Real Housewives Of Dubai star Chanel Ayan opened up about her childhood trauma during a hypnotherapy session.
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During this week’s episode, Ayan revealed that she had forced genital mutilation at age 5 with her sister. “At five years old, my aunt and my grandma came to pick us up to take us to another town. And then the next morning at 6 a.m., I didn’t know where I was going whatsoever, and then they took us to this man’s house and tied us on the bed, and we were circumcised,” she explained to the therapist. The model grew up in Kenya, and previously said to E! that the practice is performed to keep women as “virgins.”
“In my culture, it’s done to keep women virgins. Everybody’s a virgin in my culture because of this. Because how are you going to have sex when you’re sewn as a girl until you get married? It’s a way to keep men satisfied.”
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Ayan stated in the episode that she had the painful circumcision medically fixed before getting married to her husband, Christopher, as she wanted to be more physically intimate with her partner. At 14, her father tried to sell her into marriage, but her sister intervened.
By telling my story and spreading awareness, I have taken my power back and I’m no longer a victim and I want to fight against #endFGM
— Chanelayan (@chanelayan) August 18, 2022
“I wanted to get married, I had to go back to the doctor and I had to open it again because it was sewn, couldn’t have sex. Then, I had to wait until I healed. I’ve tried to understand and learn about it. Why did that happen? It’s because we need to be virgin when we get married so our families could get our dowry. That’s some f—ed up s–t. It’s like torture. It’s abuse.”
The 43-year-old model further explained that she felt betrayed by her culture and family because the practice still happens among young girls in Africa and the Middle East. “This is just a barbaric practice, and it shouldn’t be happening to young girls. It happened to me 35 years ago, and I’ve never gotten over it,” she explained.
“This is why I want to talk about it, because I honestly don’t want this to happen to anyone because I know exactly how it feels and it’s not good. A lot of girls get depressed, hormones are imbalanced, a lot of young girls die.”