…Barbaric ways mothers protect daughters from sexual abuses
By Nnamdi Ojiego
Last year, officers of the Nigerian police in Lagos State arrested a man identified as Adegboyega, for brutalising his 8-year-old daughter following early signs of puberty. The victim’s left breast was completely cut off by her father after he used a hot stone to massage his daughter’s breast to stop it from growing.
That’s a case of breast ironing in Nigeria among other cases that have gone unreported. Sadly, this is the ordeal many young girls are subjected to by their parents especially, mothers in an attempt to stop their breasts from growing so as not to attract men to themselves.
Breast ironing, according to Wikipedia.com, is the process whereby young pubescent girls’ breasts are ironed, massaged and/or 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.
Some of the instruments used in carrying out this barbaric practice include hot stones, a hammer, spatulas and or the head of a broom.
It is believed that by carrying out this act, young girls will be protected from harassment, rape, abduction and early forced marriage and therefore be kept in education because many boys and men consider girls, whose breasts have grown, ready to have sex. Therefore, mothers and guardians believe that by suppressing a girl’s development of her breast, she would be protected from rape, kidnapping, sexual harassment and early forced marriage.
Findings have shown that parents who indulge in this practice do it with the wrong notion that they are doing their daughters a huge favour by saving them from problems with unimaginable consequences. Yes, parents’ intentions may be genuine and pure but they are doing the right thing in the wrong way due to ignorance.
Prevalence
The girl generally believes that the practice is being carried out for her good and she will often remain silent. Young pubescent girls usually aged between 9 – 15 years old are most at risk of this practice. Though breast ironing is said to have originated in Cameroon, it is also prevalent in Nigeria and other African countries such as Benin, Ivory Coast Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Togo, Zimbabwe, and Guinea-Conakry, among others.
According to the United Nations (UN) data, breast ironing affects 3.8 million women around the world and has been identified as one of the five under-reported crimes relating to gender-based violence.
Sylvia Chioma, Coordinator of the Girdle Advocacy Projects, whose specialty is to sensitize people on the harms of breast ironing, said the practice is carried out with the misguided intention of protecting women and girls from men’s sexual harassment.
“I’m always of the opinion that the motive to protect girls in the society is right but the methods or traditions are barbaric and senseless”, she stated.
Chioma further sheds light on the prevalence of the practice in Nigeria. “It is very rampant”, she said, “but the issue is that it is under-reported or never-reported because it is considered a tradition. Hence, many victims often stomach the pain and remain silent because they have been indoctrinated that the practice cum tradition is done for their own protection.”
“However”, she added, “unlike what most people believe that it is not a Nigeria-thing, the fact is, it has happened, and still happening in Nigeria. Whenever we talk about breast ironing in our platforms, we see many Nigerian women recounting their experiences.”
Obianujunwa and Faith, victims of breast ironing, who shared their traumatic experiences with this reporter confirmed that they were told the exercise was for their good. They also confirmed that their fathers were aware of the exercise but never intervened in any way.
Obianujunwa, a university student said: “My case wasn’t exactly ironing because I didn’t deal with a hit object but with the head of a broom. my mother used the head of a broom to press my breasts every morning before I leave for school. It was very painful but she said it was for my good. It happened when I was ten years old and in primary six.”
“When I was in so much pain”, she continued, “I would constantly hear my mum say it was for my good and it was for my breast not to be too voluminous because according to her, ten years is an early age to start growing breasts. Till this date, I have not had an experience that was as painful as that and I don’t even know how to equate it. It was very painful. The girls can relate a bit, you know, when a girl starts growing breasts, it is normally painful and now someone is forcefully pressing a hard object there. Excruciating pain!”
Obianujunwa added that her father was aware of her predicament. “Yes, he was very much aware of it but trust me, they were doing what they thought was the best for me. So the intention wasn’t to maltreat me and I really don’t resent them. I am just grateful that they realized on time and that my younger ones didn’t go through the same procedure.”
For Faith, it was her aunt that ironed her breasts. “Mine was a different technique, more like using hot water to massage a swollen area. I was about nine years old and it was my aunt that did it. She told me it was to reduce the breasts so they don’t get too big as I grow up. I think my father was aware but he didn’t say anything.”
But Aisha, a resident of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, was alarmed that some people still subject innocent girls to this cruel practice. “Growing up, I had a couple of schoolmates and friends whose mothers did this to them mostly during puberty. I just don’t want to believe that some people still practice this”, she stated.
More Problems than Solutions
Many parents are often unaware of the many negative health and psychological consequences of breast ironing. It has been reported that (I want to quote a doctor here. Example: According to Dr. Ozioma Ebi, breast ironing exposes girls to numerous health problems such as cancer, abscesses, itching, discharge of milk, cysts, breast infections, and tissue damage among many others. Aside from the health risks the victims are exposed to due to the instruments used during the process, the practice seriously damages a child’s physical integrity; social and psychological well-being. Most of the victims suffer from depression, low self-esteem, etc.
