11 Sep 2018 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & women's rights

Articles

Sexual violence haunts women with vivid memories decades later
Rutgers University, 11 Sep 2018

Women who are sexually assaulted experience more vivid memories than women coping with the aftermath of other traumatic, life-altering events not associated with sexual violence, according to a new Rutgers-New Brunswick study. The research, published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, found that women who had suffered from sexual violence, even those who were not diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, had more intense memories -- even decades after the violence occurred -- that are difficult, if not impossible to forget.

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A man was detained in Saudi Arabia for eating potato chips with a woman — and then posting the video
The Washington Post, 10 Sep 2018

In some ways, it’s surprising that the video went viral at all. The clip shows a man and a woman side-by-side at a desk, noshing on chips and pita. At one point, the woman (covered head-to-toe in an abaya) feeds the man a chip. They smile and wave to the camera. (The pair work for a hotel in Mecca.) That’s it.

But that 30-second clip has been shared thousands of times in Saudi Arabia, leading to government pushback and sparking new questions about just how liberal the country is becoming.

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UK schoolgirls have been pressured by peers to have FGM, campaigner says
CNN International, 07 Sep 2018

Some schoolgirls in the United Kingdom have been pressured by their peers into undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM), according to FGM survivor and campaigner Leyla Hussein, Britain's Press Association reported. Hussein, who founded the Dahlia Project in 2013 to help other survivors, said that she has spoken with many young women who say they feel vulnerable to becoming a victim to a crime that is still seen by many as a cultural practice or tradition, rather than a violent sexual offense, PA said.

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US, UK Step Up Cooperation Against Female Genital Mutilation
VOA, 06 Sep 2018

LONDON — Authorities in the U.S. and Britain are stepping up cooperation to tackle female genital mutilation, staging joint operations at airports in London, New York and elsewhere to raise awareness of an issue that affects millions of girls and women worldwide. Police and border security agencies on both sides of the Atlantic have signed a new agreement to share intelligence about when and where victims may be taken for the procedure, known as FGM, and help identify perpetrators.

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The world is failing women and girls whose bodies have been weaponised
The Guardian, 05 Sep 2018

Remember #BringBackOurGirls? It was a cry for help by the families of the girls from Chibok in Nigeria. Their daughters were abducted by Boko Haram in 2014. Some have been released, others are still held. Survivors tell horrific stories of rape and forced marriages. Remember Mount Sinjar in Iraq? Thousands of Yazidi families took refuge from Isis on the mountain in 2014. Others fell into the militants’ hands. Women were sold into sexual slavery, held captive and raped.

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