Cameroon girls battle 'breast ironing'

[Mekeda7]

Cameroon girls battle 'breast ironing'
By Randy Joe Sa'ah
BBC News, Yaounde


A nationwide campaign is under way in Cameroon to
discourage the widespread practice of "breast
ironing".

This involves pounding and massaging the developing
breasts of young girls with hot objects to try to make
them disappear.

Statistics show that 26% of Cameroonian girls at
puberty undergo it, as many mothers believe it
protects their daughters from the sexual advances of
boys and men who think children are ripe for sex once
their breasts begin to grow.

The most widely used instrument to flatten the breasts
is a wooden pestle, used for pounding tubers in the
kitchen. Heated bananas and coconut shells are also
used.

Student Geraldin Sirri recounted her painful
experience.

"My mother took a pestle, she warmed it well in the
fire and then she used it to pound my breasts while I
was lying down. She took the back of a coconut, warmed
it in the fire and used it to iron the breasts.


"I was crying and trembling to escape but there was no
way."

Another woman from Mamfe in south-west Cameroon told
me she ironed her own breasts as a girl so that she
would not be forced into early marriage as is the
practice in her village.

"I wanted to go to school like other girls who had no
breasts," Emilia said.

'No regrets'

Many mothers have no regrets about ironing their
daughter's breasts.


"Breast ironing is not a new thing. I am happy I
protected my daughter. I could not stand the thought
of boys spoiling her with sex before she completed
school," one woman explained.

"Unfortunately, television is encouraging all sorts of
sexual immorality in our children."

Anthropologist Dr Flavien Ndonko says that breast
ironing is not an effective method of preventing early
sex and pregnancies because many of the girls still
become pregnant. He recommends plain talking between
parents and their daughters.

"What you have to really do is talk about the issue of
sexual reproductive health with the child. So that she
is aware about what it means growing up and having
breasts or having periods," he says.

With the help of sponsors, a group of teenage girls
called the Association of Aunties has produced a
television campaign to expose the problems of breast
ironing.

"Massaging the breasts of young girls is very
dangerous. This is harmful to health... Do not force
them to disappear or appear - allow them to grow
naturally," one of the adverts says.

Prison

So far, no research has taken place on the medical
effects of breast ironing.

However, Prof Anderson Doh, a cancer surgeon and
director of the state-owned Gynaecological Hospital in
Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, says the practice is
dangerous.

"There are structures in the breast made of connective
tissue. Now if you over iron the breast, if you use
very hot objects, if you pound on the breast at this
tender age when the structures are developing of
course you could also cause damage," he says.

The victims do have protection under the law, as long
as the matter is reported within a few months, lawyer
Buba Ndefiembu says.

If a medical doctor determines that damage has been
caused to the breasts, then the person responsible can
go to jail for up to three years.

This does not always deter mothers who see their
daughters hitting puberty earlier and earlier thanks
to better living standards.

But the Association of Aunties hopes their campaign
will start to change attitudes and spare other girls
future physical and emotional pain.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ca/5107360.stm

[5602]

Originally Posted by Mekeda7

Cameroon girls battle 'breast ironing'
By Randy Joe Sa'ah
BBC News, Yaounde


A nationwide campaign is under way in Cameroon to
discourage the widespread practice of "breast
ironing".

This involves pounding and massaging the developing
breasts of young girls with hot objects to try to make
them disappear.

Statistics show that 26% of Cameroonian girls at
puberty undergo it, as many mothers believe it
protects their daughters from the sexual advances of
boys and men who think children are ripe for sex once
their breasts begin to grow.

The most widely used instrument to flatten the breasts
is a wooden pestle, used for pounding tubers in the
kitchen. Heated bananas and coconut shells are also
used.

Student Geraldin Sirri recounted her painful
experience.

"My mother took a pestle, she warmed it well in the
fire and then she used it to pound my breasts while I
was lying down. She took the back of a coconut, warmed
it in the fire and used it to iron the breasts.


"I was crying and trembling to escape but there was no
way."

Another woman from Mamfe in south-west Cameroon told
me she ironed her own breasts as a girl so that she
would not be forced into early marriage as is the
practice in her village.

"I wanted to go to school like other girls who had no
breasts," Emilia said.

'No regrets'

Many mothers have no regrets about ironing their
daughter's breasts.


"Breast ironing is not a new thing. I am happy I
protected my daughter. I could not stand the thought
of boys spoiling her with sex before she completed
school," one woman explained.

"Unfortunately, television is encouraging all sorts of
sexual immorality in our children."

Anthropologist Dr Flavien Ndonko says that breast
ironing is not an effective method of preventing early
sex and pregnancies because many of the girls still
become pregnant. He recommends plain talking between
parents and their daughters.

"What you have to really do is talk about the issue of
sexual reproductive health with the child. So that she
is aware about what it means growing up and having
breasts or having periods," he says.

With the help of sponsors, a group of teenage girls
called the Association of Aunties has produced a
television campaign to expose the problems of breast
ironing.

"Massaging the breasts of young girls is very
dangerous. This is harmful to health... Do not force
them to disappear or appear - allow them to grow
naturally," one of the adverts says.

Prison

So far, no research has taken place on the medical
effects of breast ironing.

However, Prof Anderson Doh, a cancer surgeon and
director of the state-owned Gynaecological Hospital in
Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, says the practice is
dangerous.

"There are structures in the breast made of connective
tissue. Now if you over iron the breast, if you use
very hot objects, if you pound on the breast at this
tender age when the structures are developing of
course you could also cause damage," he says.

