Filmmaker and screenwriter Biodun Stephen has spoken about undergoing female genital mutilation as a child and how the experience still follows her.
Stephen, known for films such as Breaded Life, Sistà, Muri & Ko, Introducing the Kujus, The Kuju’s Again and Momiwa, shared the story on the latest episode of the Dear Ife series hosted by Ifedayo Agoro.
During the conversation, she said many of her films carry pieces of her real life.
Using her first film, The Visit, as an example, she explained that it briefly touched on female circumcision and what it can do to victims.
“I was circumcised. So I mentioned that because I just realised that, maybe because I was coming from radio, where I had this show and talked about life experiences, it helped me understand the kind of filmmaker I wanted to be and the kind of stories I wanted to tell.
“So in every film you know there’s a little fragment of me,” she said.
Stephen said her grandmother took her for the procedure when she was six.
“I remember, I was six when I went to be circumcised. I remember it vividly, the pain. As I’m talking to you, I’m seeing the picture. That afternoon, that mat. They took me to the woman’s place. I didn’t know what was going on. My grandma just said, “Let’s go somewhere.”
“So, we went to this somewhere. They allowed me to play. It made me feel comfortable. Then the next thing, my grandma said, “Come on, let’s go have a shower.” And then they’ll bath you just by the corner of the compound.
“And then I just saw this man putting a mat on the floor, and they told me to lie down. The pain was searing to the brain. And then they stuffed me with tissue. I didn’t know what happened to me. There was no conversation about it. My mother was in the know. When I got home, they gave me Phensic. She rubbed my body, and that was it. There was no conversation. I got to eventually know what circumcision was as I grew older, when I started reading things about Female Genital Mutilation,” she recounted.
“It was a tradition”
She said the practice was common in her mother’s family at the time, and older relatives saw it as a cultural duty.
She said, “My mother was (circumcised). Her sister was. Her own kids, I think, some of them were circumcised before everybody started vexing, saying that they don’t want it anymore. It was a tradition.
“My mother is from Edo State. I think it’s an Edo thing. But we are very Lagos. It’s when my grandma shows up that we hear all these new things. I can tell you for a fact that my grandma believes she was doing the right thing. She was honouring her lineage. She was honouring the culture. She was honouring the tradition. I remember when she tried to do it to my sister, my mother threw a fit. She disagreed. So you can imagine me asking myself, what happened between that time and when I was six?”
The lasting impact
Stephen also spoke about what she described as long term effects some victims face, especially around intimacy.
“It depends on how badly you’ve been cut. You know you’re not really able to enjoy sex or even experience orgasm. Because you know it is your clitoris that has been nipped. Sometimes they nip it,” she said.
