Abuja, Nigeria – When children turn 10, the first double-digit milestone is often an exciting time. But not for Elizabeth John, who could only feel fear of what was to come.
The day after her 10th birthday, three older women held her legs tightly as her mother pressed a hot pestle against her still-developing breasts, unyielding even as the child screamed in pain.
Nearly two decades later, the 27-year-old Cameroonian refugee who grew up in Nigeria’s Cross River state remembers that day vividly — as she comes to terms with the years of damage the ordeal inflicted.
John said his life changed after his mother forced her to iron her breasts in an attempt to protect her from sexual abuse.
Breast ironing, or “breast flattening,” is a cultural practice whereby girls’ breasts are ironed or struck with brutal or heated objects to delay their development or disguise the onset of puberty, according to to the African Health Organization.
The AHO states that communities that practice breast ironing believe it will make girls less attractive to men, thus protecting them from harassment, rape, abduction and early forced marriage, and also keeping them in school.
However, health bodies and human rights groups say it is a form of physical mutilation that harms a child’s social and psychological well-being and contributes to the school dropout rate among girls who suffer it. .
O United Nations (UN) states that breast ironing affects around 3.8 million women in Africa and is one of the five most under-reported crimes related to gender-based violence.
About 25 to 50 percent of girls in countries such as Cameroon and certain parts of Nigeria are affected by the practice, according to data from the journal Annals of Medical Research and Practice.
Done in secret
In John’s home community of Cross River State in southern Nigeria, the procedure is culturally imposed on most girls and typically carried out by their mothers or other maternal figures.
For years after his breasts were ironed, John suffered from pain. His breasts developed unevenly and his muscles are still weak and flaccid today.
By age 19, the pain was so bad she had trouble sleeping, she said. Despite visiting doctors, her family did not believe ironing her breasts was the cause, adhering to her cultural beliefs.
“Before I got married, I bought painkillers for breast pain, but it got worse after marriage [and pregnancy] when I was trying to breastfeed my son,” she told Al Jazeera.
In 2021, when she was about to give birth, a doctor explained that ironing her breasts damaged the glandular tissue, which would make breastfeeding difficult, and suggested a medical procedure that could help her.
“After the doctor told me that past breasts could affect me during birth, my husband and I were unable to afford the treatment, which cost $5,700,” she lamented. “I’m unemployed and my husband works in furniture,” she explained.
After giving birth, she had difficulty breastfeeding properly. The doctor recommended using formula, but the couple could not afford it.
They lost the baby when he was four months old.
Ushakuma Michael Amineka, a gynecologist at the Benue State Teaching Hospital and second vice president of the Nigerian Medical Association, explained that ironing the breasts can cause long-term effects.
“Immediate consequences can include pain because the breast is a very soft tissue. If compressed, it can cause pain and even distort the normal anatomy of breast tissue,” he told Al Jazeera. “Long-term consequences can include difficulties with lactation, as it can destroy breast tissue and lead to infections, causing long-term pain and reduced breast milk production.”
According to 2021 research published by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), the harmful practice is typically carried out by close female family members and sometimes with the help of traditional midwives. It is kept secret by female family and community members and usually hidden from men.
Traditional and household utensils are usually used to carry out the procedure, including sharpening stones, cast iron, coconut shells, gourds, hammers, sticks or spatulas. Additionally, it may involve wrapping the breasts tightly with a belt or cloth, the NIH said.
The lack of good data and empirical studies on breast ironing has also limited a broader understanding of the practice and its prevalence, the NIH added.
Long-standing tradition
“This cultural practice is horrible and inhumane,” David Godswill, a Nigerian human rights activist, told Al Jazeera.
Those who practice it “believe that if their breasts develop they will attract men,” he said, but stressed that the procedure is simply cruel.
The effects can be traumatic, causing women and girls physical pain and shame about their bodies.
“It’s bad what they do to women’s breasts and many have suffered health problems because of it,” he said.
For John, the health effects of breast ironing have caused him years of pain and personal struggle. Now, living in Gbagyi, an indigenous community in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, every day is a reminder of his childhood trauma.
Breast ironing is a long-standing tradition in Gbagyi and many girls in the community have breast ironed, John told Al Jazeera.
When she tried to warn her mothers about the health risks based on her own experience, they didn’t believe her and thought she wanted to encourage intimacy between men and younger girls.
Conversations Al Jazeera had with seven local women in Gbagyi revealed that almost all of them had experienced breast ironing. They also pressured their daughters to have the procedure to protect them from male attention and sexual abuse. Many said their mothers and grandmothers also experienced this practice.
One woman, Roseline Desmond, told Al Jazeera that three years ago, when a group came out to raise awareness about the health implications of breast ironing, some women promised to stop, while others remained unconvinced.
“In this community, some midwives even iron breasts as a source of income, similar to female genital mutilation. After being informed about its implications, I and some other women stopped helping residents iron their daughters’ breasts and ceased the practice within the community,” she said.
John is determined to end the practice in his own family. “My daughters will never feel the pain I feel when ironing my breasts,” she said.
One in three
Breast ironing – like other harmful traditional practices – is considered a violation of human, child and gender rights, as established in international treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Women and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Women. the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, noted the NIH.
In Nigeria, practices such as female genital mutilation, breast ironing and forced marriages are also crimes under the Violence Against Persons and Prohibition Act (VAPP). O VAPP The law stipulates: “A person who practices traditional practices harmful to another person commits an offense and is liable, upon conviction, to a term of imprisonment not exceeding four years or a fine not exceeding N500,000.00 [$300] or both.”
Olanike Timipa-Uge is Executive Director of Teenage Network, a feminist-led nonprofit that facilitates access to education and healthcare for adolescents and collaborates with Action Aid Nigeria to combat harmful sociocultural norms that promote violence against women and girls .
“One of our main focuses is breast ironing in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja,” he said. “A baseline assessment in several communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) revealed that one in three teenagers in these communities had already ironed their breasts.”
Timipa-Uge explained that although breast ironing is prevalent outside the FCT and widely practiced across Nigeria, the reporting rate remains significantly low due to lack of awareness. Her organization engaged in extensive outreach with teenage girls, many from areas such as Niger State, who shared their experiences with breast ironing.
“We conduct community outreach and awareness programs to educate parents about the serious health consequences of breast ironing,” said Timipa-Uge. “We emphasize how this practice harms girls’ futures and undermines their aspirations.
He added that they also sent numerous letters to the federal Ministry of Women, “calling for the abolition of this harmful practice”, to which they received no response.
Meanwhile, in Gbagyi, John told Al Jazeera that she now faces pressure from her husband’s family to have another child, after the couple lost their first child because she was unable to breastfeed him properly. But only she and her husband know the real reason and the ordeal they experienced.
“I have been silently struggling with breast pain. The doctor told us that we need more than N15 million ($5,400) for treatment before the pain stops and my breasts can be fit for breastfeeding,” she said.
Since her husband lost his job last year, it has been difficult for them to buy food, often having to beg for money, so an expensive medical procedure is out of the question.
“I don’t know when the pain will stop. It keeps hurting my breasts,” said John. “And since we don’t have money for treatment, only God knows.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
