Oswego State Students are talking the complicated issue of female genital mutilation.

On Feb. 9 Oswego State’s Women’s Center had a presentation and showed a movie on the topic. The movie depicted the story of one woman in Africa who defied her village and saved four little girls along with her own daughter from the practice of female cutting.

The Women’s Center screened the movie "Mooladé." The film depicts a Senegalese woman named Colle who defies elders by advocating against the barbaric practice. Colle takes in four girls who ran away from the purification ritual and plead with her to grant them protection. Throughout the film Colle struggles against tradition by trying speaking against female genital mutilation.

Female genital mutilation is the removal of part or all of the female genitalia. It can refer to clitoridectomy, excision or infibulation. These painful procedures are most common in girls ages two months to 13 years. Many practitioners believe the practice to be an act of purification which readies the woman marriage.