This is not comfortable viewing. After hearing young British women describing the terror and pain of being mutilated, we learn how the presenter Sue Lloyd Roberts, was met by a ‘wall of silence’ from various professionals when she tried to find out what policies were in place to help monitor and prevent this abuse. Scotland Yard’s Commander Simon Foy explained very seriously that inspection of children might itself be classed as ‘child abuse’, and so was not the right way forward. I’m not sure the many women featured on the programme would agree.
‘They need classes telling … what is right what is wrong’ explained one woman, while another said she would welcome checks on girls returning to the UK because there was a danger other family members might take their daughters from them in order to be mutilated.
Some of the most impressive voices on the programme came from the Bristol schoolgirls who put together a film, The Silent Scream, to get their anti-FGM message across. One complained:
‘They’re [the Government] are so terrified – they’re using cultural sensitivity as a barrier to stop themselves from really doing anything. What would you do if the girl had blue eyes and blonde hair. Would FGM still be carrying on in the UK?’
When asked what message she had for David Cameron, she replied ‘Grow a pair’.
Update. Nick Cohen has written an excellent piece on this topic.
