I misread your post as letting him free until the mid-80s, not his mid-80s.

I’m so sorry honey. I know nothing I say can make it better but you are welcome here at Jezebel. Stories like yours and OWSH’s help bring these issues to light and you have shown incredible bravery in sharing a painful experience, and in doing so you’re making a push for change. Stay strong. We’re here with you.

My mother, who had been cut by her mother (yes, it’s horrible like that. Victim become perp) had several miscarriages because her uterus or womb kept tearing when the fetus got to be a certain size. I remember holding her hand when she got the news of her final miscarriage in our middle-class Dutch doctor’s office.…

I don’t even have words for this. I am so, so sorry that happened to your sisters, and that you witnessed such a traumatic event. I can’t even imagine the horror and fear that you and your sisters went through. And I agree with you that genital mutilation, for both sexes, should be done away with entirely. I’m sending…

It is. I’ve pretty much worked towards slowly unpacking it. Therapy helped. My poor sisters never went to talk to anyone. The whole thing is meant to shame young girls and treat their sexuality as a plaything for men.

You can have it reversed. I know you guys have NHS but I’m not sure if they would cover overseas procedures. There is a doctor in San Francisco that has had great success undoing the vile intrusion of your bodily dignity. My heart breaks for you but I’m glad you’re still alive and able to tell about it. All that to…

I’m 28 now but it’s just reading these articles saying it’s happening everywhere and yet no one talks about it in real life, which sort makes you feel like you are being dramatic. Like I dont think about it everyday but only when you read about it and think shit this is actually still going on.

I had it done to me when I was 12 and I still feel ashamed because I was old enough to have known better. My older sister who was 13 tried to stop it literally cried to my dad and i remember the way she screamed but yet my family made it seem like a blessing. I was so young and naive I went to my cousin who is a boy…

I remember when my parents decided my two sisters were ripe for the cutting. I remember a gruesome looking woman (perhaps that’s retroactive superimposing on my part but oh well) coming to the door of our home in Abu Dhabi.

For my life? Yes.

*sending hugs and crossing fingers*

Oh, honey. Crossing my fingers for you. I’ve been trying for #2 for a year now; #1 took two years. Stupid human bodies. :(

“She’s really fucking busy” = “We didn’t even try because we can’t fucking afford her.”

Thanks. I’m not THAT worried. The “getting pregnant” part has been the real challenge. I’ll worry about a hermetically sealed room once we’ve accomplished step one. (Three years and counting! Woo....?)