“Female Genital Mutilation, Child Marriage and Breastfeeding Across Cultures”

Event Description:

“FGM, Child Marriage and Breastfeeding Across Cultures” was a talk by Elisabeth Ubbe, a Swedish photojournalist and former midwife. She began by sharing her “Vulva Portraits,” which are intimate images of survivors of FGM. She talked about her experience with FGM as a midwife and her decision to begin working as a photojournalist when she first encountered this violent practice. She also shared her portfolio on young girls who were sold on the Turkish border as co-wives to ISIS fighters. Ending on a beautiful note, she shared work from her “Invisible Breasts” project, which seeks to normalize breastfeeding in the public eye. Prior to the event, an interview with Elisabeth Ubbe was featured on our blog and was one of the most-viewed AHA Foundation blog posts of the year, with over 3,000 views. This lecture was preceded by a panel open to education majors at Vassar college, which discussed female genital mutilation, child marriage and forced marriage in the U.S.

Read more about Elisabeth Ubbe here.

Read more about our Vassar fellow, Grace, here.