Breast Ironing

Thank you for sharing this. Have never heard of breast ironing before a friend shared this through facebook. Though it was hard to watch, and brought me to tears, none of us are justified in judging the mothers who practice breast ironing.....until we can provide a solution to their fears and worries for their daughters. Many thanks to the women in this video who shared their points of view; so much courage to do so.

Breast Ironing in Cameroon: Another form of child abuse?: http://wp.me/pGlNa-4Q

This is the truth. I went thru it @ the age of 10.

the same as clitoris removal, both disgusting

this is so crazy i cant believe this is true

I am completely aghast

this is outrageous i challenge the slut who wrote this article to come and show me the millions of girls whom she claims are victims of breast ironing. i live in Cameroon and i can tell you that a very large majority of girls in the cities have never heard of breast ironing.
i wish you will get your fact straight before you start portraying my country as one where rape is the order of the day. who are you to give lessons on how to live, when your own country is plagued with madmen killing people everyday and men disrespecting women by the second.
to all those who have been making comments about this article as if where you come from are populated by saints, i shit on y'all. you people are pathetic.
i hope this author returns to Cameroon, then she will be treated like the liar she is. when next you think of coming to my country, keep all preconceived ideas about this place.
i'm so angry right now that i can not even start expressing what i really want to tell you.

I just want to point out that I am Cameroonian, I have big breasts and am proud of my set. I was raised in Cameroon in this area. I never heard of breast ironing..though am not saying its not common, it will be in certain areas, not the nation entirly.

get your facts right before you attempt to character assassinate me.
at no time have i made a joke or a smart comment regarding this disgusting practice!!!!!

this is truly disgusting and horrifying to see.

it sickens me as soon as i hear of how the government doesn't take action or acknowledge the need for more education

it is depressingly sad that in the 21st century we still are trying to battle culture our fore fathers practiced, in this jet age!
what ever stopped parents from educating their children to practice abstinence or protection? is it only the female that is responsible if sex takes place? why is it then that it is only the female who gets mutilated and disallowed form beautifying herself including being physically mutilated to stop a man from admiring her??

i guess until the woman's position in an avergae african society is upgraded, we would continue to hear of stories like this.

this is just as horrific and disturbing as female circumcision........i hurt for these women who are subjected to this demented way of thinking

this made me very upset, hearing the practices that africans uses, in their endeavor to help make things better. this is very upsetting..very.

This is a clear call for better sex ed in a country that does not have a practice of educating their young people about sex, but of protecting them from it - therefore practices such as this happen. I feel for the mothers that feel they have to do this, and the daughters that experience it. It's crying out for people to be educated about their bodies and their sexuality.

we're all equal right?

not

I am a Cameroonian and when we were young our mamas told us that if we "touch" a girl we will lose our "things" (meaning penis). The upbringing of a child in rural Cameroon is the prerogative of the woman. Often, the uneducated mother will resort to measures like these because she has few options open to her. The onus rests on the government to empower women and make them more enlightened.

But big breasts are so much better!

They don't use starch?

How about some more Sexual Education?

Maybe some college students can come up with a tight-bra? fuck I don't know, this is horrible.

Well Americans can't say anything they circumcise new-born infants!

This is really valuable coverage; I co-host a Women 's Special Interest spoken word program on college radio and this is the kind of stuff we want to spotlight and bring awareness to with our show. Being a young and considerably privileged woman in North America, I think it is very much my duty -- and the duty of fellow women-- to act as vessels of information by sharing and opening discussion on topics like this one in order to bring about some sort of action that will (hopefully) eventually bring this sort of practice to a hault.

Kudos to you, nina_g

Breast ironing brings up a difficult and much larger issue beyond the "OMG how shocking!" Where do you draw the line between abuse and parental right while respecting cultural values? The mother in the video felt very strongly that this was the best way to protect her daughter. What are human rights? Do we have a right to raise our children with our values built up through generational usage or should other cultures monitor and end certain behaviours? In an idealic world this sort of thing wouldn't go on, but it does. Just as Western society feeds their children on McDonald's Happy Meals which are detrimental to a healthy development. How does one respect and protect? Reforming mindsets through education is the non-biased approach. Education followed with cultural responsibility which hopefully will supply the fuel for the sort of world change billions are desperate for.

