Flowers for FGM Awareness

[eumelia]

Amnesty International has launched a new ad campaign to raise awareness for the fight against female genital mutilation.
Pandagon and Feministing have already posted about it.
I found the ads very evocative:


Click on the images for full size

I think it details the meaningless destruction of something beautiful, without making it look obscene or cliched.

Flowers have more often than not been used to describe or be a euphemism for female genitalia, not just the vagina, but the vulva, the clitoris, the labia majora and minora, and of course we can't not think of famous painter Georgia O'Keef who made famous the use of flowers to describe the beauty and sexuality of female genitalia.

I've heard from people that it is now considered cliche to use flowers as genitalia, but I think in this ad campaign it is used excellently, because the flowers evoke innocence, which is exactly what these (most usually) pre-pubesant girls lose when they are mutilated in such a way.

I'd love to hear what y'all think.

Comments

[thecityofdis.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that's great. And brilliantly creative.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

Love it!

[aesiron.livejournal.com]

Beautiful, but creepy. Probably the point, though.

[stateofwonder.livejournal.com]

As someone who has done quite a bit of research on anti-FGM campaigns (focusing on a particular region) and tends to be pretty critical about them, I think this is a great campaign for several reasons.

1) It doesn't scapegoat any particular peoples or cultures. Doesn't blame women for perpetuating the violence, doesn't point fingers at a particular religion, doesn't even pigeonhole the practice to a particular region. Considering how varied the practice can be, the many reasons behind the cutting and the conditions in which it is done, I feel that the more general and wide-reaching the campaign is, the better.

2) The images are not exploitative or borderline pornographic. The accompanying text is also pointed and effective, but tasteful.

3) This campaign doesn't invoke any kind of savior complex and doesn't make the survivors of FGM out to be helpless victims. There is no hint of 'saving those dirty savages from their barbaric practices' that so often comes across in these kinds of campaigns. The wording of 'help stop violence against women' is very important here in universalizing this experience, rather than ghettoizing the women who have gone through it.

[talibah-nazahah.livejournal.com]

omg.. that is so awesome!!! before i clicked to see the pictures i tried to imagine how they would do it and i thought of a flower. what a geat poster.

i dont view these as a cliche because they are so beautifully photographed. it's a striking image.