London, March 19 - Following an announcement (made by Lynne Featherstone, U.K. Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for DFID) that the U.K. government will allocate £35 million to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), U.S.- based, nonprofit organization Clitoraid has offered its assistance in training U.K. surgeons to surgically repair the mutilated clitoris of FGM victims, thus restoring their sense of sexual pleasure.

"We've been contacted by over 20 British FGM victims in the past few years," said Nadine Gary, Clitoraid's operations manager. "But each time, we've had to send them to Paris to have the clitoral restoration surgery performed by Dr. Pierre Foldes, who developed the technique. Up to now, no surgeons in the United Kingdom have been trained to do this procedure."

Gary said Clitoraid is eager to work with the British government. "We're hoping to see the United Kingdom set up a program similar to the one our head surgeon, Dr. Marci Bowers,is using to train surgeons here in the United States," she said. "The procedure itself is relatively simple, outpatient gynecological surgery, but we also have a supporting staff of psychologists and sexologists to help patients overcome the emotional and sexual trauma of FGM. Both the surgery and the counseling are essential if FGM victims are to recover their sense of pleasure and their self-esteem."

Gary said Clitoraid has also branched out in Burkina Faso, West Africa, where it is about to
open a humanitarian hospital dedicated to healing FGM victims. "Spiritual Leader Maitreya Rael inspired the launching of Clitoraid in 2006, and this hospital for FGM victims was also his idea," Gary explained. We' call it 'the 'Pleasure Hospital,' and it's scheduled to open in October. This will be the world's first clitoral restoration hospital for FGM victims."

But that's just the beginning, according to Gary. "We expect the success of our Burkina Faso hospital to trigger construction of many more such facilities throughout Sub-Saharan Africa," she said. "We especially hope to see more of them in East Africa, because so many of our British and North American patients come from that region. FGM is still all too prevalent there."

Doaa Eladl is a famous Egyptian woman cartoonist who began publishing her drawings in 2007 in the Al Dostor newspaper, Rose Al Youssef Magazine and Sabah El Kheir Magazine. Now, her cartoons appear on the prominent newspaper Al Masry Al Youm. In 2009 she received the award of journalism excellence in Caricature.
Recently, Ms. Eladl has become the first cartoonist in Egypt to face the charges of blasphemy

Following the publication of a controversial cartoon that Doaa drew about Female Genital Mutilation, Clitoraid contacted the artist in Egypt for an interview and asked her the following questions about her work in general, and the FGM cartoon in particular. Note that in Egypt, the majority of women is excised and Clitoraid hopes to find a surgeon there who wishes to be trained in the Clitoral Restoration surgical technique in order to restore the dignity and a sense of pleasure of the FGM victims who seek it

1. When did you start doing socio-political cartoons?
I started drawing cartoons about 8 years ago for the in Al-Dostour Constitution newspaper.
During the first part of my career, I was drawing political cartoons against the former regime, ex-president Mubarak, and the National Democratic Party [the party in power at that time], I also published social comics in Sabah Al-Kheir (Good morning) magazine, then in "Rose Al-Youssef" magazine. Several years later, I started working for the Al-Masry Al-Youm [Egyptians Today] newspaper, a high circulation paper in Egypt.


2. What attracted you to this particular craft to voice your opinion?
The art of Caricature is seditious. A cartoonist always has something to say.
I find that my talent allows me to criticize a lot of political and social issues, and I also find that I never run out of inspiration for my caricatures whether to praise or to object to an issue.

3. How are you perceived as a woman criticizing men and the men in power in your country?
Their perception of me has changed through time.
At first, when I started in this profession, a majority of the readers thought I was a man! That's because the readers couldn't imagine a woman drawing a caricature, especially professional, political ones. But with time, I became popular, so now there is no problem anymore. In the end, good ideas always find their way to the public, whether the cartoonist is a man or a woman

Regarding your question about the drawings, I don't only criticize men. What I criticize are some of the habits that I think are wrong and there are many and they must be totally reconsidered!

For example, circumcision. It is just an African habit. It doesn't stem from the Muslim religion at all. The Mufti ([ormal scholar for Muslims] of the Republic Dr. Ali Gomaa decreed that female circumcision is as a crime against humanity and that it is not related to Islam. Yet, it is still being practiced in Egypt's countryside and unfortunately they do it in the name of religion!!!!

4. Is there an improvement in the freedom of women since the change of the regime?
There have been no improvement in women's freedom since the fall of the Mubarak's regime because the current system is not significantly different. On the opposite, it is the worse. They use religion only to dominate, they use it just to seek political gain.



I am a Muslim and that is my choice but the current system, the Muslim Brotherhood interpret religion in their own way and, unfortunately they are actually demonizing Islam.

Before the revolution took place, I was casually drawing about women's issues and their problems, but now I am compelled to draw these cartoons about women in order to defend my own existence, my personal freedom that are threatened under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood.