Not condoning this practice in any way, but I watched the entire report and the mother in the village is holding the rock she's using to "iron" and she says something along the lines of "you have to make sure it's not too hot." Her daughter didn't seem to like the ironing, but she also did not appear to be scarred or mutilated -- I would have been interested to know if the mother had been scarred, since her mother ironed her breasts.

Obviously, breast ironing is medieval and there's potential for burning/scarring as seen in the video, but is there any science that would suggest low levels of heat could prevent breast development? If anything, I would guess low levels of heat would increase circulation.

Great report.

i don't like to infringe upon other people's beliefs and cultures, but breast ironing is the wrong way to ensure that your daughter doesn't become pregnant. in a world where girls are already insecure, imagine how much worse it would be if you are permanently disfigured in a place that is supposed to make you feel beautiful. besides being a health concern because of the high possibility of infection among burns, it must ruin the girl's self-confidence as she grows and matures into a woman.

I am so horribly shocked and angered at this!

Any parent who would willingly put their child through such a painful so called "treatment" is the one that should be educated.

This is a very good piece, for it's journalistic style and sympathy for the people portrayed. It's sad that people who are obviously struggling to survive a hard life try to maintain security by mutilating their children. What are the statistics on teen pregnancy in ironed girls compared to the other 75% of Cameroonian girls?

Some of the comments above express anger at males. Sexuality is not the problem here. Humans are sexual creatures, and having children is part of life. Parents are to blame, those who refuse to face reality, don't talk with their kids, blame their kids, then try to create false hope through mutilation.

if I were a little girl (or a girl at all), I'd take a family heart-to-heart talk over hot rocks pressed to my breasts any day of the week. And the parents should feel that way as well.

That is just horrible for these young girls. Perhaps they are afraid of even their own husbands molesting their children.

This is completely wrong and against nature.

They should certainly have some sort of a sex education program in place. These people and this culture needs to be educated.

This is kind've sick and I feel sorry for these children and young women.

Hi Nina - this a great piece.

It's fascinating and sensitively handles the exploration of what, on one level, appears barbaric - yet to the mothers living there seems like the only route to protecting their daughters future.

B

...its sad that people have the audacity to joke about this, its a painful practice.. simplistic in its perspective and honestly a crazy form of child abuse..I think that the teacher as a victim herself is so strong for the fact that she is able to educate after having to endure, she should be renowned as others suffering in the face of adversity/inhumanity. I want to help, I really hope that sexual education will be more widespread throughout the Nation of Africa and that this will help deviate the stressors of disease and these 'preventative' practices.

notice, no mention of the ironing of the male genitals...another imbalance in our patriarchal world.

if they are going to iron them..they should use spray n' starch for a really good crease !

it's really interesting to compare the culture around women in africa and in america. i think there's a lot more going on here than just a lack of education. the mothers who do this do their daughters have a skew perspective of their role in society (but, i'm talking from my perspective (in my society)).

Why don't they just 'iron' the penises of boys and men in those countries... I bet that would help stop rape, lower pre-marital pregnancy status AND help prevent the spread of AIDS.
Why is it always the WOMAN of a culture who has to suffer. Breast ironing, female genital mutilation (circumcision), neck lengthening, foot binding, rape, birth control shots/pills/emplants/etc are all forms of violence against women. It's sad that women are not more educated to not only make better choices for themselves and their children, but to STOP the tyranny of thought modeling from living in a man's world. Why do women feel the need to discipline themselves when often times it is a man who's actions deserve the discipline?

completely barbaric. the forced indoctrination of children into this harmful practice makes me sick.

There are good intentions, but the results and consequences are to much for young females.

Iam surprised they don't use starch !

WoW, I usually like to play "devil's advocate" when it comes to comments but I cannot think of one good reason to do such a horrific act of mutilation. Tradition? No!

ebarnett09's webcam response says it all. More sexual education and more support from the parents/family.

