Scarred for life: Untold stories of girls forced into breast ironing
Performed under the guise of protection, CHIJIOKE IREMEKA reports how breast ironing leaves deep physical and emotional scars, silencing victims and perpetuating cycles of fear, control, and inequality
“I was about 13 when they noticed my breasts were developing. They didn’t warn me; they came in the middle of the night with a garri-turning stick and grinding stone, pressing and flattening my budding breasts,” Ajake recounted of the painful breast ironing she suffered while living with her aunt.
Ajake, a fishmonger from Badagry, Lagos, was arranging her fresh and smoked fish at her residence in Gberefu when Sunday PUNCH visited her for this heartrending experience.
A mother of five, she had been a fishmonger for decades, wearing a smile each time she saw a customer who priced her fish and was willing to buy.
However, behind her infectious smiles and friendliness was a cruel memory and experience that refused to fade over the decades.
Those were nights of unimaginable pain, fear, and resilience that she went through just to look less attractive to men who might want to marry her at an early age.
She said, “I wanted to talk; they made a sign with one of their fingers covering their lips, implying that I should not talk. They themselves also didn’t talk. My aunt and the older woman she came with held me and were pounding my breasts down to flatten them.
“The pain was horrible. They pressed my breasts twice before I could run out of the house. The pain was unbearable. It made me develop a high fever afterwards. I wasn’t the only one; they did it to all of us in the house,” she said.
This cruel tradition, Sunday PUNCH learnt, was meant to control girls whose bodies were changing to ensure they are not attracted to men as a way of preventing early marriage among pubescent girls.
“They believed that once a young girl’s breasts began to develop, it would attract men, who would start following them. They said they were protecting us from underage marriage. Good, but the method was brutal and cruel.
“I don’t know where they learnt that from, because that didn’t stop the breasts from developing. They pressed my breasts for the first time and asked me not to talk. My breasts were flattened. Months later, they came out again, and they pressed them a second time,” she said.
According to her, this practice, secretly carried out without their father’s knowledge, came with a heavy toll and stretched for hours.
“It could start at midnight and last until 3am. You weren’t allowed to speak, and everyone else had to stay silent too; this is why it could happen in the same house without anybody knowing.
“They terrified you, saying terrible things would happen if you didn’t submit. Many times, it was my father’s sister who forced me, and sometimes my mother. You had to endure it by force,” she said.
For Ajake, reporting to her father was not an option, as she would be driven back for total submission to the practice.
“If you told him, they would send you back. If you ran away, they could do worse things to you than what they did to your breasts. It was relentless,” [/b]she said.
She noted that the aftermath was haunting.
[b]“The first time they pressed them, it felt like I had died. They told me I would die if I didn’t submit. I was deceived. It was painful. After that experience, I swore never to allow my children go through this. It can kill a person. Labour pain is slightly above the pain I went through doing this.
“All of this happens in one night, but the pain is unforgettable. This is natural. God knows the right time for our bodies to develop, and no one should interfere. When my flattened breast returned, I ran out of the house screaming when they came to do it again. When I ran out, people came out to ask questions, but they couldn’t tell them what they were doing to me,” she said.
According to her, it was at that point that her aunt, Blessing, came out and asked them to leave her.
She eventually got married at 25 when she was fully developed, though Sunday PUNCH noticed her uneven breasts, a deformity stemming from the practice.
A girl wearing elastic chest band
‘I was ordered to keep it a secret’
Ajake is not alone.
Sixty-one-year-old Felicia Ocha became a victim of breast ironing in a bid to remain in the classroom.
At 12, the Benue State-born was beginning to develop breasts earlier than most girls in her class, and this was seen as a major challenge for her as she would soon be married off from school.
At first, she felt shy but proud; it meant she was growing up. That feeling didn’t last long because her mother consulted Ocha’s grandmother, who advised her on breast ironing.
One evening after dinner, her mother casually told her that she was going to discuss something womanly with her later, but she never knew it was going to be cruel.
“I was anticipating and, at the same time, nervous. I waited and fell asleep. Then, in the dead of the night, I felt a tap on my shoulder and opened my eyes. Then I saw my mum with Aunty Oyiza in the room.
