Rhelyn Harder
- Breast ironing is a traditional practice which involves ironing a girl’s chest with the use of a hot object to delay breast from growing
- Teachers have a “very important role to play” so they must be educated on this kind of abuse
- Women are afraid to speak out for fear of being rejected by their community
The National Education Union wanted to include breast ironing awareness to be a part of the mandatory school curriculum, as it aims to protect young girls from abuse.
Breast ironing is a traditional practice which involves ironing a girl’s chest with the use of a hot object to delay breast from growing, so it would not attract the attention of the males.
According to Conservative MP Nicky Morgan, teachers have a “very important role to play” so they must be educated on this kind of abuse and they have a duty to report such concerns.
“Kinaya,” not her real name, who lives in the UK shared her breast ironing experience at the aged of 10. She belongs to family descendants from West Africa, where breast ironing originates.
Her mother made her believe that “If I don’t iron them, men will start coming to you, to have sex with you.”
For months, her mother performed breast ironing on her – which involves pressing, massaging, or flattening the breast with the use of heated stone or spoon. And the pain she felt was unforgettable and crying is not even allowed for it would bring shame to the family, “Time does not erase that kind of pain.”
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“You’re not even allowed to cry out. If you do, you have brought shame to your family; you are not a strong girl,” Kinaya explained.
Now, Kinaya has already her own daughter and she would never let her daughter experience what she’s been through, even if her mother proposed that her child should be breast ironed.
“I said, ‘No, no, no, none of my children are going to go through what I went through, as I still live with the trauma.”
Because of her mother’s strong traditional practice, she believes that there was a big possibility that they would perform breast ironing on her daughter without her consent, so she decided to move away from her family.
It is said that there were a thousand girls in the UK that have been affected by breast ironing. While spreading the awareness of female genital mutilations (FGM), there were fears that few people know about breast ironing.
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One woman told the Victoria Derbyshire Programme thinking that breast ironing was normal until she realized that her body looked different during their PE class, which led her to become distressed. This also happened to her sister at the age of eight when she was breast ironed and her teacher have failed to notice it; which has been the reason she became withdrawn and doesn’t want to attend her PE lessons.
“If my PE teacher had known, if they were trained, I could have had the help I needed growing up,” she said.
Joint president of the National Education Union “Kiri Tunks” is calling the attention of the school staff especially PE teachers who should know how to notice the signs of children who experience breast ironing.
The same way as FGM will be from 2020, this will be part of compulsory relationships and sex education classes in the secondary schools.
Ms. Morgan has stated that those who worked with girls should also be taught how breast ironing has taken place in the UK so they would know what advice to give to the young people on what action they need to take. And issue such as breast ironing should be “tackled, addressed, talked about, and stopped.”
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A woman named Simone told Victoria Derbyshire programme she was breast ironed at the age of 13 when her mother found out that she was gay. Like other young girls, she was made to wear an extremely tight strap around her chest, which caused her difficulty in breathing and it went on for months.
“According to her, maybe I was attractive because of my breasts, so if she can iron them and I’m flat, then maybe I’ll be ugly and no-one will admire me.”
The effect of breast ironing had become long term damage when Simone had a baby to the man she was forced to marry.
“When it comes to breastfeeding, it’s so strenuous, like there’s a knot inside,” she explained.
“It seemed like maybe some of the nerves were destroyed.”
Now, breast ironing has no specific offense for it but the Home Office had described it as a form of child abuse and should be prosecuted under general assault laws.
A former gynecological nurse, Angie Marriott, who work as a safeguarding lecturer for Cheshire Police said that the number of people experiencing breast ironing in the UK was kept a secret because of under-reporting where women are afraid to speak out for fear of being rejected from their community.
She described it as a “sensitive, hidden crime,” with women afraid to speak out for fear of being “ousted from their communities.”
“I know this is happening because people have divulged it to me,” she said.
“And they’ve said it’s the first time, openly, that they’ve ever spoken about what’s happened to them, and they felt ashamed.”
Until now Simone still bears the scars from the abuse she endured and wants to raise breast ironing awareness.
“To say the least, it’s an abuse. It hurts, it dehumanizes you,” she said.
“You are not a human being.”
