‘Breast Ironing Harming Girls, Won’t Stop Attraction To Men’, Experts Say

Medical experts have condemned the ironing of breasts of girls by parents and other family members, lamenting that the harmful practice was not only a violation of their rights but also endangers their health.

The physicians said the harmful practice, mostly rooted in the north, exposes the girls to infection, breast tissue damage, poor milk production after childbirth apart from leaving them traumatised.

According to the African Health Organisation, breast ironing is a process whereby young girls’ breasts are ironed, massaged and pounded down through the use of hard or heated objects in order for the breasts to disappear or delay the development of the breasts entirely.

The AHO said this cultural practice, which is predominant in the areas where child marriage is prevalent, affects 3.8 million women across Africa, noting that the practice is one of the five under-reported crimes relating to gender-based violence.

The practice can include the use of a variety of objects, such as heated grinding stones, cast-iron pans, ladles, hammers, wooden pestles or spatulas, spoons, brooms, or electric irons.

Experts say the callous practice is to stop or delay the breasts from growing or developing or make them flatter with the aim of making the girls unattractive to men.

They noted that breast ironing, like female genital mutilation, was a harmful cultural practice carried out on young girls between the ages nine and 15, which leaves them with complication of breastfeeding in adulthood.

Recall that the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, recently issued a stern warning that the Federal Government would stamp out the harmful practice during her advocacy visit to Garki Chiefdom, Abuja Municipal Council.

Kennedy-Ohanenye, who also warned that the perpetrators would be severely punished , expressed worry over such practice in Kpaduma and Pygba communities in Abuja, insisting that the practice is harmful to women’s health.
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