Meeri Koutaniemi

The World Health Organization estimates that there are more than 140 million mutilated women in the world. Female genital mutilation is a tradition practiced worldwide in 28 countries. The causes of female genital mutilation include a mix of cultural, religious and social factors within families and communities. The tradition stems from the belief that woman's sexual organs are considered to be impure. FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behavior, linking procedures to premarital virginity and marital fidelity. Female genital cutting has been widely judged as a procedure against human rights and as a serious violation against women's sexual independence. It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. - - "Child's hand had a flashlight. It was the only source of light in the dark mud hut. The child showed the torch at her, Nasirian, who was lying naked and tied on the floor. The light beam hit in between of Nasirian's bare thighs. It all happened quickly. One of the ladies revealed an ordinary razor blade in her hands for the mutilation. Nasirian cried and the floor was streaming from blood. The more she leaked, the more she screamed. After few minutes her genitals were completely unrecognizable." AIMS OF THE PROJECT Taken is a statement against female genital mutilation. As a project Taken aims to offer information about the dangers of FGM and will be done together with female activists around the world for seeking a concrete change to stop the tradition of FGM. The project is on-going and will be carried on in several countries in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the United States. Taken aims to become a book, which has a diversity of stories from circumcised women who share their struggles in daily life resulting from an incident which took such a short time, but had irreversible mental and physical consequences for the rest of their lives.