Cameroon Moms Iron Daughters' Breasts in Little-Known Mutilation Practice
Categories: In The News, Weird But True
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Caroline Nkeih used this pestle to iron her 10-year-old daughter's breasts. Credit: Birgit Singh
Though not publicly acknowledged, many pubescent girls in the West African country of Cameroon are subjected to the practice of breast ironing, which involves massaging a child's growing breasts with an object like a stone, hammer or spatula that has been heated over coals, until the breasts actually disappear, according to a recent report in the Washington Post.
Some girls also wear a breast band -- fabric bands such as those commonly worn by women who undergo breast augmentation -- after the procedure to continually compress the breast area.
Most often performed by a girl's mother, breast ironing attempts to rid young girls of the signs of puberty, producing a flat, nonsexual, childlike chest in the hopes of preventing unwanted male attention, rape and premarital pregnancy, the United Nations Population Fund [UNFPA] states.
Slightly larger in size than California, Cameroon has a population of nearly 19 million, with 40 percent of residents 14 years old or younger, according to the CIA's World Factbook. The government of Cameroon has been cited repeatedly by the U.S. State Department for human rights violations, including societal violence and discrimination against women, female genital mutilation, child labor and human trafficking -- primarily involving children.
The practice of breast ironing is usually a well-kept secret between a young girl and her mother -- the father often remains completely unaware of it. The UNFPA reports girls believe what their mothers are doing is for their own good, and keep silent.
"Before this breast band, my mother used the grinding stone -- heated in the fire -- to massage my chest," Josaine Matia, an 11-year-old Cameroonian girl, says on the UNFPA Web site. "Every night my mother examines my chest [and] massages me, sometimes with the pestle," Matia adds. "Although I cry hard because of the pain, she tells me: 'Endure, my daughter; you are young and there is no point in having breasts at your age'."
The UNFPA reports the practice is now inflicted upon 24 percent of all Cameroonian women as young as the age of 9 -- that's about one girl in every four, with a 2006 survey estimating that 4 million women had already undergone breast ironing.
Per the State Department, a 2005 survey found that 39 percent of women in the country living with a man -- married or unmarried -- were victims of domestic violence, which Cameroon law does not specifically prohibit. While the minimum legal age for a woman to marry is 15, many families facilitate the marriage of young girls by the age of 12, and spousal abuse is not a legal ground for divorce.
Washington Post reporter Jamie Rich describes her experiences living in Douala, Cameroon, where she encountered a young girl on the street who had scars where there should have been a small nipple or budding breast. Rich talked to local women, girls, physicians and community organizers and reports that "despite the pain and fear, many of the women and girls involved in breast ironing considered it a normal treatment for early breast development."
"Mothers told me they forcibly try to eliminate the signs of puberty to protect their preteen girls from HIV and pregnancy. One mother explained that she did it out of love," Rich writes.
In 2007, Cameroon ranked 15 in the world for HIV/AIDS prevalence and for HIV/AIDS deaths, according to the World Factbook.
Breast ironing is considered a human rights violation by the State Department, UNFPA and a number of nonprofit organizations that lead the fight against the practice in Cameroon. Breast ironing is terribly painful and violates a young girl's physical integrity, while exposing her to "numerous health problems such as abscesses, itching, discharge of milk, infection, dissymmetry of the breasts, cysts, breast infection, severe fever, tissue damage and even the complete disappearance of one or both breasts," according to the UNFPA. The practice also has been linked to breast cancer and emotional stress.
Rich reports the practice of breast ironing evolved to counteract a teen pregnancy problem, and says being young and pregnant is not uncommon in Cameroon, with an estimated 30 percent of women having unwanted pregnancies, according to local health care workers, including Serges Moukam, an ob-gyn in Douala, who explains that teen pregnancy is a "poverty perpetuating" problem.
"Promiscuity and rape both factor into the high teen pregnancy rate," Moukam tells the Post, but breast ironing prevents neither, a fact that is confirmed by the UNFPA. Pregnant girls ages 12 to 17 make up 25 to 30 percent of Moukam's patients.
"It's very rare to see a 13-year-old girl who is still a virgin," he tells the newspaper.
Nonprofits in Cameroon are lobbying for sex education, as well as laws to criminalize breast ironing, with a 10-year prison sentence for those caught practicing the custom. Other groups suggest more tolerance for the mothers, and call for more education, not legislation.
UNFPA calls for prosecution of perpetrators, though they advocate for countries to raise public awareness about the dangers of breast ironing, and suggest frank discussions of sexuality between parents and children -- though they also theorize that parents may prefer to rid their daughters of the signs of puberty to avoid such culturally taboo conversations.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Elle 3-09-2010 @ 11:41PM
Carving designs onto a daughter's body or binding her feet to make her more lovely or submissive to suitors is mutilation. Trying to help a daughter from being raped, beaten, killed and/or diseased using the only method available is basic survival.
