Celebrate diverse Cultures- Breast Ironing.

[Danno 1,228]

'Breast ironing': Girls ‘have chests flattened out’ to disguise the onset of puberty

Barbaric custom that takes place in Cameroon may have been imported to the UK

A hidden form of abuse known as “breast ironing”, in which girls as young as 10 have their chests pounded with hot objects to disguise the onset of puberty, could be taking place in Britain.

The mutilation is a traditional practice from Cameroon designed to deter unwanted male attention, pregnancy and rape by delaying the signs that a girl is becoming a woman. Experts believe that the custom is being practiced amongst the several thousand Cameroonians now living here.

A conference on how to prevent the abuse both in the UK and overseas is being held today in Ealing, west London. Its organisers, a charity called CAME Women’s and Girl’s Development Organisation (Cawogido), is already working with the Met Police and social services to tackle the problem.

The Independent understands a woman was arrested two years ago in London because police believed she had performed the procedure on her daughter. She was later released without charge, although the Metropolitan Police was unable to confirm the report but the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said that the practice was known to them. An Acpo spokesman said: “Similarly to the way we deal with cases of female genital mutilation, we would treat this as a form of child abuse. Police would take steps to safeguard the child or young person and build a case of child abuse to put to the CPS for a decision on charging.”

The UN has identified breast ironing as one of five forgotten crimes against women and estimates that some 3.8 million teenagers are affected. As well as being painful, it exposes girls to health problems including abscesses, cysts, infection, tissue damage and even the disappearance of one or both breasts.

Margaret Nyuydzewira, co-founder and chair of Cawogido, said: “Breast ironing is a practice that happens in the privacy of people’s homes so it’s hard to see who is doing it. I am sure it is happening here, but people are not willing to talk about it. It’s like female genital mutilation: you know it’s happening but you’re not going to see it.

“I was contacted by a police officer who arrested a lady for breast ironing her daughter. There was a discussion of what the laws were and in the end they released her because it was a cultural practice. My argument is if it harms kids it should be against the law.” Breast ironing is common in Cameroon but rarely discussed. Research in 2006 by a Cameroonian women’s organisation and Germany’s Association for International Co-operation (GTZ) found that one in four females in the country had experienced it. In more than half of cases it is mothers who perform the procedure, believing they were protecting their daughters. While most widespread in Cameroon, similar customs have been documented in Nigeria, Togo, Republic of Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa.

Cameroonian journalist and women’s rights advocate Chi Yvonne Leina is founder and coordinator of Gender Danger, a grassroots women’s organisation that is fighting to end breast ironing. While her cousin was subjected to it by their grandmother, Leina managed to resist and is now lobbying to wipe out the practice altogether.

She said: “Mothers don’t want other people to know they’re doing it. When my grandmother said she was going to iron my breasts I told her I would shout and scream if she did and tell the neighbours. She didn’t do it as she knew her secret would be out.”

Leina believes the only way the practice will stop is if women talk to each other about it. She said: “We need the silence to be broken. When we move from place to place we carry on our cultures, so anywhere where there’s a high concentration of Cameroonians I would expect it to happen.”

Case study: My mother ‘ironed’ my breasts until they disappeared

"My breasts developed fast when I was 12 and my mum said she’d have to iron them so they’d disappear and come out later. There’s a particular leaf in Cameroon that people use. They put it in the fire and then when it was really hot they press it and massage it on the breast. It was very painful and I cried a lot. But that didn’t work, so later they used a long stick like a pestle heated in the fire. They repeated it after two days and again until the breasts disappeared. It was so painful I couldn’t sleep. When I was 18 my breasts did develop but with a lot of malformation.

We need to do everything possible to stop this happening anymore. There’s no reason people should be doing this.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/breast-ironing-girls-have-chests-flattened-out-to-disguise-the-onset-of-puberty-8842435.html

[Darnell 8,479]

I think it's great that the Camaroonian expats living in the UK still have to worry about rape and slavery with the womens whilst living in the UK.

Stellar ! SuperDuper !

Danno, would you agree with me, that all Camaroonian females, ages 10 to 21, be removed from their mother's houses, and put up in a boarding school run by the SiS in Scotland?

Let's protect these girls from their mothers and rapists and slave-stealers. Could you join with me, on that, O Danno ?

Edited October 21, 2013 by Darnell

[Janelle2002 3,865]

I think it's great that the Camaroonian expats living in the UK still have to worry about rape and slavery with the womens whilst living in the UK.

Stellar ! SuperDuper !

Danno, would you agree with me, that all Camaroonian females, ages 10 to 21, be removed from their mother's houses, and put up in a boarding school run by the SiS in Scotland?

Let's protect these girls from their mothers and rapists and slave-stealers. Could you join with me, on that, O Danno ?

Danno will try his best to come up with a solution I am sure.

'Breast ironing': Girls have chests flattened out to disguise the onset of puberty

Barbaric custom that takes place in Cameroon may have been imported to the UK

A hidden form of abuse known as breast ironing, in which girls as young as 10 have their chests pounded with hot objects to disguise the onset of puberty, could be taking place in Britain.

The mutilation is a traditional practice from Cameroon designed to deter unwanted male attention, pregnancy and rape by delaying the signs that a girl is becoming a woman. Experts believe that the custom is being practiced amongst the several thousand Cameroonians now living here.

A conference on how to prevent the abuse both in the UK and overseas is being held today in Ealing, west London. Its organisers, a charity called CAME Womens and Girls Development Organisation (Cawogido), is already working with the Met Police and social services to tackle the problem.

