| Denouncing something shameful is hard work and a vital task of civilization. You are not always listened to, but you have no choice: as long as the crime remains unknown, it will remain unpunished, and it will continue as long as it goes unpunished. Benoîte Groult was the very first woman to denounce female circumcision. She took the field against a practice nobody knew of, which was difficult to talk about (making a fuss about anything involving sexuality, whether male or female, tends to provoke laughter and moronic mockery rather than indignation or action: when there is talk of sex, society tends to snigger.) Well, she spoke up anyway. The scandal was brought into the open. She dared to mention it. She made people understand what it meant. She succeeded in arousing our opposition to it. |
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Copyright ©: Jaydie Putterman / Pascal Balmer
Texts by Pascal Avot