How do we start dealing with the throes of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and sexual violence? How do we begin to address the inhumanity behind these issues that have ravaged our cultures for centuries? By first creating awareness and making it very clear that these inhumanities are sacrileges to the soul.

This premise is what led Activist, Leyla Husesein and Photographer, Jason Ashwood to create Face of Defiance, a global photographic project of portraits of survivors of FGM & sexual violence, commissioned by the Wallace Global Fund & Human Dignity Foundation to raise awareness and lay up solutions. 

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Leyla Hussein is an anti-FGM activist, psychotherapist, a member of the FGM Special Initiative and co-founder of Daughters of Eve, a charity dedicated to ending gender-based violence including female genital mutilation.

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The Girl Generation aptly describes Face Of Defiance’ work – “The Face of Defiance photographs global survivors of and campaigners against FGM from the UK, US and Senegal, who are all willing to speak publicly about their experiences, most for the first time. It seeks to broaden public awareness and to create a new positive dialogue about ending FGM. It gives exposure to the rights of women who should be empowered to speak out about FGM and provides them with the platform to break the cycle and become agents of change. “

Tired of survivors of female genital mutilation being portrayed as broken women,  Leyla Hussein explains in this video on The Guardian why she curated an exhibition of portraits by Jason Ashwood at the first FGM summit in the US. 

Check out what Leyla Hussein is doing in the world of Women Empowerment and follow it up with these short powerful animated films on FGM have developed by the Royal College of Midwives.