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- Convenors:
-
Sarah O'Neill
(Université Libre de Bruxelles)
Sara Johnsdotter (Malmö University)
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- Format:
- Panels
- Location:
- Aula Magna-Polstjarnan
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 14 August, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Stockholm
Short Abstract:
We explore trauma, sexual violence and discursive discrepancies on 'FGM' among female migrants living in diaspora. What happens during the process of re-viewing and re-defining such experiences and what kinds of actions are taken to re-create one's gender or ethnic identity?
Long Abstract:
Some female migrants residing in the EU have experienced practices, whether in their countries of origin or during the migration process, which are classified as forms of sexual violence according to international conventions (e.g. 'female genital mutilation', early and forced marriage, (marital)-rape and sexual violence). However, not all of these experiences are perceived as "violence" by women themselves until they have settled in the EU. In this panel, we would like to explore such discursive discrepancies between countries of origin and European host countries regarding FGC and/or sexual violence. We will discuss implications of such differences in the institutional framing of these practices, and the different ways in which individuals reflect upon their experiences during asylum procedures or in accessing support services. What happens when women reinterpret or come to recognize their experiences in terms of violence and/or abuse? How do their conceptions of the body, of kin and customs change when they are confronted with these discourses in the EU? In what ways do women who redefine what happened to them as violence change the structures of their relationships? How do they juggle the conflicting expectations of family back home in contrast to the ways of life, laws and demands in their European host country? What actions are taken to re-create gender or ethnic identities and which are the discourses and structural elements underpinning these re-creations? How are these discrepancies perceived or negotiated by other stakeholders or service providers (e.g. police, social workers, medical personnel)?
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 14 August, 2018, -Paper short abstract:
As female refugees often were confronted with gender-based violence in their past according to previous studies there is a high risk of re-victimization. Social workers and refugee women in the welfare system are walking a tightrope between power gaps and intersectional processes.
Paper long abstract:
Flight reasons and conditions of female refugees are often
different from males. Additionally to conflicts and wars they suffer also from patriarchal oppressing
conditions and gender based violence like forced marriage/virginity and/or genital mutilation.
Considering their background, refugee girls have a high risk of traumatization (Mazurana 2005) and
the development of their gender-identity, as a task of adolescence (Erikson, 1973), becomes an even
bigger challenge. Studies (Gahleitner, 2005; Hagemann-White, 2002) showed that coping-strategies
are very gender-identity stereotyped as traumatized males tend to develop offender behaviours,
females instead often have a high risk of re-victimization.
The perception of terms like trauma, violence or identity cannot remain detached from intersectional
processes and cultural explanations of symptoms can be very different from Western view.
Resettling in a host country female refugees get institutionalized in the welfare service and get
confronted with new belief systems and values (Papadopoulos, 2001). Social workers are responsible
for the care of the women but at the same time they take part of a significant power
gap and value-system.
The discrepancy between adjusting to a new belief system of the institutions of the host country and
the pressure to conform imposed from within their communities seems to be a walk on the
tightrope. The aim of this paper is to show the current state and lack of research and literature about
the coping process and the development of a gender-identity of refugee women in the
residential welfare.
Paper short abstract:
This paper presents ongoing research on the gap in the definitions of gender-based violence and women's empowerment between operators of antiviolence centers and migrant-origin women in Northern Italy. It identifies operator perspectives that may homogenize and essentialize the assisted women.
Paper long abstract:
This paper presents the findings from the first stage of an ongoing ethnographic project in South Tyrol (Northern Italy) aimed at exploring definitions of gender-based violence, honor and women's self-determination on the part of antiviolence operators and migrant-background women. Focusing here on the operators, we see that their work epistemology is grounded in feminist principles that, in Italy, refer to a theory of sexual difference (Cavarero, 2003). At the same time, the operators' perception is influenced by the categories adopted by international conventions. With special attention to phenomena such as forced marriages and so-called honor-based violence, the overall research compares the operators' points of view with those emerging from women belonging to different generations of migration in South Tyrol.
