Ann-Marie Wilson: Opposing FGM Globally

Dr. Ann-Marie Wilson, a psychologist and senior research advisor with the Orchid Project, joined the Plutopia podcast to discuss her extensive efforts to combat female genital mutilation (FGM). Drawing on over 30 years of experience and a profound moment of epiphany during aid work in Darfur, Dr. Wilson described her journey from corporate HR to becoming a leading advocate against FGM. Her activism has contributed to making FGM illegal in countries like Sudan and Somalia, though she emphasized that legislation is only the first step in addressing this deeply ingrained cultural practice. Dr. Wilson highlighted the importance of engaging entire communities—including religious leaders, healthcare providers, and families—to create sustainable change. She shared stories of resilience, progress in Africa and Asia, and the challenges of countering entrenched beliefs, stressing the need for education, group advocacy, and global collaboration to eradicate FGM worldwide.

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Ann-Marie Wilson:

I do believe strongly that without passing a law you’ll not really ever get anywhere. So I think that actually passing the law is a good start because at the moment in any of these countries we could talk about Sudan, we could talk about Somalia, we could talk about Nigeria but the same model is correct. And actually while we did this project, one of our research projects, into let’s have a look at the law in each country and we did that project across all the 28 countries in Africa to start with – we also then added the diaspora which is a technical term for the places from where somebody comes and carry on the practice that could be UK, could be the US, could be France, Germany, etc. And if you start to squeeze a problem from those both angles you start to see – oh, actually, we can make a difference.

Links:

• Overcoming: My Fight Against FGM by Ann-Marie Wilson
• On the origins of FGM
• Wendy Grossman’s writeup of last year’s Disinformation Summit:
  https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/cambridge-disinformation-summit/