SURVENT

This article on CNN amazed me. Women in Cameroon actually "iron" their daughters breasts at a young age in an attempt to keep them from possibly being sexually assaulted later in life - WTF?! Per the CNN article:

Worried that her daughters' budding breasts would expose them to the risk of sexual harassment and even rape, their mother Philomene Moungang started 'ironing' the girls' bosoms with a heated stone.

"I did it to my two girls when they were eight years old. I would take the grinding stone, heat it in the fire and press it hard on the breasts," Moungang said.

"They cried and said it was painful. But I explained that it was for their own good."

No doubt they said it was painful, you were burning their breasts! I just do not understand the rationale behind this custom. Even if they have no breasts, if they look attractive they still run the possibility of getting harassed. Are these people going to mutilate girls' faces next? Also, if a dude is hard up on getting laid and the girl is around, she may be raped. I cannot imagine that breast size really matters to a rapist anyway. It is not like they have a lot of time when raping a woman to fondle and enjoy a larger breast size. And this is a widespread custom:

"Breast ironing is an age-old practice in Cameroon, as well as in many other countries in West and Central Africa, including Chad, Togo, Benin, Guinea-Conakry, just to name a few," said Flavien Ndonko, an anthropologist and local representative of German development agency GTZ, which sponsored the survey.

"If society has been silent about it up to now it is because, like other harmful practices done to women such as female genital mutilation, it was thought to be good for the girl," said Ndonko.

Yeah, there are some side effects to this:

"Massaging the breasts with hot objects is painful, very painful, and can completely destroy the breasts," said Bessem Ebanga, executive secretary of women's rights group RENATA, herself a former victim.

"Some girls could be traumatized throughout their lives and their sexual behavior could be disturbed forever."

At least there is a campaign out now trying to end this from taking place. These people need support from the rest of the world to stop doing this to their children. It is child abuse no matter how you try to justify it, not to mention it seems ridiculous.

Its findings have prompted a nationwide campaign to educate mothers about its dangers and to try to eradicate it. A similar campaign some years ago helped drastically to reduce rates of female genital mutilation in Cameroon.

"A girl...has to be proud of her breasts because it is natural. It is a gift from God. Allow the breasts to grow naturally. Do not force them to disappear or appear," said a leaflet from the campaign.

Ain't that the truth....keep 'em real!!