ABSTRACT
Jesmin’s moving analysis of powerful narratives detailing life struggles and fierce campaigns against FGM by Khady Koita and Hibo Wardere raises further questions concerning women’s subjugation – denial of their bodies, sexual pleasures, and agency embodied in various cultures that might not necessarily relate specifically to FGM. In fact, without intending to diminish the disempowering and traumatic effect of this cultural practice, considered, as the author claims, “an oppressive cultural norm” (the full extent of which is wonderfully highlighted in the chapter), in my opinion, the subject invites us to open and consider more widely other cultural practices as well that are oppressive for women. In view of these customs, no women in these cultures are free.
