any more because the topic was so tough.This movie made me realize that FGM is not a small incident, it is very common all over the world. The most frightening thing is that when I listen to them explain the reasons, I think what they said is actually very reasonable. If I were an obedient girl, I might also obey the demands of my elders and think this is an operation that everyone needs to do.I think we need to do more, just like this documentary filmed by Director Chua. We need to get more people to pay attention to this topic and let more people take action to resist such behavior. The most important thing is to let the new generation of young girls realize that this is the wrong operation and that they shouldn't have it.

I watched this brave documentary with my hands in front of my eyes at times. This film taught me about how widespread FGM is across the world; this knowledge is both harrowing and essential. The most compelling parts for me were the interviews with women who support this practice for their daughters. Sometimes even a grandmother mutilates her own granddaughter. Yet, I tried to put myself in their places and wondered if I might feel the same way if I had been raised in a culture that embraced the practice and never heard any objections. It's a scary thought. Another amazing section is where the documentarian goes undercover and pretends to be someone inquiring about the practice in a doctor's office. The hypocrisy and lies this scene exposes are unbelievable. This is a movie everyone should see.