Someone elsewhere compared this to male circumcision in cultures that encourage it. I kind of agree, but when I opted to have my son circumsized it was not to save his life; it was to make him look normal in our culture.
Who is more evil, me or the woman in the photo above?
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anon 3-09-2010 @ 11:59PM
you may not be evil, but you disgust me as much as those women
Legion 3-10-2010 @ 1:21AM
What do you mean make him look normal? Honestly, do you think so many people would see his penis and criticize him if he wasn't cut that it's worth doing that to him?
Matt 3-10-2010 @ 4:58AM
Wow, you mutilated your son because someone told you it was normal? If someone told you it was normal to chop his fingers off, would you do that too?
mary 3-10-2010 @ 10:21AM
This is sick!!!!!!!!!!!! This woman and all of the others who practice this should be punished!!!!!!!!! Some other countries are just STUPID. They need to get w/the 21st century, I dont care what part of the world it is. And if the men are so dumb and sick that they have to force a woman or child to have sex w/him them their laws should be tougher. Like castorate him. Why should the young women have to look horrible just because of an obviously, oversexed society. My gosh put it in your pants you uneducated ape!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Sarah 3-10-2010 @ 3:53PM
Funny Elle, I did not mutilate my son also because I wanted him to look normal. I can't imagine why any parent would want to deprive their child of something that is naturally theirs, something that is supposed to be there and serves an important function for the health and well being of said child.
Do I think you or the woman pictured above are evil? No, but I do think you are both misguided and sad and that you both cave to societal pressure.
*shakes head*
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Zen 3-10-2010 @ 4:24PM
OMG! I've heard of female genital mutilations (which is worse than this) in many African countries but had not heard about this. When will these people be educated and know that these practices are sick? The woman in the picture should have her teeth bashed in with that bat she's holding, and told calmly - "endure, you're old dear mother, there's no point having teeth at your age."
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so sad 3-10-2010 @ 7:26PM
My daughter is almost eight and a little chubby. I can't tell if she is growing breasts or just plump (I plan on checking with the dr at her next visit in a couple of weeks), but I am watching her mature with dread! She wears an undershirt every day, and in my mind, it feels a little like binding! I am at a loss about how to celebrate her growth and beauty, while teaching her to be modest before she is mature enough to understand why men might be interested in how her body looks!
It is a sad commentary that we watch our sons mature with pride and admiration. We chuckle when the start getting peach fuzz and wonder when the first shave will be. But, I am truthfully, quite worried about the idea that my 8 year old might grow breasts before her friends. I worry about the day that some punky kid makes a remark about her body or tell her that "her headlights are on" (flashback to 10th grade!).
What is going on in Cameroon is horrible and depraved to be sure. But, I feel empathy for the mothers and can understand the root of their actions. They truly believe what they are doing will spare their daughters a greater harm. How available is birth control in Cameroon? What is going on in Cameroon that finds most 13 year olds sexually active? How can we get society to a point that views young girls as just that... young girls and not sexual property!
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rukmani 3-11-2010 @ 7:45AM
I had read about this horrific practice and I heartily condemn it. But the woman in the picture obviously didn't have it done to her by her mother! I would think it is simple to castrate men - after all the breasts are only the organs that entice a man into raping (according to this primitive culture) a young girl whereas the root cause and instrument is the man's penis so what better way that to iron it out completely! I could write more but as a woman it infuriates me so much that I too am suggesting another radical remedy - only this will be applied to men!
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Petite 4-19-2010 @ 10:53AM
One thing that is not addressed is that the breasts will grow in around the later teens- (what the breast ironing does is only delay the puberty stages- giving the girl's a chance to avoid pregnancy and get schooling in order to acquire a job and better themselves in life, for many third-world countries, the dream is to better yourself and get out.) But there are still health risks that will come once the breasts mature. Some of the mothers have extreme pain while nursing their children and continue on to have pain in their breasts. The ritual of breast ironing is seen as a tradition- if this woman is ironing her daughter's, then most likely she had her's ironed.
I actually became aware of this ritual in a special on National Geographic- it was for the show Taboo. And if you think reading about it is hard, trust me, watching it is worse.
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cunning 5-04-2010 @ 11:20PM
Americans need to wake up , last year in Chicago it was found 60% of 12yo in school were preg. that edged out FL. I'll proberbly be called a racist but 98% of the girls were black, some say they were active since 9yo and like it, as most white girls find out once they get preg with a black and abandoned, blacks dont have a big apendage, its a myth, but blacks are the most potent,the main reason for pregnancy at such a young age in Africa, but the main reason for preg in africa is not that pre teen girls like sex and can take it with no problem, the problem is religion, Catholic religion, they have access to free birth control but shun it over religion.in fact the popes last visit in 2009 he condemmed birth control. As long as Cathlic religion condones breeding like animals and living in poverty and hell. Regardless of the pre teens need to breed, more concerned African mothers will try anything to make their girls unatractive for breeding to give her a chance in life, Cathlic religion should be banned in Africa in order for the nation to move forward from the stone age.
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