Excerpt:
Female genital mutilation (FGM) was long seen as an "over there" problem; it is now an "everywhere problem." In a Skype conversation, London-based FGM survivor Hibo Wardere said the Detroit FGM trial has forced Americans to open their eyes to a brutal practice that happens within their own borders.
For Americans who have been focusing on necessary temporary travel bans as a way to curtail a clash of values between tribal culture and liberalism that champions the individual above the collective, the recent landmark FGM trial has opened eyes to see that some of these third-world practices are already comfortably practiced in the United States.
FGM is a ritualistic and violent cutting off of a girl's clitoris. Riding under the false defense of a religious right, the heinous crime puts more than 500,000 girls in the United States at risk, often just as they're entering puberty. The measure is in most cases initiated by a girl's own mother, and is designed to curb an emerging woman's sexuality.