Discussing An Under-reported Torture To Girls – Breast Ironing

Discussing An Under-reported Torture To Girls – Breast Ironing

I wish we didn’t live in a world where girls have to physically and psychologically abused to feel safe and still not be safe.

Breast Ironing/ flattening is self-explanatory really, it is the ironing or flattening of the girl child’s breast by pounding and massaging of a girl’s breasts, using hard or heated objects, to try to make them stop developing or disappear.

This barbaric act is mostly carried out by their mothers, aunties, sisters, grandmothers and even nurses.

They believe that this procedure is the best thing to do to their daughters(10-19 years old) make them look sexually unattractive to men to prevent rape (most men believe that when a girl has breasts she is ready for sex), early marriage and any form of sexual activity that can curse pregnancy which will tarnish the family’s image.

How breast ironing is carried out

There are several ways in which breast ironing is being carried out

Wrapping of the girls chest very tightly with an elastic band or umbilical belt for a very long period of time, this is very uncomfortable and painful, can even last up to a year

Heating tools like metal, sticks, heavy stone, pestles, spatulas, spoons, rocks, grinding stones