I am aware of female genital mutilation. Many more women will become aware of it if we are subjected to images of rusty razor blades and messages in our bikini bottoms. As you suggest, we should think of these things often. However, awareness is one thing and of course solutions are another. Give me something constructive I can do to fight female genital mutilation. Otherwise, the only emotion I get every time I put on my new bikini is guilt. And it's not the kind of bikini guilt derived from enjoying a piece of chocolate cake.

-Mandy

Am I the only girl whose mother taught her to leave her underwear on when trying on a swimsuit? Really? Ok then.

I don't like shock advertising unless it's truly necessary. Save the shock campaigns for the men and women responsible for the mutilation.

It's like going into the grocery store and having signs up that say "How DARE you buy that chocolate bar when someone in the world is hungry?" My local co-op has very tasteful ways of asking people to donate food and money to the hungry, without being obnoxious about it.

...and right in the bottom of the 'fly' section was a Live Strong ad from Lance Armstrong, reminding me to get examined regularly for testicular cancer.

*************

Ok, that didn't actually happen (Speedo tighties just don't look good on me =), but if Live Strong did wanna insert a prostate cancer or testicular cancer message in men's underpants, I don't think it would be such a bad thing. Weird, yes...ignored by many, maybe...but not a bad idea, I suppose.

Do these educational campaign have to rely on making us guilty? Guilty for what? We are not the ones doing it (especially in this case)!

I guess it it easier to propagate guilt among Americans rather than directly confront the ones who do and it provides easier and greater satisfaction.

Print on it "Why are you raping this woman?"

Listen to your mother! I worked in the swimwear/lingerie department of a very high-end retailer several years ago. You'd be amazed at the number of women who try on bathing suits and undergarments without underwear. A word to the wise - always wash a new swimsuit with detergent before you wear it.

I wouldn't have thought people who perform or advocate female genital mutilation looked inside the crotches of bikini's that often.

Well, it got a mention in Broadsheet, so hopefully any Broadsheet readers who are genital mutilators will get the message.

OK, it took only, what? 9 posts? I had to do it.

What if they put an ad to stop male genital mutilation on condom wrappers? Or bottles of Manischewitz?

You have to wonder what the point here is. I mean it's not like the people who practice FGM are likely to be buying string bikinis in western department stores. And it isn't like there are rabid groups or Right to Mutilaters agitating for Mutilation Only sex education in Africa.

Finally, Amnesty, an organization I support and admire and have worked for, really shouldn't be in the anti-FGM business anyway; FGM is a social & cultural problem, not one of government oppression and rights violations. Writing a letter to the president of Sudan isn't going to carry much weight with a grandmother clutching her rusty razor in some slum in Juba.

I'm not bothered by shock advertising, and Amnesty actually has some really good ones, like http://www.unsubscribe-me.org/waitingfortheguards.php (video on CIA authorized intensive interrogation) and http://www.boingboing.net/images/x_2008/AIswimming.jpg (picture ad on Chinese human rights).

But this ad, well, it mostly seems to be a shock ad designed to put Amnesty in the spotlight.

I must say that I would never put on any underwear that had a picture of a razorblade in it. I would be terrified to see that every time I put them on!

The better analogy would be that your spivvies come with a picture of a scalpel in them and an anti-circumcision message. A bra with a reminder to do my BSE would actually be slightly useful. But that's not a shocker ad directed at someone who can't even do anything about the problem; quite the opposite.

What do Broadsheeters think: Is this ad campaign an effective way to raise awareness about a horrific practice or is it, as Copyranter suggested, a form of "mental mutilation"?

Can't it be both?

In any case, I also want to know what PSAs are being delivered to MEN on this topic. Given the cultures where female genital mutilation usually takes place, emphasizing to young men the better sex life they're likely to have if their wife is not mutilated, and how they can speak up to stop the practice, would be an equally - if not more - effective approach.

...because I hate shock ads, but also I'm going to visit a website I would have otherwise not come across, and learn more about a subject that, although I was aware of it, I have never really delved into.

I think the whole lean towards shock ads is only because it takes something like this to get our attention nowadays. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the whole idea of this happening anywhere should be shocking enough to inspire action, and it hasn't been.

Question.

How would you suggest Americans go about stopping FGM? Should we send American forces to stop it? Offer financial incentives to tribes if they can prove their women haven't undergone these ghastly procedures? (US tax dollars, obviously). Should we drop leaflets?

If every year 2 million girls worldwide are unable to avoid genital mutilation we should take action more effective than screen printing.

Because I respect your opinions, I would like to know your solution. I would at least like to know something more than 'this image is creepy.'

Does imposing our cultural sensibilities abroad jibe with feminism? Liberalism?

The floor is yours.

I hope not! Surely the ad must be designed to raise awareness. Perhaps it will achieve that aim, but awareness cannot possibly be the end game. I'm guessing that political action or at least a donation to the cause must be the ultimate goal, but it's a lot to ask of pantyliner.

Hope it works, even if it means more panty raids.