“I was asked to sit up, and they told me why they were in my room. She asked me whether I would like to go to school; I said yes. I was 12 then. They told me not to disclose what they were about to do because I have become a woman and I should keep women’s secrets.
“Again, they said that if I wanted to go to school, they were going to make my breasts unattractive to men so that I would not be raped or married off without finishing my schooling. It sounded nice to me. They said they were going to make my breasts disappear now and come back when I’m 19 or 20 years old. By then, I would have finished school,” she added.
According to her, she didn’t know the process, but it turned out to be a horrible experience.
“I was asked to lie down on a raffia mat they came in with. They held me down and brought out a rolling pin and garri-turning stick, with which they pressed my breasts. The old woman descended on me and started pressing my budding breasts down.
“My mum held my hands and was pressing my breasts as though she was kneading dough on the table. I cried and screamed, but they muffled my mouth so that I would not be heard because it was midnight. My father wasn’t aware of it because he had gone out for night work.
“They said they were protecting me from men’s abuse and early marriage. I felt the sharp pain; it was unbearable. I cried and tried to move, but my aunt held me down firmly. The process lasted several minutes,” she said.
Sunday PUNCH learnt that it didn’t end that night, as the same ritual was repeated months later whenever her breasts appeared, sometimes with a wooden pestle and other times with a heated coconut shell.
Ocha’s mother believed she was safeguarding her daughter’s future.
But for Ocha, it felt like punishment for something she could not control.
“I started to hate looking at myself in the mirror. I felt like my body had betrayed me,” she said.
The emotional toll lingered long after the physical pain eased.
By the time she turned 16, she struggled with low self-esteem and anxiety.
An under-reported crime
Breast ironing or flattening, according to the African Health Organisation, is a process whereby young pubescent girls’ breasts are ironed, flattened, massaged, and pounded down through the use of hard or heated objects to make the breasts disappear or delay their development entirely.
The AHO said this cultural practice, which is predominant in 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, wooden pestles or spatulas, spoons, brooms, rolling pins, or electric irons,” it stated.
Experts say the callous practice is intended to stop or delay the breasts from growing or developing, or to make them flatter, to make the girls unattractive to men who may want to marry them at a tender age.
They noted that breast ironing, like female genital mutilation, is a harmful cultural practice carried out on young girls between the ages of nine and 15, which leaves them with complications in breastfeeding in adulthood.
The practice involves ironing, massaging, and pounding down young girls’ budding breasts with hard or heated objects for the breasts to disappear or to delay the development of the breasts as a way of protecting them from early marriage.
Sunday PUNCH learnt that the practice is sometimes carried out by the victims’ mothers, grandmothers, aunts, or elderly women in the family.
This not only violates their rights but also endangers their health. It is also practised in communities to discourage early marriage with the notion that men are attracted to young girls when they start developing breasts.
According to the AHO, this cultural practice affects 3.8 million women across Africa. The body said the practice is one of the five under-reported crimes relating to gender-based violence.
Experts warn that this practice can cause breast cancer, cysts, depression, and perhaps interfere with breastfeeding later in life, among other complications.
Proponents argue it protects girls from unwanted male attention, early pregnancy, or school dropout, but health experts and human rights groups describe it as a form of gender-based violence.
For the United Kingdom Metropolitan Police, breast ironing, also known as breast flattening, is when young girls’ breasts are damaged over time to flatten them and delay their development.
“Breast ironing usually starts with the first signs of puberty and is most often done by female relatives. In most cases, the abuser incorrectly thinks they’re behaving in the best interests of the child. They believe flattening the breasts will make the child less ‘womanly.’
[b]“They hoped this would protect the girl from harassment, rape, abduction, and early forced marriage, and help her stay in education,” [/b]the United Kingdom Metropolitan Police stated.
According to the UK police force, breast ironing can cause serious physical issues such as abscesses, a painful collection of pus that develops under the skin; cysts (fluid-filled lumps under the skin that can develop into abscesses); and itching.
