Personal Narrative: Female Genital Cutting

My sophomore year at Clark I sat at a high table in the Academic Commons on the phone with my mother discussing an article I read for class. The article was an opinion piece that called into question the Western viewpoint on Female Genital Cutting. The article was critical, intense and uncomfortable yet I sat on the phone with my mom for almost an hour discussing the author's arguments, its faults and virtues, my opinion and desire to study information like this forever. In response, she said "You can. Its called Women's Studies". Later that week, I declared a second major in Women's and Gender Studies. In one of my WGS classes we read an interview with Cynthia Enloe in which she discusses her lifelong passion for politics. She says that she

Unlike many of my peers, my travels exposed me to lives radically different than my own. During the summer after sophomore year of High School I participated in a six week-program in Thailand. At the end I decided to graduate early from school and accepted a spot as a Fellow for Global Citizen Year Ecuador a Bridge (gap) year program. While I am no longer in contact with the program I am deeply connected to and continually in touch with the family, my family, with whom I lived for nine months as a seventeen year

I want to be a practitioner who works in a space that is mostly uncomfortable to enable progress with others who are also willing to grow through discomfort. Thankfully my professional topic of interest, Human Sexuality, is uncomfortable for most! Additionally, I want to be a practitioner who is conscious of her privilege, who is capable to create space for others when it is necessary to step back as well as command space when required. I believe my identity and background will deeply affect my ability as a community development practitioner because I have very little in common with the communities I will often work in. Falling into the "White Savior" stereotype is my greatest fear and I believe that due to my appearance and personal life I am viewed as such, at least at first. Additionally, my personal interests are based in human rights and social change, sectors that are constantly occupied by privileged outsiders. Despite this, I still want to work in those areas I hope I will view my work and myself critically and will "check" myself, or encourage others to, when necessary. Even in the field of Queer Rights and advancement where I am not an outsider, my vigilance of understanding how my intersectional identities continue to safeguard me is vital to being a positive, non-appropriative force in the communities with whom I