*Chanel Ayan underwent forced genital mutilation at age five. “The Real Housewives of Dubai” star opened up on her experience on the Bravo series’ Aug. 17 episode in the hopes of helping to raise awareness about the harmful practice she terms “torture and abuse.”
Female circumcision is still prevalent in parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East (and secretly in the US). Chanel Ayan is of Somali and Ethiopian descent. She stated that she and her sister were forced to undergo the ritual so they would remain virgins until marriage, reports E! Online.
Speaking to E! News after she had made her revelation, Ayan further explained herself.
“I’m a survivor,” she said. She added that she felt that she was utterly betrayed by her culture and her family“This is just a barbaric practice and it shouldn’t be happening to young girls. It happened to me 35 years ago and I’ve never gotten over it.”
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Ayan was mutilated when her aunt and grandmother took her and her sister away to a stranger’s house where a man painfully “sewed up their genitals.
“In my culture, it’s done to keep women virgins,” the fashion model explained. “Everybody’s a virgin in my culture because of this. Because how are you going to have sex when you’re sewn as a girl until you get married? It’s a way to keep men satisfied.”
She also said barbaric act is practiced in over 28 African countries, the Middle East, Syria, Yemen and even in America.
“I have cousins and family that still find ways to do it to the young girls behind the scenes because you don’t need a doctor. You just need someone who knows how to do it,” she added.
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