Women who went through female genital cutting before coming to America face unique challenges. It is as if we were designed to live only in the society of our origin; we don’t feel we fit in. We are told we have been oppressed and mutilated. We are viewed as scarred victims with no sexual feelings. We feel mainstream American doctors don’t understand us.

But we never want to be defined as victims — we are more than that. We have been through civil wars and lived in refugee camps where water and food were scarce. We are nurses, teachers, childcare providers, social workers, mothers, and leaders in our community. We are not oppressed by men or by religion; it is bigotry to say Islam or any other faith teaches female genital cutting or mutilation. No, this happened to us because of societal pressure. My mother allowed it so I could be accepted by the small town in Somalia where I was born, and where the rate of cutting was probably 100 percent. She had no choice, and I forgave her like she forgave her mother for doing it to her.

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