The Independent understands a woman was arrested two years ago in London because police believed she had performed the procedure on her daughter. She was later released without charge, although the Metropolitan Police was unable to confirm the report but the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said that the practice was known to them. An Acpo spokesman said: Similarly to the way we deal with cases of female genital mutilation, we would treat this as a form of child abuse. Police would take steps to safeguard the child or young person and build a case of child abuse to put to the CPS for a decision on charging.

The UN has identified breast ironing as one of five forgotten crimes against women and estimates that some 3.8 million teenagers are affected. As well as being painful, it exposes girls to health problems including abscesses, cysts, infection, tissue damage and even the disappearance of one or both breasts.

Margaret Nyuydzewira, co-founder and chair of Cawogido, said: Breast ironing is a practice that happens in the privacy of peoples homes so its hard to see who is doing it. I am sure it is happening here, but people are not willing to talk about it. Its like female genital mutilation: you know its happening but youre not going to see it.

I was contacted by a police officer who arrested a lady for breast ironing her daughter. There was a discussion of what the laws were and in the end they released her because it was a cultural practice. My argument is if it harms kids it should be against the law. Breast ironing is common in Cameroon but rarely discussed. Research in 2006 by a Cameroonian womens organisation and Germanys Association for International Co-operation (GTZ) found that one in four females in the country had experienced it. In more than half of cases it is mothers who perform the procedure, believing they were protecting their daughters. While most widespread in Cameroon, similar customs have been documented in Nigeria, Togo, Republic of Guinea, Côte dIvoire and South Africa.

Cameroonian journalist and womens rights advocate Chi Yvonne Leina is founder and coordinator of Gender

I knew a girl from Sudan who's cousin had her genitals mutilated. I wanted to cry just hearing their conversation.

Edited October 21, 2013 by Janelle2002

[Danno 1,228]

I think it's great that the Camaroonian expats living in the UK still have to worry about rape and slavery with the womens whilst living in the UK.

Stellar ! SuperDuper !

Danno, would you agree with me, that all Camaroonian females, ages 10 to 21, be removed from their mother's houses, and put up in a boarding school run by the SiS in Scotland?

Let's protect these girls from their mothers and rapists and slave-stealers. Could you join with me, on that, O Danno ?

Well I would not go so far as to remove anyones kids with out evidence that some harm was done to that child, one can't just assume that all members of any group are guilty of general behavior.

If there is abuse, these children must be protected.

[Darnell 8,479]

Ya, Genital Mutilation is a different thing, done for different reasons.

Is acceptable practice in many places in Africa.

[Danno 1,228]

Ya, Genital Mutilation is a different thing, done for different reasons.

Is acceptable practice in many places in Africa.

Now see, you are not respecting various traditions... you're just not open to new ideas.

You call it "mutilation" they call it "modification."

Sure to you and I seems barbaric, but as my Liberal friends like to preach (till they run out of air)

Who are you to judge?

[Darnell 8,479]

Me? Who's Me? Doesn't matter, I judge all the time !

Well I would not go so far as to remove anyones kids with out evidence that some harm was done to that child, one can't just assume that all members of any group are guilty of general behavior.

If there is abuse, these children must be protected.

Ah, we differ, greatly, then.

You seek proof, I seek safe-harbour, instead.

IMO, removing all females, age 10 to 21, of Cameroonian descent, in the UK, to a SiS training facility in Scotland, to protect them from their mothers,

is the best thing to do.

[Danno 1,228]

Me? Who's Me? Doesn't matter, I judge all the time !

Ah, we differ, greatly, then.

You seek proof, I seek safe-harbour, instead.

IMO, removing all females, age 10 to 21, of Cameroonian descent, in the UK, to a SiS training facility in Scotland, to protect them from their mothers,

is the best thing to do.

Well I would prefer these folks be left in Cameroon and these clashes could be avoided al together..... but once they are in the UK, then these Cultural clashes must be faced head on and the child protected.

And when the child is old enough to have her own children we must be prepared to act again to protect he daughters.

One of the odd things we find is often, the second generation embraces the Ethnic culture even more than the parents do when the cultures are so stark.

[Peikko 1,575]

Another Odious Danno take on a topic concerning people he does not like or empathise with because they look 'different' to him. Fantastic.

[Jacque67 7,328]

Interesting.

Cultures change all the time. The practice will probably die out in the UK after a decade or so.

Chinese women used to have their feet bound.

it can be tough being a woman.

Edited October 21, 2013 by Jacque67

[Novembro 1,763]

Now see, you are not respecting various traditions... you're just not open to new ideas.

You call it "mutilation" they call it "modification."

Sure to you and I seems barbaric, but as my Liberal friends like to preach (till they run out of air)

Who are you to judge?

Glad to see you're cool with the mutilation and abuse of women.

[Danno 1,228]

Another Odious Danno take on a topic concerning people he does not like or empathise with because they look 'different' to him. Fantastic.

Odious

Odious

Odious

Odious

Odious

Odious

Odious

Odious

Odious

Odious

Odious

Odious

It's a cool word!

Hey I have an idea.... lets use it in every post!

I have a link to a "word of the day" to enhance your vocabulary, if you need it just let me know.

[Peikko 1,575]

Apparently on VJ calling white supremacist ideas odious and posting white supremacist points of view are one and the same. Carry on Danno, odious is what you enjoy and it's officially sanctioned.

[Danno 1,228]

Glad to see you're cool with the mutilation and abuse of women.

What can I say ... foot-binding is a secret passion of mine.