An African practice of "ironing" a girl's chest with a hot stone to delay breast formation is spreading in the UK to "protect" young girls from unwanted male attention, sexual harassment and rape, the media reported on Saturday (January 26).
The Guardian reported that community workers in London, Yorkshire, Essex and the West Midlands informed the newspaper about cases in which pre-teen girls from the diaspora of several African countries were subjected to the painful, abusive and futile practice.
The United Nations (UN) has described the practice as one of five global under-reported crimes relating to gender-based violence.
The perpetrators, usually mothers, consider it a traditional measure which protects girls from unwanted male attention, sexual harassment and rape. Medical experts and victims, however, call it child abuse which could lead to physical and psychological scars, infections, inability to breastfeed, deformities and breast cancer.
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...mothers, aunties or grandmothers use a hot stone to massage across the breast repeatedly in order to "break the tissue" and slow the growth of chest.
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The British government said it was "absolutely committed" to stamping out the practice, but according to activists and social workers, little had been done so far.
A stone and stick used for breast ironing. Image: REUTERS
This practice is appalling. I am lost for words. Anyone...comments?
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