Clitoraid supports 'One Billion Rising' to end violence against women

شباط 11 2013, تصنيف: بيانات صحفية
LAS VEGAS, Feb. 10 – On February 14, in conjunction with the V-Day Movement originated by Eve Ensler, Clitoraid, a nonprofit organization that assists victims of female genital mutilation (FGM), will support and participate in “One Billion Rising,” an international call to end violence against women.

“One in three women living today – a total of one billion women around the globe – will be raped or beaten within her lifetime and every 6 minutes, a little girl is being circumcised and that’s an atrocity,” said Nadine Gary, Clitoraid’s director of communications. “Therefore, for the 15th anniversary of V-Day on February 14, Clitoraid supporters around the world will join one billion women plus those who love them to walk, dance, and above all else, rise up and demand an end to that violence.”

“Along with the obvious goal of eliminating violence against women, Clitoraid has always supported Eve Ensler’s work,” Gary explained. “We applaud her for such things as setting up safe houses in Kenya to protect girls and women who have fled their homes rather than become FGM victims.”

Gary said Clitoraid’s participation in One Billion Rising will include:

-2 clitoral repair surgical procedures to be performed on FGM victims by Clitoraid’s head surgeon, Dr. Marci Bowers in San Francisco, CA, USA;
-A special dance event at Clitoraid’s new “Pleasure Hospital” for FGM victims in Burkina Faso, West Africa, which is due to open in October;
-Raising awareness about Clitoraid’s work with special events.

“We’re holding community awareness events throughout the United States and Canada, in European countries like France, Switzerland and Italy; in Australia and South America, and in Southeastern Asia, where large numbers of potential FGM victims are at high risk in Indonesia,” Gary concluded.

Clitoraid's Head surgeon speaks at the Institute for Advanced Studies of Human Sexuality in San Francisco

شباط 10 2013, تصنيف: Clitoraid NEWS
On Thursday, Feb 7, one day after the United Nations' "Zero Tolerance Day for FGM," Dr. Ted McIlvenna of the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality invited Clitoraid's head surgeon, Dr. Marci Bowers, M.D., and Nadine Gary, Clitoraid's head of communications, to give a presentation about Clitoraid's humanitarian endeavors.

The presentation began promptly at 2:30 p.m. in the institute's amphitheater, with Dr. Bowers sharing with the sexology students about her surgical volunteer work with victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) who contact Clitoraid to have their clitoris and other parts of their mutilated genitals restored. Dr. Bowers' surgical practice is in Mateo, about 20 minutes away from the institute in the Bay Area. To date, she has operated on close to 40 Clitoraid patients. She began volunteering for the charity in 2009, when she was still in Trinidad, Colo., where she had taken over a practice dedicated to gender reassignment surgeries in 2002.



During her presentation, Dr. Bowers described the dangerous side effects of FGM, which has no known health benefits. Using slides, she showed and described some FGM cases she has treated over the last few years. She described the suffering of these women as they arrived in her office desperate to be whole again, and later described the post-surgical healing process. She also spoke about her own journey as a surgeon who learned the new FGM reversal procedure from her mentor, Dr. Pierre Foldes of France, who developed the technique.

She also spoke about her hope and belief that FGM will completely disappear worldwide within a generation, attributing this trend to the increasing amount of online communication between victims fed up with this barbaric tradition.
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In her part of the presentation, Nadine Gary reviewed the history of FGM, which dates back several thousand years to the time it was practiced in Ancient Egypt. She then provided a geographical overview of where FGM (known euphemistically as "excision") still takes place. (The custom is especially prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Indonesia.) Gary explained that 150 milllion women living today have been genetically mutilated and that some have migrated to Western countries, with about 300,000 currently living in the United States.



Gary then spoke about her own experiences working with the FGM victims who call Clitoraid seeking medical help. These women have told her in their own words about the unspeakable ordeal they endured in childhood and shared their determination to have the surgery and turn the page on the past.

