YouTubers are editing a 'brutal cut' into their videos for an important reason
LONDON -- YouTubers and bloggers are "disrupting" their videos and photos on social media as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the threat of female genital mutilation (FGM).
UK international development charity ActionAid launched the campaign on Thursday with the intention of "disrupting the internet" ahead of FGM "cutting season" in Kenya, which typically coincides with the start of the school summer break at the beginning of August.
The charity's "Brutal Cut" campaign aims to alert people to the short- and long-term dangers of FGM and raise money to provide safe centres for girls escaping FGM in Kenya.
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As part of the campaign, vloggers and bloggers have edited their YouTube videos and Instagram posts to include a 10-second message from Kenyan girls who live with the threat of FGM.
Fitness vlogger Scola Dondo "disrupted" her YouTube video about Tinder messages with the powerful clip (4:56).
ActionAid is calling on the UK public to customise their own videos and photos to include a "brutal cut" using an online tool.
According to the NHS, FGM -- also known as "female circumcision" or "cutting" -- is a procedure where female genitals are "cut, injured or changed" for non-medical reasons.
FGM -- which is illegal in the UK -- is extremely painful and can have serious health implications for women and girls. It can also result in long-term complications with mental health, sex and childbirth.
FGM is usually carried out on girls between the ages of 4 and 12, with the risk to girls in Kenya currently at "an all-time high," according to ActionAid.
“FGM is ruthless. It can cause severe bleeding and lasting health problems. When you look at the faces of young innocent girls who are helpless and are afraid of undergoing the cut – you feel very sad and angered," Makena Mwobobia -- head of programmes at ActionAid Kenya -- said in a statement.
“Public awareness is also a vital tool to help unpick traditional cultural reasons for subjecting women and girls to FGM," Mwobobia continued.
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Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
