Taken

TAKEN Meeri Koutaniemi / Echo Photo Agency Child's hand had a flashlight. It was the only source of light in the dark mud hut. The child showed the torch at Nasirian who was lying naked and tied on the floor. The light beam hit in between of the girl's bare thighs. It all happened quickly. One of the ladies revealed an ordinary razor blade in her hands for the mutilation. Nasirian cried and the floor was streaming from blood. The more she leaked, the more she screamed. After few minutes her genitals were completely unrecognizable. - - - The World Health Organization estimates that there are more than 140 million mutilated women in the world. Female genital mutilation is a tradition practiced worldwide in 28 countries. Girls' circumcision has been illegal in Kenya since 2001, but among some tribes such as the Masai people, it is still a valued tradition. The causes of female genital mutilation include a mix of cultural, religious and social factors within families and communities. The tradition stems from the belief that woman's sexual organs are considered to be impure. FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behavior, linking procedures to premarital virginity and marital fidelity. Female genital cutting has been widely judged as a procedure against human rights and as a serious violation against women's sexual independence. It reflects deep- rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women.