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The Dangers Of Breast Ironing



Breast ironing is a procedure of getting a girl's breast's "pressed or flattened" by her mom in a bid to prevent them from developing with the goal that they won't attract male attention. It is the brutal flattening of a young girl’s developing chest to ‘protect her from rape and sexual harassment. The individuals who actualize the practice have a tendency to trust it will prevent a girl from being assaulted and that it is for her 'safety'. It is the process using objects like large stones, hammers or spatulas that has been heated over hot coals to compress or mutilate the breast tissue and make the adolescent look less ‘womanly’.




1. Breast ironing is practiced throughout Cameroon and has also been reported across West and Central Africa, in Benin, Chad, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, Kenya, Togo, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. In South Africa, a similar practice is known as “breast sweeping”.

2. It has also been alleged that the practice is also carried out in some parts of Britain since there is no Law that stops parent from ironing the breast of their daughter(s). It is estimated thousands of girls in African communities in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Luton, Nottingham, Leicester, Sheffield and Leeds may be exposed to the ritual, which usually happens in the family home.

3. According to a Cameroonian doctor Flavien Ndonko he said: “Breast ironing is both physically and psychologically damaging. It can cause infections and abscesses and has been linked to breast cancer, problems with breastfeeding, and severe depression.”

4. It has also been claimed that breast ironing has not stopped teenage pregnancy in the areas where this practice is carried out, for example the case of Cathy who underwent breast ironing for the first time at the age of ten, it did not however stop her from getting pregnant at the age of 16 and leaving school.

5. The United Nation estimates the perpetrators of these acts are the mothers of the victims.



MY VIEW

Ironing a female’s breast to prevent sexual assault from boys is an assault on its own. From all indications, it does more harm than good so why engage in it when it won’t even serve as a deterrent to the fear those who engage in are trying to avoid?

It has been noted that while suppressing the development of the breast, it also exposes the girl child to numerous health implications such as dis-symmetry of the breast, infections, cancer itching, discharge of milk and lots more.

The victims are most likely to experience cysts, severe fever, tissue damage and disappearance of one or both breasts, to make matter worse, it does not stop sexual activity, any girl child who will engage in sexual promiscuity will still do it irrespective of what her getting her breast ironed or not. It is better to give sex education to their child as early as possible. Breast ironing cannot replace sex education, lay a good foundation rather than give the girl child a permanent cross to bear.



Reference; nairaland.com


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