Today’s media conventions dictate that op-eds should be between 750-800 words to be effective and widely shared. They get more eyes on and ‘reads’ that way. Make the key arguments, with coherence, emotional cadence and persuasive power. Do it with a killer knockout punch, like a Mohammed Ali, in 800 words or less.
My brilliant, beloved 50-year-old daughter, Jennifer Boudreau, says, “My generation are ‘Headline’ readers. Communicate in a two-minute funny reel for Facebook, a 30-second catchy read on TikTok, or maybe a very short YouTube Podcast. Younger people just have no time, interest or attention span to take in serious rational thought, significant world events or critical deleterious medical practices happening around them. Get with it, Mom! That’s the world today!”
George Orwell, back in 1946, gave famous writing advice too: “Never use a long word where a short one will do.”
So if I have it right, media gurus give equal space to a humorous op-ed about the joys of planting tulip bulbs, equal space to an op-ed about Justin and Katie’s celebrity romance, and equal space for my gravely concerned thoughts on the violent assaults on girls and women through brutal practices that mutilate their bodies, strip away the their dignity, and leave scars that can last a lifetime. 800 words or less is the standard.
Under this experienced tutelage, I submit my op-ed, including this preamble in its entirety, as part of it.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is one of the oldest, most violent assaults on women’s bodies. It involves cutting, scraping, or sealing the genitals of girls—often under the age of 15. In primitive settings, crude tools are used and no anaesthetic is used. In medicalized contexts, it is performed by trained professionals, lending false legitimacy to a practice that has no health benefits whatsoever.
The consequences are devastating: profuse bleeding, infections, chronic pain, infertility, complicated childbirth, and even death. Survivors often endure trauma, depression, and lifelong sexual dysfunction. The United Nations estimates that more than 230 million women alive today have experienced FGM, with 30 million new cases in the past eight years.
Today, international consensus is clear: FGM is a grotesque violation of human rights. It is banned in many countries, condemned by health authorities, and opposed by women everywhere. Yet it persists, sustained by social pressure, patriarchal control, and misguided beliefs.
In Canada, these horrific mutilations are alive and well, practised under a new name called Gender-Affirming Care.
Teenage girls, some as young as 14, and who cannot get a Tattoo without parental permission in a reputable body art studio, can get butchered! They can obtain irreversible surgeries such as mastectomies, hysterectomies, vaginectomies and phalloplasties without parental consent. Skilled surgeons carry it out. Supportive teachers arrange consultations. Stellar social workers remove children from foster homes that object. Well-intentioned leaders make laws to entrench it. Loving parents willingly agree to medical procedures that deny their sweet daughters sexual pleasure, fertility, and normal physical development for humans carrying XX chromosomes. And incredulous grandparents stand by silently, afraid of social, professional or familial ostracism, rationally thinking,
“How on God’s green earth did we ever get here? How can a society that condemns FGM abroad tolerate the surgical mutilation of minors at home? Are we any different from the perpetrators of FGM who justify their actions with cultural myths?
The parallels are striking. Both target female bodies. Both are justified by beliefs not grounded in science. Both cause irreversible harm. And both are accepted by societies unwilling to challenge prevailing ideologies.
It is time to speak the truth. Gender‑affirming surgeries on minors are acts of harm. They deny girls the chance to grow into womanhood, to experience intimacy, to bear children. They are irreversible decisions made at an age when children cannot possibly grasp the consequences.
The time has come to expose the nakedness of our emperors in academia, medicine, politics, and law and clothe them in the reality of truth, science and compassion for our daughters. It’s time to redirect resources to education, counselling, and support that affirm children without harming them. Let us speak up, challenge the myths, and stop it everywhere.
This op-ed is for publication. I have made my point about the vicious and brutal mutilation of girls. Let’s see what response you get with it. Let’s see if an op-ed of 800 words or less can do a bloody thing about this barbarous, heinous, iniquitous, depraved, evil, medically sanctioned practice.
(And sorry George for using all those big words, but there just are no other words in the English Dictionary to describe my feelings about the horror of it all!)
Adele Blair,
Wannabe Influencer
Photo: iStock
