Khadija Gbla’s Story

It’s time to shake up the conversation

All May, we’re discussing FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM).

Today, FGM is happening on every single continent except Antarctica. And, it decidedly shapes the sexuality of the person who experiences it, as well as how they experience pleasure in their relationships. Whether we know someone who has endured FGM personally or not, in realizing that it occurs where we live, we can understand how important it is to address in our own communities.

To that end, here we have a survivor story from Khadija Gbla who was cut before immigrating to Australia as a refugee from Sierra Leone during the war. In her 2014 TED talk (watch below), she told her story:

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘺-𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦-𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘪𝘴.

𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘩. 𝘐 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘮𝘦…𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳.

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥...𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.

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[𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴] 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 [𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴]...𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘴𝘦𝘹.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘛𝘝 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 “𝘖𝘩! 𝘖𝘩!” 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴! 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦? 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰.”