Petra's Blog
A unique insight into the day-to-day life of Petra Joy as she chronicles the fun, frolics and frustrations of an independent female porn producer.
If you have any comments on any of these articles, please feel free to e-mail Petra!
Moving Forward
Posted: 16 December 2009
I feel privileged and blessed to be able to explore and express my sexuality freely.
Erotic exploration and sexual pleasures are a birthright of every human but are still an unobtainable luxury to many women who do not live in the Western world. How many women around the world can’t even begin to think about freely expressing and exploring their sexual desires because their basic human rights aren’t secure? This Christmas, I want to make a difference by helping a cause that is very close to my heart. I’m donating part of the proceeds of my DVD sales to support “The Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development” (FORWARD), who are working to end female genital mutilation (FGM) in Africa and beyond.
FGM is defined by the “World Health Organization” as the range of procedures that involve “the partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia (labia and clitoris) or other injury to the female genital organs.” About 138 million African women are the victims of FGM. Because the procedure is often carried about a by someone with no medical training and no access to antiseptic treatments or anesthetics, the consequences of the traumatic and painful procedure can be life-threatening: Infection, urine retention, injury to adjacent tissues, immediate fatal hemorrhaging, menstrual difficulties, and complications in pregnancy and childbirth are only some of the common implications of FGM.
Here’s a personal account of FGM from Waris Dirie, a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and FGM spokesperson from FORWARD’s site: “Mama tied a blindfold over my eyes. The next thing I felt my flesh was being cut away. I heard the blade sawing back and forth through my skin. The pain between my legs was so intense I wished I would die.”
Though it is not clear where this practice started (perhaps Ancient Egypt), it is now practiced widely by minority ethnic groups around the world. FGMs are often performed to initiate a female into adulthood, as a means of purification, and to signify her inclusion in a community. FORWARD estimates that about 6,500 girls in the UK are at risk for FGM every year.
I feel saddened that so many women around the world have been genitally mutilated and suffer horrific medical and psychological consequences.
Apart from the physical and emotional scars that the victims suffer, these women lose what I feel is a basic human right: the right to sexual pleasure and satisfaction. What is it like to be robbed of the ability to have physical pleasure during sex? What are the implications for a woman’s sexuality, when their genitalia have been a site of torture? The message this act sends to women would seem to be one of total male dominance, and seems to create sex not as an expression of pleasure and fertility, but as one of total female submission. A forced submission into a beauty ideal that pleases men and increases their sexual pleasure.
It is ironic that many Western women these days have their inner and outer labia cut down in size to submit to a male beauty ideal that has been promoted by glamour photography and porn: tiny teenage pussies that look “clean” and “innocent” rather than a mature female sexual organ that signifies power.
This is why I love Grit Scholz’s book: “Das Tor ins Leben” - the gate to life (www.das-tor-ins-leben.de) in which she celebrates all kind of vaginas in their full bloom and uncut.
I gladly give some of my hard-earned money to women who have been vaginally mutilated and to hopefully prevent some more FGM’s from happening. Education is the key. If the consequences are known and understood I think it will be easier for the cultures still practicing FGM to move on and create new rituals for becoming a female adult. Rituals that celebrate the gate to life and the pleasure it can bring to women and men alike.
You can find out more about the FGM or donate money to FORWARD here: www.forwarduk.org.uk
