Do you know what breast ironing is?
Breast ironing is where young girls are put through torture, a hot iron or stone is placed on their breasts to compress the breast issue. By doing this it destroys a women’s breasts, it can take a few days or even a few weeks.
When breast ironing takes places it is often done as part of culture, tradition or religion. However, this is cruel and horrific and no women should be exposed to this abuse. It is most commonly seen in Western and Central Africa countries.
Girls as young as ten are forced to go through this brutal, horrific ordeal, and the only reason this is done is to control a women’s sexuality, preventing attraction from males.
Breast ironing is often performed by mothers. Stones, hammers and hot spatulas are used to thin the breast tissue. It is said that mother’s carry out this brutal process to prevent their daughters from being raped.
It is essential that more people in the UK are made aware of this abuse, as unfortunately figures show that this horrific abuse is on the rise in the UK. Not only is this a form of abuse, but it can also expose girls to health problems later on.
As this type of abuse happens in the home, it can often go unnoticed, meaning young girls are not getting the help they need.
It is everyone’s duty to stop this from happening and protect anyone being exposed to this.