Dashed Dreams
“It affected me mentally”, Obianujunwa revealed. “My breasts have never been like a normal person’s own from a very young age. My breasts never grew perky; people always make remarks about my breasts. Growing up as a child, I wasn’t promiscuous but everyone complained my breasts were fallen. I cried for days, although then I didn’t know the cause for it.
“I was so insecure about my breasts, and it really affected my self-confidence but I finally got to accept it. As a child, I always wanted to be a model but I haven’t had the confidence to brace the world with it yet because I have never seen a model with breasts like mine. No child should go through that much pain. Imagine what a girl child will go through all because of some men who can’t control themselves. I think parents should focus on training their boy child well”.
Also, Ola whose wife is a victim of breast ironing, noted that he did not believe her when she shared her experience with him. He said: “I thought she was telling lies when she told me her story. My wife is very beautiful, with curves but always wants to make love at night with the light off and always feels insecure. She experiences pains during breastfeeding and the milk doesn’t flow properly. This is pure evil”.
Does breast ironing stop young girls from being sexually molested or prevent unwanted pregnancy? “No”, answered Ms Chioma, “ironing the breast does not really safeguard the female minors that are subjected to it because we have heard and seen cases of men who raped babies and girls below seven years old – would you say their ‘flat chest’ lured men to them?”.
“The emphasis”, she explained, “should be on enlightening boys and men to not rape or sexually abuse or violate girls or women. We should hold the bull by its horn by holding men accountable for sexual abuse instead of blaming girls or their bodies for it.”
Enabling Law
In Nigeria, there is no specific law concerning breast ironing; however, because it is classified as physical abuse, offenders are prosecuted under existing laws that protect the rights of women and girls. Section 360 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act states that “Any person who unlawfully and indecently assaults a woman or girl is guilty of misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for two years.”
Also, Section 5, subsection 1 of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 2015, states that “A person who wilfully or knowingly places a person in fear of physical injury commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine not exceeding 200,000 naira or both.”
Governmental Efforts
Moreover, the states in Nigeria are not left out in the fight against abuse of the girlchild. For example, 34 of the 36 States of the Federation have fully domesticated the Child Rights Act, which is a law that deals with issues of child abuse, child labour, and forced marriage, among others, in the country.
The immediate past Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, gave the update on behalf of the Federal Government during a media briefing recently.
Recall that Nigeria adopted the Child Rights Act to domesticate the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2003. The Children’s Rights Act of 2003 expands the human rights bestowed to citizens in Nigeria’s 1999 constitution to children. Although this law was passed at the Federal level, it is only effective if State assemblies also codify it.
As of 2019, only 13 states had domesticated the Act, hence the ratification by almost all the states of the federation is a huge progress considering the initial hitches in getting the states to do so.
The Minister disclosed that she had been actively involved in the advocacy, to ensure all states keyed into the initiative. She said she had personally met with key stakeholders and speakers of State Houses of Assembly, to stress the need for them to pass the Bill into law for their governors to assent.
“We go to the traditional rulers, we go to community leaders, we go to religious leaders, we go to the state assemblies,” Tallen had stated..
Tackling the Scourge
Though the government has enough laws that protect the girlchild, stakeholders are of the view that some of the laws need to be reviewed to reflect breast ironing as a form of gender-based violence. They also called on the law enforcement agencies to step up the implementation of the laws to ensure that abusers of children especially the girl child are diligently prosecuted.
But for the coordinator of Girdle Advocacy, “The main key is education. I suggest the next generation of mothers who are girls today, be comprehensively taught about their rights and how their bodies work and what shouldn’t be done to their bodies in the guise of safeguarding them.
“This is not to say I’ve lost hope in this generation of mothers; as for them, we should hit more on community sensitization and awareness, enlightening, not condemning, on the consequences of breast ironing and other harmful traditional practices on girls and women
“As an NGO, our specialty is to sensitize people on the harms of breast ironing but when it comes to the therapeutic angle, this is where the health workers and professionals come in. Medical practitioners, the WHO, government bodies and other stakeholders should be organizing health talks and outreach to people especially those in rural communities, teaching them about this early and rapid growth that occurs in these teenagers. I think they should lead the charge because people tend to believe and listen to them (health workers) more than advocates”, Chioma appealed.
Similarly, Obianujunwa also called for an increase in sensitisation and awareness programmes. According to her, this would bring closure to victims. “Until recently, I didn’t realize the dangers that practice caused me. I didn’t even know it was the reason why my breasts turned the way they did and having this discussion gave me closure and the answers to my many questions.
“I know there are people like me out there who felt the same way as I did and need answers too. The awareness would also make the mothers know the implications of what they are doing and wouldn’t subject their kids to that much pain”, she stated.