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by Sylvia Chioma (Author)
Aduke, a young Nigerian wife, is under extreme pressure from her mother and her husband, Kunle, to undergo Female Genital Mutilation because she has not yet conceived and they assure her it will enable her in their superstitious minds to become pregnant. She argues desperately against it, having heard that it is dangerous, but in the end, she is persuaded and then drugged while the operation is carried out. She is horrified to see that rusty knife the woman is using is the same one she had dreamed about in a nightmare in the first chapter. She suffers catastrophic loss of blood and almost dies. She is saved by the intervention of a doctor who lectures her mother and husband on the appalling risks of FGM. While she is being treated, they discover she is pregnant anyway so FGM was not needed.
The rest of the book is an account of FGM and the campaign against it and uses the story as an illustration of the wickedness, barbarity and superstition of FGM. The barbaric and dangerous practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in childhood or early womanhood is the scourge of the women of many African and Middle Eastern countries, because of an ancient, misguided belief that cutting away the clitoral area increases fertility, eases childbirth and reduces promiscuity and increases pleasure for men. This book combines a harrowing true account of one woman's near-fatal experience of FGM in Nigeria with information designed to provide enlightenment on this abhorrent practice and why it should be stamped out in all the countries of the world where it is still practised. Published with the support and backing of key and influential women from several countries. What women say about Cut off''A few years ago, many women, even some educated ones, saw female genital mutilation as a normal and socially acceptable practise without understanding the devastating consequences but the story is changing fast, as awareness is getting mileage and rural women are now campaigning against it''
Mrs Bolanle Ambode (First Lady Lagos State)