5. Why did you choose to do a cartoon on FGM?
I think I have answered this question earlier and I would like to add that I draw cartoons not only about FGM but also other problems relating to Egyptian women like domestic violence, marrying minors, [sexual] harassment, violence against women, and even a new phenomenon in Egyptian society called "sexual mass terror" a condescending way to refer to female demonstrators. I just cannot remain silent about all of these issues.

6. What was the public's reaction?
The public's reaction was divided. Some saw a wonderful caricature on a subject that must be criticized, others saw it as sacrilegious to Muslim rule, finally some thought that I should find a more subtle way to criticize, a way that is less shocking.

7. Is there an educational program in Egypt to stop this ritual?
There were educational programs in the past [before religious regime began to rise in the 1970's]. Also, there is a law that clearly criminalizes those who practice FGM. [In the 1990's, governmental hospitals were banned from practicing FGM; in 2008, the ban included all hospitals], however there is currently no educational program.

8. How does the young Egyptian generation feel about FGM (both men and women)
The youth also has a divided reaction, some are against FGM while others defend it.

The following letter was sent to San Francisco Sheriff Mirkarimi in support of the One Billion Rising action he organized for the inmates of the San Bruno Jail on Feb 14. This story is all the more compelling that Sheriff Mirkarimi was himself accused of domestic violence by his wife, Venezuelan actress Eliana Lopez over a year ago. Since then, the couple reunited and the Sheriff's wife decided to partake in the choreographed dance that day.

Dear Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi,

My name is Karen Heaven spokesperson for Clitoraid in the US. I'm writing to you in support of your recent action inviting local choreographer Magalie Bonneau-Marcil, founder and producer of Dancing Without Borders, to engage county jail inmates (some of whom have been perpetrators of serious cases of domestic violence) in dancing to support "One Billion Rising" on February 14. What a wonderful way to encourage an end to violence against women, especially in an institution such as the one you oversee. This is what rehabilitation should look like!

I'm particularly drawn to your story because I'm the U.S. leader of an international, non-profit organization that also strives to counteract violence done to women. Specifically, we help women who suffered from the effects of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Our volunteer surgeons have offered clitoral repair surgery to dozens of such patients in the United States over the past several years. In fact, on the very day that you were leading your inmates to rise and dance against violence, Dr. Marci Bowers was operating on an FGM victim in San Mateo, Calif., just a few miles from the San Bruno jail!

Though the act of FGM hardly ever occurs within the United States, Clitoraid reaches out to women who have come here as immigrants from countries where this hideous practice still takes place. Some of these victims live in the Bay area.

To help such victims cope with the effects of this extreme trauma they experienced as little girls, Clitoraid applies humanitarian values of the Raelian philosophy advocated by spiritual leader Rael, who founded our U.S.- based charity in 2006. Indeed, our No. 1 value is femininity (not feminism). We hold the quality of femininity to be "the future of humanity."

In our eyes, you and all others involved in the One Billion Rising dance initiative at the San Bruno jail were illustrating this quality of femininity, including your wife as she danced next to you, consciously forgiving you for your act of violence committed months earlier. Forgiving, seeking forgiveness and rehabilitation are acts of femininity that all Clitoraid patients and their families must go through to heal. The same is true for those who committed the act of FGM, for each of your inmates and for everyone else on this planet.

Sincerely yours,

Karen Heaven

LAS VEGAS, March 4 –Clitoraid, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit organization that helps victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) obtain clitoral repair surgery in the United States and Africa, will commemorate International Women’s Day in a memorable and unique way, according to Clitoraid representative Nadine Gary.

“On March 10, International Women’s Day, from 2 to 4 p.m., we’re holding a public, fundraising flashmob on the sidewalk between the Paris Hotel and Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas Strip," Gary said in a statement released today by Clitoraid "This event is a highlight of our annual 'Adopt a Clitoris' fundraising campaign and the choreography for it was created by a Clitoraid volunteer, Lia Steinman. We need surgical equipment and other furnishings to open the world’s first clitoral restoration hospital for FGM victims in Burkina, Faso, West Africa, this October. This event and the help of the public can bring us closer to our goal!”

Gary said Clitoraid and its dream of a clitoral repair hospital were launched by international spiritual leader Maitreya Rael in 2007.

“He noticed that no organization yet existed to help FGM victims have the new clitoral repair procedure devised by French surgeon Dr. Pierre Foldes,” Gary explained. “Victims will have the surgery at our ‘pleasure hospital’ for free, thanks to Clitoraid’s volunteer surgeons and other staff. Over 400 patients are already on our waiting list!”

Men and women alike are invited to participte in the Las Vegas flashmob event.

"Please join us at this flashmob to dance and donate for FGM victims,” Steinman added. “International Women’s Day is a great day to symbolically stand up for women’s equal gender rights worldwide, including the fundamental right of each and every woman to feel sexual pleasure.”