My Sisters and I Are Circumcised - Linda Ikeji Reveals.

It's no longer news that this delectable blogger has suffered a fate most girls in her shoes would have remained distablized for the rest of their life. She was genitally mutilated at such a tender age of three. What is her own stake in the issue that she experienced Female Genital Mutilation we only hear of from a distance. Before you read her open and honest interview, let's briefly look at the the definition of female circumcision...

.Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female circumcision or female genital cutting, is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons".

"Mama tied a blindfold over my eyes. The next thing I felt my flesh was being cut away. I heard the blade sawing back and forth through my skin. The pain between my legs was so intense I wished I would die."

Waris Dirie, UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and spokesperson on FGM

It is estimated that approximately 100-140 million African women have undergone FGM worldwide and each year, a further 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk of the practice in Africa alone.

The procedure is traditionally carried out by an older woman with no medical training. Anaesthetics and antiseptic treatment are not generally used and the practice is usually carried out using basic tools such as knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass and razor blades. Often iodine or a mixture of herbs is placed on the wound to tighten the vagina and stop the bleeding. Laaaaaaaawd!

Read a part of Linda's interview below..

How old are you?

33

Any regular reader of your blog would know some things about you which most people would call personal. As one of them, I know you are single and searching. Why do you share such personal details with your readers?
Everybody knows I’m single. I’m always saying it, I’m desperate.

The issue of female genital mutilation is something you’ve shared with your readers and some may feel it’s a bit too personal to be out there. Why did you do share it?
That is not private, that is something I can share with anybody. It’s like saying if you were raped then keep quiet. A lot of women would keep quiet but I won’t keep quiet, that is how I am. I don’t know how to keep such things to myself, I have to say it. I feel like you have one life to live, why would you go to your grave with all those kind of information.

When were you circumcised? 
I don’t know. I was circumcised as a baby that is all.

I was Circumcised. Me and all my five sisters. When I said this on my 'Faking it', post, people lauded my courage for openly admitting to being circumcised. Then I started wondering if it's something to be ashamed of?

I've heard all kinds of negative things being said about female genital mutilation, but I've never paid much attention to it. Why? Because it was done to me...and my sisters...so thinking about how callous and wicked it is to cut a female's genital part, is thinking my parents are wicked and callous. Two people I love most in the world.

I first heard about FGM in secondary school when some girls were discussing sex. I remember vividly a particular classmate saying circumcised girls don't enjoy sex, circumcision means your ability to enjoy sex has been cut off. I reflected at that moment and remembered that someone, maybe my older sister, once told me we were all circumcised.

The thought of never enjoying sex was so horrific to me that I went out of my way to discover the truth about circumcision. I asked around and one trusted older relation told me the theory was baseless as she was circumcised and enjoyed sex. I heaved a sigh of relief and never thought about it again.

I remember asking my mum why she circumcised us and she said circumcision was to stop girls from being promiscuous. When I really think of it, my mum didn't particularly believe in it, but when you have a kid in the village, the family do what they think is necessary for/to the child. I think my mum didn't have a say about the circumcision being done to all her girls, it was the norm then, so she must have just played along.

Don’t you think making such information public would turn off your prospective suitors?
Who cares. If it turns them off then they are not the people meant for me. The person that is meant for me would be turned on by it.

Well done girl, I respect your honesty.

Pls do they still do this barbaric act, female circumcision in the world of today?