<p>In our fifth episode of the JUST THREE podcast, host Catherine LaSota talks with activist Musu Bakoto Sawo, who contributed a chapter entitled <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-0614-7_9"><strong>Let Girls Be Girls - My Journey Into Forced Womanhood</strong></a> to the Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies, which was developed by the Menstrual Health and Gender Justice working group at the Center for the Study of Social Difference.</p>
<p>In this conversation, Musu, who has been an activist since the age of 9, discusses issues of patriarchy and misuses of power that perpetuate the problem of gender violence, and she also shares her personal history as a child bride and female genital mutilation survivor.</p>
<p><strong>Musu Bakoto Sawo</strong> is the national coordinator for Think Young Women and the deputy executive secretary of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission of The Gambia. She has gained in-depth knowledge of human rights through more than 17 years of activism in children and women’s rights, and her membership in different community-based organizations. She has translated this knowledge into capacity building, research, networking, program development, and practical engagement with human rights mechanisms, as well as with grassroots, national, and international organizations and platforms. She holds an LLM in human rights and democratization in Africa.</p>
<p>Learn more about the the <strong>Think Young Women</strong> organization by visiting their social media platforms here:<br>
<a href="https://twitter.com/thinkyoungwomen">Twitter</a><br>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ThinkYoungWomen/">Facebook</a><br>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/thinkyoungwomen/">Instagram</a></p>
<p>Learn more about the Menstrual Health and Gender Justice working group <a href="https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/projects-/menstrual-health-and-gender-justice" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>, and find the open access Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies, for which Musu Bakoto Sawo contributed a personal narrative, <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9789811506130" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p>Website of the Center for the Study of Social Difference: <a href="https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/</a></p>
<p>Music in our podcasts is by Blue Dot Sessions, and episodes are mixed by Craig Eley.</p>
<p>Catherine LaSota, host of the JUST THREE podcast, is Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University.</p>
