Amnesty International's Campaign Against Female Genital Mutiliation

[_jeremiad]

I saw this on feministing.com this morning and I really like these. The flower imagery is especially powerful, I think. Possibly bordering on stereotypical (isn't the vulva as flower a classic literary trope?), but in this case, I believe it's more than appropriate.

What do you all think?

Here and Here

Comments

[teresina]

I have less faith in people and I don't think they will get what the flowers represent. I'm afraid they'll just be like, "Oh a flower" and not read the rest of the poster.

I think that people would have a bigger impact than flowers.

[teresina]

Like I said, I don't have much faith in people.

And I doubt a lot of people know what the amnesty icon looks like/means.

[_jeremiad]

I can see that.

I wonder if the metaphor might have more of an impact, however, for at least two reasons. One, there have been campaigns with individuals before and some people might find it easier to dismiss individuals because showing someone's face doesn't really show the destruction beneath. Two, for people within that culture (I'm not even sure if that's the audience AI is targeting, but I'll throw it out there), they might find it easy to dismiss individuals as traitors to the culture or people who don't really get it anyway.

I also think metaphors can be more powerful than individuals because metaphors are better at conveying ideas and abstract concepts than people are. The beauty of a rose has a near-universal meaning (if that's wrong, someone call me out on it), that singular individuals do not. Sewing a rose shut could have a more immediate impact (and also arouse more curiousity) than seeing a photo of a person then having to read the text underneath to see what that individual's story is.

[genno]

Those are very pretty pictures to represent something so bad. (am I not getting it?)

[_jeremiad]

No, I think you're getting it.

The idea (for me) is that in the same way you wouldn't sew a flower shut to make it more beautiful, you shouldn't sew women shut. A flower's beauty lies in appreciating it au naturel, and disrupting that beauty with stitches is a nice metaphor for the kind of stitching over that happens with FGM.

For some people it might be too nice or too pretty, and I think that's a valid criticism too.

[kmd]

The images are both beautiful and a little weird. Maybe that's the intent.

But it's my understanding that more violence is done to a girl's vulva by FGM than is suggested in these pictures. Isn't clitorectomy a part of the norm, too? And doesn't the stitching cause tearing and infection?

I think it would be more effective if the roses were more obviously harmed by the stitching.

That said, I recognize the Amnesty logo, and I like the understated, grim, not-hysterical tone of the posters.

[latentfunction]

Yeah, the flowers are very non-violently sewn up. Maybe if they'd stitched up the flowers, held on to the stitches and slung them around, and then took a picture of the more-destroyed flowers over some (ie more than the one or two each picture already has) fallen petals, it would be a more accurate representation.

triggery info

[liminalia]

Yes, the practices vary from area to area, but generally if the labia are sewn up, they have been cut first (which causes them to fuse as they heal, and so intercourse and childbirth cause tearing). In some places, the woman is sewn up again after every birth. Clitoridectomy is also usually included in this sort of FGM.

The practices lumped together under FGM range from removal of the prepuce only, which approximates male circumcision and still leaves the woman sexual feeling, all they way to removal of all external genitalia and leaving only a tiny hole for urine and menstrual blood to trickle out.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/

[futurebird]

Isn't clitorectomy a part of the norm, too?

No.

[futurebird]

This may seem like an odd response, but I'm a bit wary of any western organization that tries to carry the banner on this issue. I think FGM is poorly understood. But others have said it better than I have:

When African feminists charge that Western feminists should research and focus on analogous forms of abuse in their home countries instead of digging up causes in Africa, they are responding to the very real way in which FGM is often discussed, with western feminists in charge of the agenda, receiving the most press and recognition and having an influence on global organizations such as the United Nations, as well as the foreign policies of their respective countries.

In an article entitled "Female Genital Mutilation in Africa: Some African Views," Salem Mekuria points out that African women must be at the lead of any movement to eradicate FGM and to suggest or take measures against it, and that these women should be working as closely with local areas as possible.Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman
The procedure depicted for these

[_jeremiad]

I don't think Amnesty International is attempting to replace grassroots organizations. The organization defines its primary target as governments on an international scale, and it's secondary target as public opinion. In addition, Amnesty International is one of the foremost non-governmental organizations doing research on subjects like female genital mutilation. Amnesty International does not neglect human rights abuses in the Western world either. Finally, grassroots organizations needs funds too. If campaigns like this motivate people to donate to grassroots organizations combating FGM, I think that's a good thing

[futurebird]

but I do believe public awareness campaigns like this are a good thing

Who is this campaign aimed at? Is it meant for people in the US? If so what is the point? awareness for what? Fundraising for A.I.? If it's not targeted for the west I have fewer concerns, but if it is I really need to know what they intended to do, and the quality of the local-level involvement.

"Damned if you do, damned if you don't"

No, you're not dammed at all if you do the right thing, which is find out what women from the country are most concerned about. In some cases there are more pressing issues than FGM.

I mean do they have posters in Dakkar of melons with silicone pads in them?

I guess I don't understand the agenda here.

[_jeremiad]

If you're comparing breast implants in America to Female Genital Mutiliation, I'd think there's a fundamental issue of consent there where many of the girls who undergo FGM don't consent and the women who get breast implants, do.

I'm of the opinion that consciousness raising and public awareness is a good thing. In addition, I don't think talking about FGM excludes the other pressing issues you're referring to...women can have more than one pressing issue.

Like I said, I'm not going to say that AI is the best thing ever, but I don't understand the problem with awareness campaigns like this. When people don't talk about women's issues, people complain. When people do talk about women's issues, people still complain. If both are evil, then talking about them is the lesser of two evils.

[aria_muse]

i like how weirdly graphic they are