When ‘Protection’ Becomes Harm: Exposing the Reality of Breast Ironing

Image from The Guardian

How many girl children are impacted: +3.8 million (UNFPA)

The practice of breast ironing also known as ‘breast flattening’ or ‘breast whipping’ is a harmful traditional practice that is prevalent in West African traditional normative societies. This practice has been identified and or reported in Cameroon, Benin, Ivory Coast, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Togo, Guinea Conakry and Zimbabwe. There are also some reported cases of this practice in the UK, mainly stemming from communities who have immigrated to the country over time. Although prevalent and affecting more than 3.8 million girls, the practice is still under researched, and little is known by frontline workers such as community health workers, health educators and other professions who provide services and protection for children.

Breast ironing is defined as the process where pubescent girl children’s breasts are flattened, ironed, massaged, pounded down by using hard or heated objects such as stones or iron as soon as the girl’s breasts start to show. This harmful practice is based misguided beliefs about ‘protecting’ young women from predatory sexual harms such as harassment, rape, early and forced marriage, or general sexual violence perpetrated by men. Additionally, gatekeepers of the practice believe that violently removing/slowing signs of puberty will help keep girls in schools for longer. From as young an age as 8 or 9 years old, girls’ vulnerability to this violent practice increases.

How patriarchy recruits women as enforcers

Breast ironing is a practice that is mainly performed and sustained through generations by women. As many harmful traditional practices are protected and sustained through time, this practice is no different because women are co-opted as enforcers and gatekeepers of practices that were/are harmful to them as well. It should be understood that their participation is not based on empowerment, but it is a reflection of the limited agency women have in society. This co-option itself is a form of violence against these women because it is based on social pressure, internalized patriarchy, a means of survival within their communities and sometimes threats of physical harm from male members of the community if they do not follow traditional practices that they know and have experienced as violence on their bodies. It is no surprise that breast ironing is thereby sustained by mothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunts and other women in the communities that practice it.

A violent response to misguided ideas of protection

Protection is stated as a primary reason behind the continuation and prevalence of the practice. This is because it is believed that if girls do not show signs of ‘sexual maturity’, they are safe from male predatory sexual behaviors. The reasons behind this practice are veiled as protective measures for girl children, however there many layers of harm that is perpetrated by this ‘veiled protection’. Firstly, by placing the onus on girl children to change and harm their bodies in order to protect themselves from harm is an ill-thought measure that is rooted in gender-based discrimination. This is social subordination because this practice is hinged on the belief that girls and women must experience violence on their bodies to detract the perpetrators of the violence, who are mostly men. The onus is not on men to simply respect children and not abuse them because they are showing signs of puberty.

The burden of family honor

Another aggravator behind this violence against girl children is the concept of familial honor. This concept of family honor is mostly found in cultural societies who place a high value on controlling women’s bodies and identifying them as a source of ‘purity’. This burden of familial honor lies on women’s actions and/or lack thereof and this in itself is a form of violence based on patriarchal discriminatory views. In these societies, women are vulnerable to multiple and intersecting forms of violence including but not limited to psychological, physiological and economic harm. Both notions of ‘protection and family honor’ fall flat as reasons behind the practice of breast ironing because firstly, girl children in these communities are vulnerable to violence even before their breasts start showing. Secondly, placing the burden of protection on the victim is a form of violence itself, considering the long-term harm that result.

The hidden lifelong consequences

The effects of breast ironing are layered, these include physical harm, psychological torture and trauma as well as far reaching consequences for women’s health. Firstly, the physical harm aspect refers to harm on the integrity of their body. There are long term health consequences for girls who undergo breast ironing including cysts in the breasts, sever chest pain, milk infections due to scarification and tissue damage. There are reports of mothers being unable to produce milk or breastfeed their children. The psychological effects of breast ironing include depression, anxiety and issues around trust with parents or the community.

Unsurprisingly, like many forms of violence against women and girls, there is no specific legislation around this practice and victims of this violence, who are children, face a double burden of being victims and having the onus to define their violence based on existing legislation on criminal offences. It is also difficult to ascertain the pervasiveness of this form of violence because it is perpetrated on children who have very little agency and therefore unable to act alone and report. It can thus be assumed that remains a severely underreported form of violence.