As a first step, the identification of the operators' perspective is necessary to allow possible discursive discrepancies with the migrant-origin women to emerge. The ways through which the operators understand so-called honor-based violence reveals a set of dichotomous categories in which culture still plays an active role, an aspect which traces a relationship with the lexicon of international conventions on gender based violence (Merry, 2003; Sen, 2013). We will finally conclude outlining possible ways to overcome the risk of essentialization, specifically with respect to women's empowerment, without failing to recognize the efficacy of the existing women's shelters in combatting and preventing the phenomenon.
Paper short abstract:
This study explores the role of turning points in the process of changing attitudes towards Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) and other related norms among migrant women with FGM in Belgium. These turning points help to understand the critical moments at which the change of attitude occurs.
Paper long abstract:
According to international public health discourses, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a harmful practice and recognised as a form of gender-based violence of which women are not only victims but they are also perpetrators. However, some women's attitudes towards the practice and related social norms changed and my research shows that sometimes these changes begin in country of origin but are reinforced in Western host countries, such as Belgium, after the women migrate. This qualitative study explores the role of these tuning points in the process of changing attitudes towards a social norm. Fifteen women living in Belgium were met several times for individual interview. These women identified themselves as agents of change for not undertaking the practice on their daughters. The change in attitude regarding FGM/C occurred at particular turning points in women's lives. During the interviews these 'turning points' that gave them the courage to change were established together with the research participants. Significant life events are identified as transition points in changing conceptions of FGM/C among migrant women. The analysis drew on a life story approach and lifeline constructions through which common turning points relating to a change in attitude towards FGM/C were identified. One such example is the perception of pain during sexual intercourse, which was considered normal in the home country but was no longer perceived as normal in Belgium by most research participants.
Paper short abstract:
In this paper, I challenge the notion that changes in experiencing FGM/C especially or only occur due to migration to countries of the Global North. Findings from Burkina Faso illustrate how women (and men) experience FGM/C in terms of violence, and what implications this locally has.
Paper long abstract:
Do women interpret or come to recognize their experiences regarding FGM/C in terms of violence or abuse only when they are migrating? I argue that such changes in self-perception and identity already have implications in socialities where FGM/C is traditionally practiced. Ethnographic findings from Burkina Faso serve as basis for reflection on this question. In the urban context of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, the main rationale for FGM/C was the control of female sexuality. A negative language about FGM/C, the "mutilation," and "torture," has become a part of local peoples' self-perception: cut women regard themselves as sexually mutilated, incomplete, and dysfunctional. Men and uncut women or men presume that cut women are not able to enjoy intercourse, and are unhealthy. The circumcised body is no longer the normal body, and no longer the appropriate body. Both opponents and proponents of the practice want to protect females from pain and suffering. Opponents ostracize those who are "pitiless" and continue inflicting the pain of FGM/C on others. Those actions are considered shameful. The discourse of the anti-FGM/C campaign in Burkina Faso is reflected in those stories of suffering and mutilation. In this form, terms of violence and abuse have an expression in the local context. These findings offer an impression of views on FGM/C relating to violence and abuse in countries of origin; they are of use as basis of comparison when it comes to interpreting findings on women who have migrated to Europe.
Paper short abstract:
According to human rights definition, female genital mutilation/cutting is defined as violation of the female body, integrity and sexual life. Based on two qualitative studies, this paper discusses the different meanings of the term "reparation" after FGM/c and various dimensions involved.
Paper long abstract:
Standing by human rights definition, female genital mutilation/ cutting (FGM/c) is defined as violation of women body integrity and sexual life. Based on two qualitative researches, this paper discusses the meanings of the term "reparation" after FGM/c and the several dimensions involved. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews have been conducted with a group of 8 immigrant women of sub-Saharan origin living in Switzerland with Type III FGM/c (infibulation) and 32 women of first and second generation living in France with Type II FGM/c (excision) having undergone or asked for a clitoris reconstruction. In total 40 women have been interrogated on the meaning they give to the term "reparation" within their health and sexual life. If socio-demographic characteristics and contexts differ, both groups affirmed their desire to improve, or at least change, their condition. Reparative approaches are then evoked by women which would « repair » something « lost » or «stolen»; the word « reparation » acquires a large scale of meanings and dimensions which are not only physical, but also psychosexual, social and moral. Thinking of specific healthcare services in terms of reparative approaches allows to develop a discussion with women with FGM/c. Medical practitioners are appealed to engage in dialogue with the patients, to provide an environment that allows women to tell their stories. Narrative is an important aspect of the restorative process and this research suggests that reparative approaches could be beneficial in the field of human rights through specific counselling on FGM/c.
