Book
The Girl with Three Legs (2011) by Soraya Miré: a memoir against female genital cutting
The Girl with Three Legs is a 2011 memoir by the Somali filmmaker and activist Soraya Miré, published by Lawrence Hill Books, an imprint of Chicago Review Press. It tells how she grew up in a well-connected family in Somalia, was subjected to female genital cutting as a teenager and later to an arranged marriage with an abusive cousin, left for Europe and the United States, and made the 1994 documentary Fire Eyes about the practice.
The Girl with Three Legs
- Author
- Soraya Miré
- Year
- 2011
- Publisher
- Lawrence Hill Books (Chicago Review Press)
- Language
- English
- ISBN
- 9781569767139
- Sources
- 5 sources
The book
The Girl with Three Legs: A Memoir is by Soraya Miré, a Somali writer, filmmaker and campaigner against female genital mutilation (FGM), born in Beledweyne in 1961 (Wikipedia). It was published in October 2011 by Lawrence Hill Books, an imprint of Chicago Review Press, with 384 pages (Chicago Review Press; Publishers Weekly).
The book opens with the lines: "I have known two kinds of pain. The first, a stabbing between my legs, the second, reliving it to tell my story" (Chicago Review Press).
What it covers
- Childhood. Miré grew up in a traditional Somali family that moved in the country's elite circles; her father was a general under the government of Siad Barre (Chicago Review Press).
- Cutting. At thirteen she underwent infibulation, the most severe form of female genital cutting (Wikipedia). She describes the practice as child abuse handed down from mother to daughter and defended as "culture" (Chicago Review Press). The subject is covered on Female genital cutting.
- Marriage. She was married to a relative in a wedding arranged, in her words, "with the blessings of my family and without my knowledge or agreement", and describes the abuse she suffered in that marriage (Publishers Weekly).
- Leaving. The book follows her journey from Somalia to the United States by way of Italy, Germany, Switzerland and France (Publishers Weekly).
- Fire Eyes. It describes the making of her documentary Fire Eyes: Female Circumcision (1994), which opens with her own account and has been shown at the Sundance festival and at the United Nations in Geneva (Wikipedia; Chicago Review Press).
How it was received
- Publishers Weekly found it most powerful in its account of the procedure and in its "personal, passionate, and persuasive rejection" of cultural defences of FGM, calling it "compelling reading". The same review found the travel and film-making sections long and the dialogue flat (Publishers Weekly; Chicago Review Press).
- Booklist wrote that readers "will be caught by the urgency of the contemporary cause, rooted in the anguish of one brave woman" (Chicago Review Press).
- A review in The Urban News compared her work with that of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who also made a film on related issues (The Urban News).
Miré received a United Nations humanitarian award for her campaigning, and lives in Los Angeles (Chicago Review Press).
Where to read it
- In a library: WorldCat
Related pages
Sources
- Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Chicago Review Press · chicagoreviewpress.com
- Publishers Weekly · publishersweekly.com
- The Urban News · theurbannews.com
- WorldCat · search.worldcat.org
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Where this matters
- Muqdisho (Mogadishu) and BanaadirMogadishu (Muqdisho) is Somalia's capital and makes up the Banadir region, with about 2.97 million people in 20 districts.
- Beledweyne (Belet Weyne) and HiiraanHiiraan is a region of Hirshabelle State on the Shabelle river, with Beledweyne as its capital and about 505,000 to 598,000 people.
Same era
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- Birmingham (Somali diaspora)About 17,000 to 21,600 Somalis live in Birmingham (Census 2021), mostly in Nechells, Newtown, Small Heath and Alum Rock. History, work, health and ties home.
- Bristol (Somali diaspora)9,167 people in Bristol identified as Somali or Somalilander in Census 2021, the city's largest minority group. Where they live, work, housing, leaders and ties home.
- Calgary, Alberta, Canada2,845 people of Somali origin lived in Calgary at the 2021 Census, plus 890 in Brooks. How they came, who serves them and what they face.
- Denmark (Somali diaspora)21,885 people of Somali origin lived in Denmark in 2026, half born there. Numbers, history, work, permit reviews, and ties home.
- DjiboutiAbout 13,900 refugees from Somalia live in Djibouti (Aug 2026): numbers since 1990, Ali Addeh, Holl-Holl, the 2017 refugee law, Arta 2000 and 2025 returns.
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