Twelve years ago, I walked down London's Harley Street with a sign that read “Mitts Off My Muff”. I wanted to raise awareness of the increase in gynaecological cosmetic surgery – both on the NHS and in private clinics. The march was organised by campaign group UK Feminista. Its founder, Kat Banyard, and I agreed that what was happening on this exclusive street in London was not any different to the female genital mutilation (FGM) I had as a seven year old in Djibouti.
The World Health Organisation says that FGM includes all partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non medical reasons. Over 200 million women are affected around the world, with an additional 137,000 of us living in England or Wales. Whether it happens in rural East Africa or urban West London, if a woman or girl is told that there is something wrong with the way her genitals look, it is a cause for huge concern.
I knew that unlike the FGM I endured, and which happened out of context, what happens on Harley Street was due to the harmful influence of porn. Of course, the act is an extreme human rights violation and has affected me, but I was able to grow up in the UK, access education and other basic human rights and freedoms.
I can understand that British women might think they are making a free choice to have genital cosmetic surgery, but the legal procedures on offer – including labiaplasty (trimming or removing the labia) or vaginal “rejuvenation” (tightening – usually referred to by the term "designer vagina") – are very similar to what happens illegally to millions of women and girls in countries such as Egypt or Kenya.
Like FGM, labiaplasty can and does cause permanent scarring, infections, bleeding and irritation. The NHS guidance does not prominently feature this and instead only states that it is “a big decision that you should think about carefully. It can be expensive and carries a number of risks. There's also no guarantee you'll get the result you expected, and it will not necessarily make you feel better about your body.” Worse still, the private sector, where most labiaplasties happen, seems to have very inconsistent requirements to record, audit or regulate the procedures, similar to other forms of cosmetic surgery.
For several years, The Five Foundation, which I co-founded in 2019, campaigned for hymenoplasty or “hymen restoration” to be banned here. As Independent Government Advisor on Women and Girls, I made sure that it was outlawed under the Health and Care Act (2022) – along with a ban on “virginity testing”. I now want to make sure that labiaplasty and all other forms of partial removal of a woman’s genitals for non medical reasons are banned once and for all – not only in the UK but globally.
The last time I spoke publicly about this issue was at the inaugural FGM Philanthropy Summit in London on International Women’s Day. With special guest, Julia Gillard, former Australian Prime Minister and Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership – and attended by Glamour – we listened to why donors are so slow about funding efforts to end FGM. We heard from some about how it is often seen as a supposedly “niche” issue. This is incredible, as 70 million girls are currently at risk – and up to 10% of women on the planet could already be affected and dealing with the lifelong physical and psychological consequences that it brings.
The same day, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office released its new International Women and Girls Strategy, to which The Five Foundation contributed. It was remarkable to see the two worlds aligning. It felt like we are finally making sense of the similarities of what it means to be a woman or girl in different parts of the world. The concept of ‘over there’ doesn’t really make much sense – as women and girls, we all face different forms of discrimination and violence, handed out in different ways depending on where we live.
A girl is born perfect – there is no reason to “rejuvenate” anything about her. The people who I want to rejuvenate are the British surgeons who benefit financially from this incredibly disturbing situation.
Nimco Ali is CEO of The Five Foundation, The Global Partnership To End FGM
