By Jess McCabe | 4 March 2007, 19:36

Here’s a blog that should be required reading, but I can’t help but add a warning that it’s not for the faint of heart.

Survivance is the story of a Parisian woman who is preparing for surgery to undo the damage done when she was circumcised at the age of four.

The blog is in French, but for philistines like me with limited language skills, “trailing spouse” A is translating it into English.

It’s harrowing stuff, but a very brave story about the process she has gone through - from being too scared to approach a doctor who does reconstructions (and may be able to get her clitoris functioning again), through paranoia about the doctor being killed and finally making the appointment for surgery.

Although I’m sure readers will be aware of this horrendous practice, it’s easy to distance ourselves from it as something that only affects women far away from the UK. But, as this story proves, that’s simply not true.