Gary concluded the presentation with a video of Clitoraid's new "pleasure hospital" in Burkina Faso, West Africa, which is due to open in October. With the assistance of a volunteer medical team headed by Dr. Bowers, the facility will offer the clitoral repair procedure free of charge to any woman who wants it.

The audience was deeply moved by Clitoraid's efforts and several sexology students asked how they can assist Clitoraid once they become certified sexologists. In an ensuing discussion, ideas were exchanged that could potentially make a significant contribution to Clitoraid's sex therapy program for FGM patients.

Dr. Marci Bowers and Dr. Harold Henning are available for presentations at medical schools and universities.

Clitoraid reaffirms WHO goal of eliminating female genital mutilation within a generation

شباط 03 2013, تصنيف: بيانات صحفية
LAS VEGAS, Feb 3 – The International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is observed each year on February 6 to raise public awareness about this barbaric practice. (FGM refers to any procedure causing partial or total removal of female genitalia for non-medical reasons. Although it has no known health benefits and carries both short and long-term physical and psychological health risks, it was forcibly imposed during childhood on at least 140 million women living today worldwide.)

“Female genital mutilation of any type is a harmful practice and a huge violation of human rights,” said Nadine Gary, director of communications for Clitoraid. “It has wrought excruciating pain and psychological suffering upon 140 living victims worldwide and caused the needless deaths of millions more. That’s why our organization is committed to assisting the Women’s Health Organization (WHO) in eliminating this horrific custom within a generation.”

As a step toward that goal, Clitoraid is dedicated to providing clitoral and genital repair surgery to all FGM victims who want it, according to Gary.

“In October, we’re opening a special hospital in Burkina Faso, West Africa, that will offer this surgery free of charge to FGM victims,” she said. “And thanks to our dedicated volunteer surgeons, we’re also offering it on other continents, including North America.”

In addition, Clitoraid is engaged in an active education campaign to inform the public about the grave dangers of FGM, Gary said.

“Fifteen percent of all FGM victims perish during or soon after the mutilation,” Gary said. “Three million girls are at risk of suffering that fate each year, and even if they survive, they’re sure to suffer from the aftereffects of this awful mutilation for the rest of their lives.”

Gary said Clitoraid was founded from an idea voiced by spiritual leader Maitreya Rael, who is also a fervent women’s rights and human rights advocate.

“He wants to educate the public about the importance of having women enjoying sexual pleasure without the guilt that often comes from the distorted teachings of primitive religions,” Gary said. “Eliminating guilt from sexual pleasure is essential to female balance and self-esteem.”

She said her organization is also monitoring a new and troubling trend.

“It’s appalling that health-care providers are increasingly being used in some countries to perform FGM,” Gary said. “That means some of those who could be fighting this practice are instead helping to legitimize and perpetuate it. One example is Indonesia. The World Health Organization is currently focused on this issue there, and our organization has voiced deep concern to the Indonesian Health Ministry. We have also trained a surgeon in the Philippines who is ready to perform clitoral repair surgery on Indonesian victims.”

Pleasure waves at Clitoraid sponsored "Gender Free" Orgasm Workshop

شباط 03 2013, تصنيف: Clitoraid NEWS
On Jan. 30, Clitoraid sponsored a gender-free orgasm workshop at the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas where the 25 male and female participants embarked in an evening of pleasurable and harmonizing experiences, even spiritual ones for some.

Barbara Carrellas, author of the book Urban Tantra had come from NYC and volunteered to teach a tantra workshop to benefit Clitoraid's FGM patients. The workshop is meant for every human being but in the case of women who have suffered clitoral excision, this "full body orgasm" class may allow them to broaden their sexual energy beyond their genital area.



The group gathered in the museum's Erotic Chapel where 2 large beds covered with a plush, red, velvety bedspread welcomed a few of the participants. Others found a seat on the cushions displayed in a circle on the wooden floor. Phallic, Roman-like columns were propped up here and there against the ivory-colored walls. In this warm, sensual atmosphere, single women and men as well as couples were ready to experience the pleasures of "gender free orgasm".
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