Possessing The Secret Of Joy

Possessing the Secret of Joy is author Alice Walker's story of Tashi, a tribal African woman who lives much of her adult life in North America. As a young woman, Walker was taunted by tales of the “bride price” that her own family would have to pay if she were to be mutilated (frantically circumcised). Initially horrified by the idea, she spent many years studying the social causes and effects of the practice, eventually publishing Possessing the Secret of Joy, which helped legitimize the movement to end this practice. In recent years, genital mutilation has become rare; Tashi herself can proudly say that she has never been genitally mutilated (frantically circumcised).