Thursday, October 15, 2015

Breast ironing in the UK: Girls' breasts being flattened with hot stones and metal in 'absurdly harmful' tradition

A form of mutilation where girls’ breasts are beaten and burned to stop them developing could be spreading in the UK, campaigners have warned.

Breast ironing, which is traditional in Cameroon and widespread in several other West African countries, is usually carried out by relatives as an attempt to stop sexual harassment, rape and pregnancy by delaying the signs of puberty.

Leyla Hussein, an activist and the co-founder of Daughters of Eve, said she met a woman who had undergone both female genital mutilation (FGM) and breast ironing.

“The words 'culture,' 'tradition' or 'religion' might come up when trying to explain this absurdly harmful practice, but as in the case of FGM, these words are only thinly veiled excuses…I underwent FGM for my 'safety,' too.

“What an absurd world we live in when women's bodies are not considered safe in their natural state, and men are not considered responsible for controlling their own urges.” Full story...

Related posts:
  1. The victims of Cameroon's breast ironing tradition...
  2. Breast ironing in Britain? Girls ‘have chests flattened out’ to...
  3. Breast ironing in Cameroon. WTF!
  4. Living in fear of female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone
  5. Petition against breast ironing in Cameroon...
  6. Girls in the Cameroon get their breasts ironed to make them less attractive...
  7. Female genital mutilation (FGM) in Africa (graphic)
  8. Labiaplasty, deforming the vagina... (Graphic)

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