Yesterday, Womens Voices for Change (www.womensvoicesforchange.org) published two great reviews of the movie Desert Flower in advance of it’s release in the US. Patricia Yarberry Allen, a gynecologist and spokesperson of the organisation strongly recommends the movie. “When we learn about the nature of the secret shame and pain that has affected this young woman, every person in the audience could understand her passion to eliminate the procedure that has so affected her life” she writes after having seen the movie at an advance screening.

“Tradition is no defense for human rights abuse” writes another attendant of the screening, Jaqueline Frank. “It is long overdue for this issue to becoming a rallying cry, to help those most vulnerable.”

And Allen concludes: “This is a film that should be seen with mothers and daughters; a film that should be sent to our representatives in Congress, because female genital mutilation does not only occur in isolated desert spots—it is global”.