My mum grew up as a Malay Muslim in Singapore, as did my aunties and my grandmother. I was left stunned when Janet Fyle, a Policy Advisor Midwife and #EndFGM Campaigner, mentioned Malaysia during the Integrate Conference. She said babies as young as 7 weeks old are being mutilated in Malaysia.
Creating a project based on abuse against young children and an act that causes females immense pain throughout their life is heartbreaking enough, discovering it's actually happening in my family's community is harrowing.
According to an unpublished study, 93% of Malaysian females from Muslim families have been mutilated, the most popular being Type 1. Type 1 is a minor prick or cutting off a small piece of the highest part of clitoral hood.
82% of Malaysian women claim religious obligation as the main reason why they have FGM. This opened up a conversation with my mum who has lived in the UK for over 25 years now. We discussed how shockingly popular it was among Malaysians yet my mum had no idea about FGM when I first told her about the topic of my Multimedia Project.