Just recently I read an article that made me cringe and question its validity.
So I googled it, and was awestruck by the perversity of what I read. I was amazed by the cruelty and the pain that many girls in Cameroon suffer, many of them to just be able to obtain an education.
Geraldine Sirri was only nine years old when her mother started daily massaging her pre-pubescent breasts with a blazing hot stone to keep them flat -- and keep men's eyes and hands off her daughter.
One-quarter of all Cameroonian women are said to have been victims of this painful "breast-ironing", as it is known.
This reminds me of the barbaric practice of female circumcision, which not only painful and oppressive, is deadly for many women.
Female Circumcision.
"It's all because breasts are a sign of puberty and that worries parents," says Flavien Ndonko, Ngo'o's co-author. "Our study found that the practice of breast-ironing exists in practically all tribes, using objects as diverse as stones, spatulas, herbs, pestles, or heated banana peels
Breast-ironing: Cameroon's painful secret
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
That whole article is here:
Cameroon: Breast Ironing Classified As Torture
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.
So mothers feel they have to do this horrific thing to their own daughters to protect them from sex, and attention from men. Some so that they can attend school.
But, not only is "breast ironing" ineffective in preventing teenage pregnancies; it also has serious consequences for the health of girls.
"Beyond the pain and trauma caused by 'breast ironing'," says Marie Claire Eteki, a doctor at the health ministry, the practice "could lead to the appearance of certain illnesses, such as breast cancer, cysts (and) depression."
Rights Cameroon: An unwelcome gift from God
"I had just finished doing my homework when my mother summoned me to the kitchen. She boiled water and in the water she put a grinding stone. She then removed the stone holding it with a thick cloth to protect her hands, and placed it my breasts and started ironing them," she stated.
"I felt so much pains that I started crying. After that she bandaged my breasts with a band called breast-band...She did this to me for two-and-a-half months."
This information all seems fairly recent. Ill be watching for more to come.
Im really not able to comment much more. Its just so....cruel and so heartless. Leaves me without words....