First Girl Summit To End FGM: What Does Freedom Mean To You?

What DOES freedom mean to you?

Is it the right to vote? Having access to the same business opportunities as our husbands? The ability to walk down the street without whistling and catcalls?

How about the right to marry for love? Or to save vital parts of your anatomy from being arbitrarily sliced off?

On the morning of Girl Summit 2014: the first conference of its kind here in the UK, aimed at tackling female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage, we join #GirlSummit supporters in asking, what does freedom mean to us?

More Than You Even Know

For many of you, FGM - the practice of removing some or all of the external female genitalia - will seem impertinent to the UK's political agenda. A concept removed from your sphere of existence by culture and geography.

Sadly, you very likely know someone who has suffered FGM.

With an estimated 66,000 women living with the results of female genital mutilation in the UK and a further 20,000 girls at risk each year, it is more than in your sphere, it is on your doorstep.

And that isn't to mention the 125 million women who have been "cut" globally.

A Horrifying Truth

Even those who are hazily aware of the problem of FGM are poorly acquainted with the details.

While, historically, it has been labelled a "circumcision", it bares no real ressemblance to the removal of foreskin and certainly isn't intended to reduce the health complications of the patient.

It is a surgical procedure, carried out for non-medical reasons, intended to permanently alter (mutilate) the female genitals, to the point where sexual intercourse becomes, at best, devoid of pleasure and at most, excruciating and impossible.

The many possible ramifications of FGM include kidney impairment, infertility, painful scar tissue, damage to the urethra (making it difficult to urinate), prolapses and chronic infection.

That it is illegal in the UK does not prevent it from happening. Every year, young girls are either flown to countries where the practice is legal or they are subjected to horrifying illicit operations.

Freedom

So while we worried, as younger women, about our right to keep our mobile phones on us during lessons, or whether wearing a short skirt opened the floodgates for verbal abuse from the boys, there were others quietly suffering much greater injustices.

Demanding Change

Young girls are easily one of the most vulnerable social groups globally.

This, combined with the fact that FGM concerns such a delicate area, means that many of their voices are never heard, even once they reach adulthood.

Victims and potential victims of FGM need people to speak up for them.

The summit, hosted by both David Cameron and UNICEF will hopefully work towards a firmer, decisive plan of action in the UK.

But you too can do your bit.

The first step, as ever, is to arm yourself with education.

You can read more about FGM and its impact in the UK on the NHS website.

And you can add to the thousands of pledges which are being shared on Twitter with the hashtag '#GirlSummit'.

 [Over 100,000 Sign Petition To Educate About FGM In Schools]

[HappyPlayTime App That Educates About Female Sexual Anatomy Rejected By Apple]