The victims do have protection under the law, as long
as the matter is reported within a few months, lawyer
Buba Ndefiembu says.

If a medical doctor determines that damage has been
caused to the breasts, then the person responsible can
go to jail for up to three years.

This does not always deter mothers who see their
daughters hitting puberty earlier and earlier thanks
to better living standards.

But the Association of Aunties hopes their campaign
will start to change attitudes and spare other girls
future physical and emotional pain.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ca/5107360.stm

Black Women can do much to stop this practice by changing what we accept as normal. The so-called ed-u-mucation these mothers speak of is primarily provided by either foriegn mercenaries a.k.a missionaries or by governments still hung up on white folks beliefs! They are not going to be of much help!

If the men in our communities act this way then it is up to us to stop this practice by not accepting certain behaviours.

[nattyreb]

This is so sickening, one of the most abusive acts against girls/women i've ever heard of. This is the first i've read of this particular practice, i'll see if it's verified anywhere else. Thanks for sharing.

[Mekeda7]

Originally Posted by 5602

Black Women can do much to stop this practice by changing what we accept as normal. The so-called ed-u-mucation these mothers speak of is primarily provided by either foriegn mercenaries a.k.a missionaries or by governments still hung up on white folks beliefs! They are not going to be of much help!

If the men in our communities act this way then it is up to us to stop this practice by not accepting certain behaviours.

Greetings 5602

Very true. Our young sisters are suffering because of the
terrible behavior of some Afrikan men. The attacks against
Afrikan women needs to stop! The initiation of that work
must start with Afrikan women!

Medase pa for your comments, 5602

Uhuru

[Mekeda7]

Originally Posted by nattyreb

This is the first i've read of this particular practice, i'll see if it's verified anywhere else. Thanks for sharing.

Please let us know if you do!

[Mekeda7]

"A people, any people, who will not protect their women, their children, and their elderly from murder by an enemy just plain will not survive. I'm not making any profound moral judgments here, this is simply a fact of nature. Failure to protect women, children, and elderly means that a culture isn't just dying, it is already dead, and we need to understand that this is IT, people. We have spent the past forty years asking for something to be handed to us on a silver platter, or just save a few dollars and buy it, while our enemy is STILL the Landlord."

-Asia Method

[nattyreb]

Amen to that!

Originally Posted by Mekeda7

"A people, any people, who will not protect their women, their children, and their elderly from murder by an enemy just plain will not survive. I'm not making any profound moral judgments here, this is simply a fact of nature. Failure to protect women, children, and elderly means that a culture isn't just dying, it is already dead, and we need to understand that this is IT, people. We have spent the past forty years asking for something to be handed to us on a silver platter, or just save a few dollars and buy it, while our enemy is STILL the Landlord."

-Asia Method

[nattyreb]

via allafrica.com
===========

Breast Ironing Classified As Torture

The Post (Buea)
NEWS
June 29, 2006
Posted to the web June 29, 2006

By Nformi Sonde Kinsai

The Sub Director in charge of Judiciary Cooperation in the Ministry of Justice, Mathias Nyoh Dinga, has said breast ironing is as bad as other forms of torture punishable under the law. He made the statement while responding to questions at a forum in Yaounde to commemorate the United Nations International Day in Support of Torture Victims Worldwide.

The day, which is commemorated every June 26, was jointly organised in Cameroon by the Centre for the Rehabilitation and Abolition of Torture, CRAT, Trauma Centre in Yaounde and Tort for Torture Victims Cameroon.

It brought together legal experts and medical officers who presented papers on medical evidence and the roles of medical officers in treating victims of torture in Cameroon, psychological impact of torture, legal redress and victims' reparation, amongst others.

As far as breast ironing, which entails the use of hot objects to press the breasts of young girls to either limit or encourage their growth, Justice Nyoh said the issue came to the limelight only recently.

He, however, said the act ties with other forms of torture such as beatings, rape, forceful imprisonment, and so on, condemned by the 1987 UN convention against torture and other cruel inhuman treatment punishable by Cameroon law.

On arguments from some participants that breast ironing constitutes cultural aspects of some Cameroonians and that perpetrators don't carry out the act with the intention of inflicting pain, one of the panelists, Barrister Tanda Numfor, said any act whether cultural or not, and which is repugnant to social justice is punishable under the Cameroonian law.

Justice Nyoh said breast ironing should be reported to the courts.One of the participants also sought to know whether a wife who has been forced into sexual intercourse by the husband could take the matter to court for legal redress.

Nyoh and Barrister Tanda explained that handling such a case is very difficult considering that sexual intercourse is one aspect of the nuptial bond.Nyoh added that if for some medical reasons, the wife is unfit to engage in sex, the claim can be tenable.

He said that indulging in sexual starvation of one partner by the other without any justifiable reason constitutes torture, which can legally be redressed.Prior to the presentations, the Executive Director of CRAT Cameroon, Basil Ajuo Tifu, said joint efforts are needed to eradicate torture, which is glaring in about two-thirds of the countries in the world.

"Information, training and education in treatment of torture victims and in the documentation and investigation of torture cases are keys to a world without torture," he declared.Ajuo said the obligation specified in the UN Convention against Torture has so far been ratified by 141 states.

The Convention, he noted, "...specifies that every victim of torture should be offered rehabilitation to help him or her overcome his or her trauma." According to article II of the Convention: "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture."

On this basis, Ajuo maintained, "suspicion of torture incidents should be promptly investigated and those responsible, not only the torturers but also those who ordered and condoned torture should be brought to justice," he stated.

(end)