#58 FiLiA meets: CAME Women and Girls
Came Women and Girls Development Organisation (CAWOGIDO) is a community based diaspora organisation dedicated to improving the health and well-being of a variety of people from disadvantaged communities, Black and Minority Ethnic groups, develop their potential and mobilise them to engage effectively in community development and regeneration activities and build their capacities. For this podcast, Margaret, Bernadette and Geraldine join FiLiA in a discussion on breast ironing.
From the CAME Website: “Breast ironing is a traditional practice that many Cameroonians do not talk about and nobody wants to work on it but it is secretly taking place. According to a recent study conducted in Cameroon it involves massaging or pressing the breasts of adolescent girls in order to suppress and reverse their development. The rationale is to prevent girls from developing breasts between 11 and 15 years old in the belief that a flat childlike chest will discourage unwanted male attention, rape and premarital pregnancy. Breast ironing is a well-kept secret between the young girl and her mother. Often the father remains completely unaware. The girl believes that what her mother is doing is for her own good and she keeps silent. This silence perpetuates the phenomenon and all of its consequences. Breast ‘ironing’ involves massaging the growing breasts of young girls in order to disappear the breasts, usually by using a stone, a hammer or a spatula that has been heated over coals. Breast ironing is terribly painful and violates a young girl’s physical integrity. Breast ironing exposes girls to numerous health problems such as cancer, abscesses, itching, and discharge of milk, infection, dissymmetry of the breasts, cysts, breast infections, severe fever, tissue damage and even the complete disappearance of one or both breasts. This painful form of mutilation could not only have negative health consequences for the girls, but often proves futile when it comes to deterring teenage sexual activity. Saying that breasts are destroyed is an understatement. Adolescents are traumatised, mutilated. This is a serious damage not only on their physical integrity, but also on their social and psychological well-being. And we must stop it.”
CAME on Facebook