Reference : Changing attitudes towards female genital mutilation. From conflicts of loyalty to re...
Scientific journals : Article
Human health sciences : Public health, health care sciences & services
Migration and Inclusive Societies
http://hdl.handle.net/10993/55966
Changing attitudes towards female genital mutilation. From conflicts of loyalty to reconciliation with self and the community: The role of emotion regulation
English
Agboli, Afi[UCLouvain Belgium > Faculty of Public Health, Institute of Health & Society (IRSS)]
Richard, Fabienne[School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium, Groupe pour l’Abolition des Mutilations Sexuelles (GAMS-Belgium), Brussels, Belgium]
Botbol Baum, Mylene[Institute of Health and Society (IRSS), Brussels, Belgium, Health, Economics, Ethics, Law, and Social Issues (HELESI), Brussels, Belgium]
Brackelaire, Jean-Luc[Institute of Health and Society (IRSS), Brussels, Belgium, Institute for the Analysis of Change in Contemporary and Historical Societies (IACS), Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, Faculty of Law, Université de Namur (UNamur), Namur, Belgium]
D'Aguanno, Annalisa[Groupe pour l’Abolition des Mutilations Sexuelles (GAMS-Belgium), Brussels, Belgium]
Diallo, Khadidiatou[Groupe pour l’Abolition des Mutilations Sexuelles (GAMS-Belgium), Brussels, Belgium]
Mikolajczak, Moïra[Institute of Health and Society (IRSS), Brussels, Belgium, Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium]
Ricadat, Elise[Centre de Recherche Psychanalyse, Médecine et Société (CRPMS), Université de Paris, Paris, France, Institut de Recherche Saint-Louis, Paris, France]
Aujoulat, Isabelle[Institute of Health and Society (IRSS), Brussels, Belgium, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium]
[en] Emotional regulation, Female genital mutilation, Pain, Conflict of loyalty
[en] The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is a social norm embedded in the patriarchal system and is resistant to change due to its roots in the tradition of the practising communities. Despite this difficulty in change, some women succeed in changing their attitudes towards the practice. In trying to understand what makes these women change their attitudes, we identified in a previous study, the critical life events at which change occurs (turning point). These turning points were described with emotions and conflicting feelings based on which we hypothesised that emotion regulation and the resolution of conflicts of loyalty might be possible mechanisms that explain the change of attitudes by the women. In this article, we sought to investigate how the mechanisms interact and how they were at play to explain the change. We, therefore, triangulated our previous data, fifteen women interviewed twice, with the published life stories and public testimonies of 10 women with FGM, and interviews of six experts chosen for their complementary fields of expertise to discuss the emerging concepts and theory, generated by our study. The data were analysed using framework analysis and an element of the grounded theory approach (constant comparison). As a result of our theorisation process, we propose a model of change in five stages (Emotion suppression, The awakening, The clash, Re-appropriation of self, and Reconciliation). This describes the process of a woman’s journey from compliance with FGM and community norms to non-compliance. Our study reveals how the women whose stories were analysed, moved from being full members of their community at the cost of suppressing their emotions and denying their selves, to becoming their whole selves while symbolically remaining members of their communities through the forgiveness of their mothers.
UCLouvain, Institute of Health & Society (IRSS) Belgium
[UCLouvain Belgium > Faculty of Public Health, Institute of Health & Society (IRSS)]
