via afrospear…
their own stories told in their voices (with english interpretation) from within their own culture speaks much more powerfully to me than the words of white and/or western wimmin/feminists/practitioners who stare upon these wimmin’s genitals with disdain and filter these wimmin’s experiences through virulent eurocentric racism. of course they don’t own film equipment or have the networking/promotions connections of a film production house…yet. but one day, the means of documenting their own stories will be in their own hands. still…this works for me in the meantime. don’t wanna hear/read and/or western white wimmin speaking with such familiarity and revulsion about black african wimmin’s genitals in a thoroughly self congratulatory condescending masturbatory fashion. wanna pay close attention to the choices they themselves make grounded in their own creative powerful intelligent cultural herstorical resistance. i support them as they decide which of their age old traditions they will dismantle.
she speaks from a place of courage pride knowledge and the world trembles:
“I hope all of you mothers have understood why you are here today. What about you fathers? What have you come to do? Can a girl undergo this rite of passage and say she is now a woman? Or will you still regard me as a young girl if I am not cut? No! What we have seen is so terrible to talk about in public, you would feel like closing your eyes. If you saw these things you would wonder what sort of person could do this? If we were to talk of this openly we would bring shame upon our mothers. I tell you mothers I am truly sorry for this milk has been spilt forever. We now know all the secrets and lies that you have been telling us. Now we know there is no shame in being un-cut. I refuse to witness my mother’s suffering and then to repeat the cycle. I have decided to set an example, I am going to be a role model. I will be an example!“
beauty. 🙂
if what you’re reading here grips you, holds you, fascinates you, provokes you, emboldens you, pushes you, galvanizes you, discomfits you, tickles you, enrages you so much that you find yourself returning again and again…then link me.
