Cameroon-Campaign Launched to Counter 'Breast Ironing'

The practice is used to protect young women from being noticed by men

YAOUNDE, 28 June (PLUSNEWS) - Activists in Cameroon have begun breaking the silence about 'breast ironing', widely used to protect young women from being noticed by men.

Rarely mentioned, especially to men, the 'ironing' involves massaging the growing breasts of young girls to make them disappear, usually by using a stone, a hammer or a spatula that has been heated over coals.

Now a campaign launched by the German cooperation agency, GTZ, and a local nongovernmental organisation that supports young mothers, the Network of Aunties (RENATA), has warned that using the practice to retard natural physical development is dangerous as well as ineffective.

According to a national survey conducted by GTZ, 24 percent of young girls in Cameroon, and up to 53 percent in the coastal Littoral province in the southeast, where the country's main port, Douala, is situated, admit to having had their breasts 'ironed'. The research also showed that 3.8 million young people could be at risk of exposure to the practice.

Flavien Ndonko, an anthropologist with GTZ's German-Cameroon HIV/AIDS health programme, noted that this painful form of mutilation could not only have negative health consequences for the girls, but was also a futile form of sex education.

"Many of the RENATA girls, who are young mothers, say they were subjected to 'ironing', and this clearly proves that it does not work [as pregnancy prevention] and that it is a futile and traumatic experience imposed on them," said Ndonko.

Young people make up most of the 5.5 percent of the population living with HIV, and teenage pregnancy is a growing concern. One-third of the 20 to 30 percent of girls with unwanted pregnancies are between 13 and 25 years of age, with more than half of them having fallen pregnant after their first sexual encounter, according to GTZ.

Addressing the general lack of information about sex in the family ran counter to acceptable social norms, GTZ and RENATA pointed out.

"For the parents, it is very difficult to talk of sexuality due to modesty or for cultural reasons ... So they prefer to get rid of the bodily signs of sexuality in this way," Ndonko commented. "However, the onset of adolescence is exactly the right time to start this discussion."

Because the topic of sex was taboo, young girls remained ignorant of how to protect themselves from HIV infection and were even more vulnerable to the virus, said Bessem Arrey Ebanga Bisong, executive secretary of RENATA.

A mother, who asked not be named, admitted that 'breast ironing' was "not a good solution. I did it to my first two daughters out of ignorance, but what must I do with the third one?"

One of her neighbours suggested a solution: "She said I must speak to her [the daughter] and teach her about sexuality. We do not have a dialogue with our children; we don't have the courage to do so. However, we do need to explain to them so they know what it is that they are doing."

According to Ndoko, the newly launched awareness campaign has generated a lot of discussion, and the practice is now being openly talked about.

"This is a good way to resolve the problem: people talk about it and ask why it is being done," said Ndoko. "As there is no way to justify it, they realise that it is a futile practice and, hopefully, they will stop doing it."

Breast Ironing: Breaking the Silence

By Kathambi Kinoti

The Tantines ("aunts") are a group of young women in Cameroon who have
undergone reproductive health training and who in turn train other young
people on reproductive health issues in order to address the issues of
adolescent pregnancies and HIV/AIDS. AWID spoke to Bessem Arrey Ebanga
Bissong about breast ironing, one of the reproductive health issues that
the Tantines are tackling.

AWID: What is breast ironing, and why did you decide to initiate a campaign
against it?

BESSEM BISSONG: Breast ironing is a traditional practice that involves
massaging or pressing the breasts of adolescent girls in order to suppress
the growth of the breasts. Sometimes hot objects such as stones and wooden
pestles are used and sometimes other things like herbs and petrol are used.
It is necessary to fight against this practice which is extremely harmful
and traumatizing for the girls.

Twenty four percent of adolescent girls undergo this terrible ordeal and
the practice exists in all the ten provinces of Cameroon. A group of
Tantines who have undergone the practice decided to draw public attention
to the psychological trauma and other ensuing health risks in order to
protect young girls from this form of bodily mutilation.

AWID: Why is breast ironing carried out?

BB: Several reasons are advanced to justify this practice. Proponents say
they do this to prevent men being attracted to young girls, to prevent
girls themselves from pursuing men, to discourage girls from engaging in
sexual intercourse at a very young age and to reduce the risk of pregnancy.
They also say that they do this to so that their studies will not be
interrupted.

AWID: What are the effects of breast ironing on girls?

BB: Breast ironing is terribly painful and it violates a young girl's
physical integrity. It traumatizes her and exposes her to numerous health
problems such as abscesses, itching, discharge of milk, dissymmetry of the
breasts, cysts, breast infections and severe fever.

AWID: Why is it that there is not much awareness about this form of
violation against the girl child, while other harmful traditional practices
such as female genital mutilation receive a lot of attention?

BB: Breast ironing is a well kept secret between the young girl and her
mother and usually even her father is not aware of the torture his daughter
is subjected to. The girl believes what her mother is doing is for her own
good and keeps silent. This silence perpetuates the practice and all its
consequences. It was during one of our training workshops for the Tantines
that we realized that several of us had suffered this terrible ordeal and
we therefore decided to denounce it and campaign against it.

AWID: What strategies have you adopted in your fight against the practice?

BB: We have produced some radio and television spots, and several radio and
television journalists have joined us in spreading information about breast
ironing. We have also produced leaflets and calendars that carry
information about the objects used in breast ironing, the extent of the
practice and its consequences. The different Tantines organizations play a
very big role in their communities in creating awareness about the practice
and why it should be stopped.

AWID: What challenges have you encountered in your campaign?

BB: The principal difficulty we encounter is the conservative mentality of
the people. Just like female genital mutilation, breast ironing is
considered a tradition - part of our culture, and for this reason some
people are not ready to stop the practice.