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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
 Posted - 03 Aug 2010 : 01:37:29
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This from the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5107360.stm
And here is a video
I viewed the Documentary today searched the WWW and came up with this article.
Cameroon girls battle 'breast ironing'
By Randy Joe Sa'ah
BBC News, Yaounde
A nationwide campaign is under way in Cameroon to discourage the widespread practice of "breast ironing".
This involves pounding and massaging the developing breasts of young girls with hot objects to try to make them disappear.
Statistics show that 26% of Cameroonian girls at puberty undergo it, as many mothers believe it protects their daughters from the sexual advances of boys and men who think children are ripe for sex once their breasts begin to grow.
The most widely used instrument to flatten the breasts is a wooden pestle, used for pounding tubers in the kitchen. Heated bananas and coconut shells are also used.
Student Geraldin Sirri recounted her painful experience.
“ I wanted to go to school like other girls who had no breasts ”
Emilia
"My mother took a pestle, she warmed it well in the fire and then she used it to pound my breasts while I was lying down. She took the back of a coconut, warmed it in the fire and used it to iron the breasts.
"I was crying and trembling to escape but there was no way."
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.
"Unfortunately, television is encouraging all sorts of sexual immorality in our children."
Anthropologist Dr Flavien Ndonko says that breast ironing is not an effective method of preventing early sex and pregnancies because many of the girls still become pregnant. He recommends plain talking between parents and their daughters.
"What you have to really do is talk about the issue of sexual reproductive health with the child. So that she is aware about what it means growing up and having breasts or having periods," he says.
With the help of sponsors, a group of teenage girls called the Association of Aunties has produced a television campaign to expose the problems of breast ironing.
"Massaging the breasts of young girls is very dangerous. This is harmful to health... Do not force them to disappear or appear - allow them to grow naturally," one of the adverts says.
Prison
So far, no research has taken place on the medical effects of breast ironing.
“ If you use very hot objects, if you pound on the breast at this tender age when the structures are developing of course you could cause damage ”
Prof Anderson Doh
However, Prof Anderson Doh, a cancer surgeon and director of the state-owned Gynaecological Hospital in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, says the practice is dangerous.
"There are structures in the breast made of connective tissue. Now if you over iron the breast, if you use very hot objects, if you pound on the breast at this tender age when the structures are developing of course you could also cause damage," he says.
The victims do have protection under the law, as long as the matter is reported within a few months, lawyer Buba Ndefiembu says.
If a medical doctor determines that damage has been caused to the breasts, then the person responsible can go to jail for up to three years.
This does not always deter mothers who see their daughters hitting puberty earlier and earlier thanks to better living standards.
But the Association of Aunties hopes their campaign will start to change attitudes and spare other girls future physical and emotional pain.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/5107360.stm
Published: 2006/06/23 01:56:46 GMT
© BBC MMX
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Edited by - toubab1020 on 03 Aug 2010 01:42:52 |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
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mansasulu
997 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2010 : 19:14:12
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| i think this has been posted here before...sort of |
"...Verily, in the remembrance of Allâh do hearts find rest..." Sura Al-Rad (Chapter 13, Verse 28)
...Gambian by birth, Muslim by the grace of Allah... |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2010 : 20:05:58
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You are quite right, I posted it and was amazed that NOT ONE person responded to my initial post, I find that very strange,mansasulu even yourself have offered no opinion on this "cultural practice". From the non reply to my original posting from over 50 reads,what can I think,is this a sign of approval of the practice ? or a sign that "brothers " in other countries should not be offended?
I have no idea except as I stated previously one of amazement.
quote:
Originally posted by mansasulu
i think this has been posted here before...sort of
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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turk
USA
3356 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2010 : 20:53:32
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| I found this habit of yours, questioning people's lack of responses or overwhelming responses is pointless. |
diaspora! Too many Chiefs and Very Few Indians.
Halifa Salah: PDOIS is however realistic. It is fully aware that the Gambian voters are yet to reach a level of political consciousness that they rely on to vote on the basis of Principles, policies and programmes and practices. |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2010 : 21:13:56
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TURK,you approve of such behaviour in the name of culture do you?.
You are always about to discuss anything where there can be a lively discussion,why not this topic then? |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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turk
USA
3356 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2010 : 21:44:01
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I am just not interested in. I would not approve such action. I would never let either FGM or breast ironing for my daughter. But at the same time, I don't really feel I have a duty to fight against such practice.
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diaspora! Too many Chiefs and Very Few Indians.
Halifa Salah: PDOIS is however realistic. It is fully aware that the Gambian voters are yet to reach a level of political consciousness that they rely on to vote on the basis of Principles, policies and programmes and practices. |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2010 : 22:11:51
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TURK, thanks for being honest,I accept your views.What you want to campaign against is up to you. I am not interested in a campaign for or against anything but I was really surprised at the head in the sand attitude of bantaba members,that can only be explained by the reasons that I gave previously.NO ONE HERE wants a discussion for whatever reasons that they might have.
Personally I deplore all those traditions of mutilation that have NO PLACE WHATEVER in 2010 or the Equilivent year in the Islamic calender. |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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tamsier
United Kingdom
558 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2010 : 23:40:30
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| Personally, I think this practice should be eradicated. I understand why some mothers do it but the problem is not the young girls but the boys and men who are interested in them. Resolve that issue and there would be no need for this painful act which girls have to endure. |
Tamsier
Serere heritage. Serere religion. Serere to the end.
Roog a fa ha. |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 06 Aug 2010 : 00:09:41
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Tamsier,Thank you for your input.
"the boys and men who are interested in them. Resolve that issue and there would be no need for this painful act which girls have to endure."
This is a social education problem,which could be resolved by education in school to start with ,at football venues,a small stall could be set up with information available,and as Cameroon has produced some fine football players these players should be brought into a programme to highlight this practice that I suspect is not openly talked about, the population must be informed that to do this is not helpful to the future of Cameroon womanhood and that boys and men are partly responsible for it continuing. |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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