By Eleonora Vio, Community Times. Photos courtesy of Noon Creative Enterprise. Earlier this year, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) commissioned a cycle of 120 theatre performances on FGM to Noon Creative Enterprise – a small performing arts company already engaged in youth civic participation and domestic violence, as part of a larger national campaign. Together, Egypt and Ethiopia have the highest number of FGM cases in Africa. In both countries, the most common kind of circumcision is the so-called Pharaonic circumcision, which is the removal of the entire clitoris, with both labia minora and medial part of the labia majora cut; both sides of the organ are stitched together, leaving only a small opening. Although FGM has been illegal in Egypt since 2008, the phenomenon has neither halted nor slowed down in the past few years. Instead, “if the latest polls estimate that up to 80% Egyptian females are still victims of FGM, I would put the number as high as 9 girls out of 10,” says Nada Sabet, artistic director and co-founder of Noon Creative Enterprise. But, “What has recently and positively changed,” says Gender Officer at UNFPA,…
Shattering Egypt’s Misconceptions About Female Genital Mutilation Through Comedy
January 16, 2015
