WhatFinger


Female genital mutilation or female circumcision

Woman from Mali who underwent circumcision fights for asylum



SILVER SPRING, Md. - Alima Traore doesn't remember when part of her genitals was removed as a young child in her native Mali. But even at 29, she still lives with the consequences.

Support Canada Free Press


There's the pain, the fear of future medical problems, and a persistent feeling that she has been robbed of an important element of being a woman. "It is like some part of you is taken away. I don't feel complete at all," she said of the practice, meant to suppress sexual desires and maintain the honor of young girls. "A woman is complete when you have all parts of your body." Traore, whose student visa expired, now faces deportation and the unsavory prospect of submitting to an arranged marriage with her first cousin if she returns home to Mali in West Africa. She claims the procedure she underwent, often referred to as female genital mutilation or female circumcision, is proof that she will suffer in Mali. She says the common practice is an example of a society where men dominate women. But her petitions for asylum have so far been rejected by immigration courts and the Justice Department, which on April 14 denied her request for reconsideration. Traore has also filed an appeal with the federal Fourth Circuit of Appeals, a case that remains open. More...


View Comments

Guest Column -- Bio and Archives

Items of notes and interest from the web.


Sponsored