Senegal-The Power to Change: Combating Female Genital Mutilation 2000
Distributed by Filmakers Library, 124 East 40th Street, New York, NY 10016; 212-808-4980
Produced by G.I. Polden for NRK
Directed by Gird Inger Polden
VHS, color, 29 min.
Adult
Women's Studies, Multicultural Studies
Date Entered: 11/09/2018
Reviewed by Jennifer Byrnes, Hospital Library Services Program, Western New York Library Resources CouncilSenegal—The Power to Change describes a grassroots movement that spread throughout villages of Senegal against female genital mutilation (FGM). The female villagers were educated on women’s health and human rights. Armed with information, they were then able to voice their opposition of FGM to the male village elders.
The film discusses the movement against FGM that started in 1997 when the Malicounda village publicly announced it would ban the long-standing custom. By 1999 the Senegal government unanimously agreed to legally ban the practice.
The film does a disservice to the issue of FGM, as it never explains what FGM is and why it is practiced. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines FGM as “procedures which involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or any other non-therapeutic reasons.”
WHO provides a classification system, ranging in severity, for the different types of FGM practiced. In Type I the prepuce is excised “with or without excision of part or all of the clitoris.” In Type II the prepuce and clitoris are excised “with partial or total excision of the labia minora.” Type III, the most severe, entails excision of the external genitalia and “stitching/narrowing of the vaginal opening.”
In terms of why FGM is performed, the film merely states that it is a “tradition.” FGM is strongly rooted in the oppression of women. According to WHO, it is performed for a variety of reasons, including aesthetic reasons, hygiene, family honor, purification, protection of virginity and prevention of promiscuity, and increased sexual pleasure for the husband.
The numerous physical and psychological consequences of FGM are both short and long term. The resulting physical and emotional scars are where the true atrocity lies. The film glosses over the health complications and fails to address the psychological aspects.
Although the film focuses on methods to eradicate FGM, viewers cannot truly appreciate this process without a firm understanding of the problem. This film may be more useful in conjunction with other films that thoroughly discuss FGM such as the Channel Four production Rites.
Not Recommended
REFERENCES
- World Health Organization. Department of Women’s Health. Female Genital Mutilation Information Kit. 1999. http://www.who.int/frh-whd/PDFfiles/FGM_info_pack.pdf.
- Rites. Sydney: SBS. Triple Vision production for Channel Four. 1990.