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores how women requesting reconstructive surgery after FGM go through a process re-appropriating their body and their female identity through sexology and psychotherapy. Perceptions of intimacy, sexual well-being and aesthetics change during this process of re-appropriation.
Paper long abstract:
Since clitoral reconstructive surgery was first described, the procedure has become available in various European countries. Despite limited evidence on the safety and success of the procedure, increasing numbers of women are showing interest. In Belgium the procedure is available in conjunction with a multidisciplinary package of care, involving mandatory consultations with a gynecologist, a FGM-expert midwife, a psychotherapist and a sexologist. Eight months of qualitative research performed during consultations with women interested in the surgery showed that they desired surgery because they want "to feel complete", to get back "what was wrongfully taken away" or to enhance their sexual satisfaction or performance. The underlying experiences that triggered the desire for reconstruction included negative sexual experiences with men and/or feeling incomplete as a result of negative discourses about FGM. Only 27% of women requesting reconstruction underwent the procedure between 2014 and 2016. The qualitative research shows that the majority of women are hardly informed about the surgical procedure, the potential risks and the anatomy of female reproductive organs when they first request it. Some change their minds through sexology or psychotherapy. Regardless of whether women opt for surgery or not, the women following consultations go through a process re-appropriating their body and their female identity in different ways. Those who opt for surgery often seek to become aesthetically complete and intact regardless of potential loss of sensation. Others learn to explore and redefine their sexuality, intimacy and womanhood through practices that make them feel good.
Paper short abstract:
Somali and Sudanese migrants in Norway reinterpret and reframe the meanings of the pain and sexuality related to infibulation from virtue to destruction. These changes relate to a reinterpretation of the practice as well as changes in personal relationships, gender roles and expectations.
Paper long abstract:
The concerns of Somalia and Sudanese migrants in Norway regarding FGC revolves around pain and health consequences on the one hand, and sexual concerns on the other. Somali women's experience and reflection on the pain of infibulation as a lived bodily experience changed. While they described it as a counterpoint to culture even as it was performed on them, this concern rarely came to the surface until settlement in Norway. Confronted with the Norway's perception of FGC as illegal and destructive, most women reconsidered the practice. Not as a cultural tradition to maintain or preserve, but as a part of their lived experiences. Similar changes affected perceptions of female sexuality, changing from a focus on service and fertility, to desire, pleasure and intimacy. Still, however, cultural ideals relating to infibulation as a major vehicle to preserve and prove virginity, virility and male sexual pleasure, prevented most women from seeking health care that could reduce or even remove pain associated with sexual initiation and child-birth. This was concretely expressed as a resistance to surgical deinfibulation. The paper analyses how these changes and negotiations play out in interplay between personal and bodily experience and social norms, drawing on theories of the sociocultural role of controlling women's open bodies and bodily boundaries. Taking place in a context in which the practice is highly stigmatized and politically targeted, informants are torn between a desire to abandon FGC, a desire to silence the topic to avoid stigma, and a concern over religion and women's virtue.
Paper short abstract:
FGM is condemned at the global level by WHO and western state governments. Criminal laws and police action are in place for both prevention and punishment. What are the ramifications for individual girls and women in western host societies?
Paper long abstract:
Here I discuss the wider context in which FGM ('female genital mutilation') is condemned at the global level by actors such as WHO and western state governments. It has evolved into being an object of a global prohibition regime that is sustained by criminal laws and police action. What are the ramifications of this for individual girls and women in western host societies?
On the one hand, female genital cutting in girls implies pain and suffering, and in some cases trauma; on the other hand, the governmental efforts to prevent and repress the practice in western host societies may also lead to suffering and trauma.
My data consists of all documents regarding suspected FGM in Sweden that have been drawn up by the police authorities since 1982, the year of the FGM ban (122 notifications to the police and/or criminal investigations, resulting in three court cases). These documents give a reason to challenge the dominant discourse about widespread but hidden criminal activities in immigrant groups. We need to critically discuss that state actions, which intend to protect girls from FGM, may actually lead to unnecessary traumatic experiences for those involved - both for those who have been through cutting and those who have no traces of cutting.