Nimco Ali helped launch the Standard’s campaign against female genital mutilation, bravely revealing her own experience of the brutal practice. Four years later, she tells Anna Davis she is astounded at the progress being made to eradicate it
Attitudes towards the brutal practice have changed dramatically since she first spoke out and there have been global success stories. But nowhere is the change more evident than in her own family.
Revealing the moment she saw how deeply the anti-FGM campaign had permeated, she said: “I was with my mum and I saw a picture of Barack Obama and David Cameron at a summit together.
“I made a little joke and said the thing they have in common is they have both talked about my mutilated vagina.
“My mum just rolled her eyes — which is an improvement on being told that I should be ashamed.” This softening attitude is just one example of how she believes the tide is changing.
When Ms Ali, 34, first went public about her own FGM in 2013 she had death threats and suffered verbal abuse. Now she says that people who used to troll her for talking about FGM want to support her work.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/when-cameron-spoke-on-fgm-our-time-had-come-we-can-banish-it-by-2030-a3656101.html