How can a mother do that to her child?! Its unbelievable to me that a mother could seem so concerned with the welfare of her daughter yet subject her to such a torturous and horrendous procedure!

mrkyon: Without the nipples, she would have just drawn round circles. Is there something too explicit about a breast that children cannot even be taught about their own bodies?

I just think this is so awful. but we shouldn’t be so quick to judge because they don’t have proper education and even the government refuses to recognize it as a problem. what are these mothers suppose to do? obviously these are not educated people themselves. so for them to come up with this radical way of preventing their babies from becoming pregnant is really eye opening.

Unbelievble. I had just come back from Cameroon and never knew about this. So it really did not meet my eye.

Sensible Global action with voluntary understanding is the key. I wish it comes to halt within my lifetime......I will defentely do something about this....

I like Mondo Films for their explicit depicting of African traditions broadening my mind and inevitably triggering questions of surrounding FIRST WORLD reality, where skinny, unnaturally underweight female images still dominate local women’s obsession with beauty and fashion.

@ frankie_of_tempe YES. She had to draw the nipples. She was teaching, and attempting to allow the children to understand what is happening and why. What is wrong with you that you think drawing nipples is somehow bad in this context. We all have nipples! People: please don't be afraid of your body! This type of ignorance is one of the reasons that practices such as breast ironing and female circumcision still exist.

Great POD. I didn't know that this practice existed until today.

I saw a similar piece on the National Geographic Channel. It was hard to watch since they showed the act. The girl whose breast was getting ironed expected and accepted the practice, almost like a right of passage. She was 15, and when asked if she would do the same to her daughter, she said she would, because it was something that needed to be done, for her own good. Whether or not it would damage her in the future was of no consequence. It's a difficult battle to fight, because the root of the problem can't simply be taken away.

While I certainly feel this to be horrific and I had a very visceral reaction to the documentary, I do feel it is somehow wrong to demonise the mother, and the role of the parent in this situation. This is beyond a case of TIA, mothers are doing this out of protection, no matter how wrong. The message that should be sent is not to the mothers on how to parent, but to target teen pregnancy specifically.

Breast ironing, even seen from this documentary, is clearly the problem that arose in response to a bigger problem. Until safe sex and sex education in general are addressed, you cannot simply point fingers at parents for whom the problem they're trying to solve is still prominent. Give them an alternative and perhaps they'll listen to you.

as sad as i am to say this but this is Africa.
Things like these are hard to change and might even take years to get people to realize how wrong it is.

peace

this is so sad. the reality of life for so many people makes them treat such practices as ifthey're totally normal.

One thing to bear in mind is that there are organisations working really hard to stop breast ironing on the ground in Cameroon - but they do need more support -

a) through pressure on the Cameroon government, at least to make an official statement against the practice
b) through direct support to RENATA – (Network of African Aunties - an association of teenage mothers who launched the campaign) to intensify the fight in the field.

If you are interested in learning more the organizations involved in the campaign against breast ironing are:

www.tantines.info
www.gtz.de/en

This is really an even higher level of fear being induced by the spread of aids, My People are struggling to survive at all cost. And, although this is one of the least effective ways, you have to question to the extremes a mother would go through to secure a future for her siblings! My spirit cries at the descent of our humanity!

How is this possible? HOW?

I've never heard of this but it needs to be spoken out against. it's just another way of regulating female sexuality with more than tragic results it needs to stop. Even more tragic that like Female Genital Mutilation the older women are often times in greater support of it than the men. What can be done?

that is very sad but did she have to draw nipples on the chalkboard?

this is beyond sad! Imagine this becoming a trend that spreads through Africa because of the High level of Sexuality possessed in a male dominated society. Now imagine this being a practiced that is carried out in a increasingly large number of countries. Traumatized girls, grow into scared women who feel like because of men the are forced to bare great pains. These types of practices make there way into other parts of the world as backwards solutions to increasing problems of over active sexuality. This type of trend can and should not be allowed to spread...But what can we do?

Go-RealL.A.
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