The BBC soap EastEnders has been praised for raising awareness in their most recent plotline around the emotive issue of female genital mutilation (FGM). Famous for never shying away from communicating difficult and important issues, the soap focuses this delicate subject around the storyline of the character Mila Marwa. As a child, Mila underwent the horrifying procedure of FGM herself, and becomes fearful of the same thing happening to her younger sister, confronting her mother on her true reasons for sending her sister away to Africa.
On Friday 1st February, a 37 year old mother from Walthamstow, East London was found guilty of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) after mutilating her 3 year old daughter in the summer of 2017. She has become the first person in the UK to be convicted of FGM and is due to be sentence on 8th March.
