Talent’s own coat, blazer, top, pants, boots, earrings, and ring.
PAYZEE MAHMOD THE THUNDER INSIDE YOU ALL
Written by Shei Marcelline Photographed by Lee Malone Styled by Ashley Powell
april 27, 2022 marked a powerful accomplishment and simulta - neous exhale of relief for 35-year-old Child Marriage Survivor and Campaigner, Payzee Mahmod. Mahmod sat next to fellow activists within the UK’s Houses of Parliament, mitigated by what she had witnessed. Following an arduous ten-year-long battle to ban child marriage in England and Wales, legal action finally passed to ensure that no child in the UK will legally endure Mahmod’s own childhood experiences. Mahmod shares, “It was absolutely crucial to us that we ban child marriage in every form—when the law change happens, it will include cus- tomary, traditional, religious, and registered marriages.” The result of this fight is by no means an end to Mahmod’s cam- paigning journey. As a representative of the Iranian and Kurd- ish Women’s Rights Organization (IKWRO), Mahmod has since
lobbied for the end to hymenoplasty and virginity testing and spoken publicly about her own experience in child marriage; The first time being her TEDx Talk “Payzee Mahmod: A Survi- vor’s Plea to End Child Marriage.” Now a recipient of the UK’s 2022 Global Citizen Prize: Citizen Award, Mahmod shows us all how a voice once silenced, roars at the forefront for others. Married to a man nearly twice her age, for a 16-year-old Payzee Mahmod, things didn’t feel right. Having grown up in London, Mahmod’s memories of her family life and its Kurd- ish heritage orbit around social status, a dictation of fortune and opportunity. Undermining this cultural imperative, Mahmod’s elder sister reported abuses to authorities and was consequently removed from the home. The communal ostracism that followed was too much for her father to bear, and resulted in Payzee and
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