Dr. Nicole Warren has over 21 years of combined research, clinical practice, and teaching experience in reproductive health. Her current projects include evaluating the impact of educational interventions to improve care of women affected by female genital cutting. Dr. Warren is an award-winning teacher and has collaborated with the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Department of Health and Human Services: The Office of Women’s Health.

FGC and Health Implications

Trigger Warning- Female Genital Cutting is a sensitive topic and the content can be shocking or upsetting. 

Hello and welcome to the Scarlet Udaan Podcast! This is an introductory episode by the Founder and Global Director of Scarlet Udaan, Sanya Sharma, introducing what Female Genital Cutting is, global statistics on girls and women who undergo FGC and why it is important for you to learn more about FGC. You can get in touch with Sanya through: sanya@scarletudaan.org for feedback, questions and any suggestions you might have! 

The time to End FGC is now. Thank you for listening to the Podcast and supporting Scarlet Udaan in our fight to end FGC Globally. Stay tuned for our upcoming episodes featuring survivors of FGC, authors, academics and medical professionals! Until then, you can follow us on social media to learn more about FGC. 

Cover Art by: Aditi Neti, Music: Branch (Prod. by Lukrembo)

Introduction Episode

Farzana Doctor is a writer, activist, psychotherapist, and the co-founder of End FGM Canada. She was recently mentioned in CBC Books’ “100 Writers in Canada You Need To Know Now", and currently volunteers with WeSpeakOut, a global group working to ban Female Genital Cutting in the Dawoodi Bohra community, which she herself hails from. 

Farzana’s recent novel Seven (August 2020, Dundurn), is an evocative, inter-generational family tale that brings visibility to the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in India, known in India as “Khatna”. Seven is the first Canadian novel to address and bring visibility to female genital cutting/mutilation. In this episode, we talk about activism, the End FGC movement and Farzana's new novel- Seven.

Farzana Doctor- Discussing the End FGC Movement and the novel Seven

Named one of six experts to watch on the issue of female genital cutting (FGC) by NewsDeeply, Mariya has worked in gender-based violence for over a decade in the areas of teaching, research, policy, program development, and direct service. In 2015, she cofounded Sahiyo, an award-winning, transnational organization with the mission to empower Asian communities to end FGC. Since 2015, she has collaborated with the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association to pass legislation to protect girls from FGC. After starting a Change.org petition and gathering over 400,000 signatures, Massachusetts became the 39th state in the U.S. to do so. She also sits on the steering committee for the US Network to End FGM/C.

A conversation with Mariya Taher- Female Genital Cutting

Dena Igusti is a queer Indonesian poet, playwright, and journalist based in Queens, New York. She is also a 2018 NYC Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador and has written several poems about the disconnect with her body as a result of FGC. 

Her poetry collection, Cut Woman, is about her experiences with being an Indonesian Muslim non binary survivor of female genital mutilation, and the overbearing loss and anticipated mourning she felt as a result of it. She has spoken about and performed poems regarding FGM at the 2018 Teen Vogue Summit, Brooklyn Museum, and Lincoln Center.

FGC and Intersectionality: A conversation with Dena Igusti

Trigger Warning- Female Genital Cutting is a sensitive topic and the content can be shocking or upsetting.

The Scarlet Udaan podcast aims to raise awareness on the practise of Female Genital Cutting, address its impact on girls and women across the world and discuss the global concern it is today. The podcast will feature FGC survivors, activists, medical professionals, authors and academics to discuss more on Female Genital Cutting and how we can Stand Up to the practise.