An extended academic essay, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics (part of the BMJ Group) in September 2025, presents a narrative that Savera UK believes risks normalising female genital mutilation (FGM).
The paper Harms of the current global anti-FGM campaign (Ahmadu FSN, Bader D, Boddy J, et al, 2025) claims in its abstract to “critically examine the harms produced by the anti-FGM discourse and policies, despite their grounding in human rights and health advocacy.”
While the authors analyse potential unintended consequences of anti-FGM campaigns, Savera UK is concerned that certain arguments could be interpreted in ways that minimise or distort survivors’ experiences and undermine the work of organisations supporting them. Key concerns include:
The minimisation and questioning of trauma
The paper challenges the association between FGM and trauma, invalidating not only survivors’ traumatic experiences, but also the trauma-informed advocacy and support offered by organisations to FGM survivors.
Normalisation via equating practices
A central argument in the paper is the “troubling double standard” that condemns FGM while legitimising other genital surgeries in Western contexts, such as labiaplasty and intersex surgeries. This is extremely harmful as drawing parallels between ritual cutting and voluntary cosmetic surgeries in the West (labiaplasty) or medically-driven intersex surgeries, may minimise the non-consensual, coercive, and life-altering nature of many FGM cases.
Silencing survivor advocacy as an “external” narrative
The paper also argues that the anti-FGM campaign is driven by a “heavily racialised and ethnocentric framework” and promotes a “standard tale”, which is amplified by media reliant on “activist organisations”.
This is harmful because many survivors and activists from practicing communities are themselves the driving force behind the anti-FGM movement. By framing the abolitionist narrative as externally imposed and Eurocentric, the paper risks implying that survivors who speak out and identify as “victims” are merely adhering to an external, self-serving narrative, rather than voicing their genuine experiences of harm and seeking justice.
The paper also portrays anti-FGM organisations as contributing to “sensationalism” and “myth peddling” to secure resources, as they must adhere to the dominant discourse to gain funding. Not only does this undermine the ethical integrity and factual basis of the work of organisations like Savera UK and others in our sector, it suggests that they are more concerned with constructing/defending a “particular ideological stance” rather than prioritising community well-being.
Focusing on campaign harms over physical harms
The authors state their “primary concern” is the “harms that may be caused by the lack of accuracy, objectivity, fairness and balance in public representations of these diverse practices.” While they acknowledge physical harms, the focus shifts heavily to the harms caused by surveillance, policing, loss of trust, and negative health outcomes resulting from the campaign itself.
Prioritising campaign harms over the physical and psychological harms of the practice itself can diminish the suffering and impacts of those who were subjected to FGM. For survivors seeking medical and psychological care, framing the negative health outcomes as stemming from the anti-FGM discourse – such as loss of trust in healthcare leading to disengagement – rather than the procedure itself, can feel like deflecting responsibility away from the practice and onto the global efforts to stop it.
Afrah Qassim, Savera UK CEO and Founder, said: “While research and analysis of approaches taken to end FGM and other harmful practices is vital, it must be undertaken with the physical safety and wellbeing and survivors and those at risk at its core. This paper undermines the work being done globally to end these practices.
“It is important that anti-FGM campaigners continue their work to ensure that we move closer to ending this human rights violation, and provide survivors with the help they need to overcome its devastating impacts.”
Review by Ayesha Alam, Training and Development Manager at Savera UK.
