Breast "Ironing". A harmful practice in Cameroon (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Sociology - Individual, Groups, Society, grade: 1,0, Ewha Womans University, language: English, abstract: In this paper, we will focus on breast "ironing" in Cameroon. After brief information about the country, we will discuss the methods and the consequences of this practice. Subsequently, we will talk about the international and national policy and legal framework to finally see what is done to stop the further practice of breast "ironing".

Violence against women is still a serious issue all around the world. Although the perpetrators are mostly men, there are also cases where the offenders are female. This is the case in some Western and Central African countries like in Chad, Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Guina-Conakry, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya and Zimbabwe and mostly in Cameroon (Tapscott, 2012), where women do harm to their daughters in the form of breast "ironing". This method consists of massaging, pressing or pounding the breasts flat with different objects like hot stones. The victims are mostly between eight and 12 years old (Tapscott, 2012) when their breasts begin to grow. The reason behind this practice is to prevent the young women to look feminine as long as possible to protect them from teenage pregnancies. Latter would mean no fully completed education and a social exclusion.