Other effects include tissue damage, infection, discharge of milk, breasts becoming significantly different shapes or sizes, severe fever, and the complete disappearance of one or both breasts.
In 2023, a former Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, issued a stern warning that the Federal Government would stamp out the harmful practice during her advocacy visit to Garki Chiefdom, Abuja Municipal Council.
She added that the practice was inimical to the natural development of the girl child and must be abolished.
A recent study by Mela Fotabong et al., titled, “Prevalence, Awareness and Adverse Outcomes of Breast Ironing among Cameroonian Women in Buea Health District,” [/b]revealed that victims of breast ironing experienced adverse breast outcomes.
The researchers advocated health education and the introduction of legislation against breast ironing to eliminate the harmful traditional practice.
Practice endangers health – Physicians
Reacting to the practice, a consultant radiation oncologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Dr Adedayo Joseph, said though there have not been medical studies on the effects of breast ironing, the practice can cause serious havoc.
Joseph, who is knowledgeable in cancer treatment and management, said, [b]“There are currently 10 cases of diagnosed breast cancer reported among women who were identified as victims of breast ironing.
“In addition to this, breast ironing puts the girl child at risk of abscesses, infections, and permanent tissue damage, resulting in breast pimples, imbalance in breast size, and milk infection.
“Other possible side effects include malformed breasts. The practice ranges in severity, from using heated leaves to press and massage the breasts to using a grinding stone to crush the budding gland. The health consequences vary from benign to acute.”
Joseph emphasised that such practice might lead to a delay in breast milk production after giving birth, endangering the lives of newborns.
“Many women also suffer mental trauma after undergoing breast ironing. They see it as a punishment and often internalise blame,” [/b]she added.
Corroborating Joseph’s views, a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician, Dr Babatunde Rosiji, said the practice thrives in less informed environments where people do not have access to the right information.
[b]“This practice is born out of the decision to suppress the breasts to protect girls from rape and other sexual abuses, without knowing that the practice itself is more harmful.
“You can imagine using a wooden pestle or a heated iron sheet to massage young girls’ breasts and pound them down. In some cases, you see pus in the young girls’ breasts as a result of the practice.
“This not only damages a child’s physical integrity, but it also affects their social and psychological well-being. Over 50 per cent of this act is carried out on children by their mothers, and sometimes without the knowledge of their fathers,” Rosiji said.
‘I was traumatised’
“I was traumatised when my breasts were not like others. Although I was told it would not stop me from having children, I was ashamed of myself each time I took my bath or stood naked before a mirror,” said Rose Abraham, another victim of breast ironing.
Viewing her breasts in the mirror makes her sad, as she now has saggy and unevenly proportioned breasts.
According to her, one is noticeably bigger than the other, and both have unpleasant stretch marks.
“I am not happy because one of my breasts is big and saggy, while the other is small. This difference in size makes me detest my childhood experience.
“I even had challenges breastfeeding my baby; the small breast produced milk in droplets, while the nipple of the bigger one was destroyed. So, I didn’t do six months of exclusive breastfeeding because I didn’t produce enough breast milk. I had to depend on baby food,” she said.
According to her, women in her community believe that men are easily attracted to the budding breasts of young girls and, because of this, sexually abuse them.
This, she noted, brought about the obnoxious breast flattening practice by helpless mothers as a measure to save their girls from sexual harassment, rape, as well as early or underage marriage.
However, the practice has a more damaging impact than what it is meant to prevent.
“I went to hell and came back to life again during the exercise. It was a pain you wouldn’t want to go through. It is a pain that strikes your brain. You can imagine when that budding breast is coming out like a pulp, and you are crushing it with a hot coconut shell or pestle.
“I actually didn’t know where they invented that practice from, but it was very cruel. It is done in secrecy. They will tell you not to tell anybody; rather, you have to endure it like a woman.
“I can understand that they did those things out of ignorance and love for their children because women are powerless and cannot fight the men since there was no law preventing such in the country. But it’s not working. It’s killing,” she added. https://punchng.com/scarred-for-life-untold-stories-of-girls-forced-into-breast-ironing-1
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