Break the tissue with a hot rock
Ah those pesky breasts. What shall we do about them?
An African practice of “ironing” a girl’s chest with a hot stone to delay breast formation is spreading in the UK, with anecdotal evidence of dozens of recent cases, a Guardian investigation has established.
Community workers in London, Yorkshire, Essex and the West Midlands have told the Guardian of cases in which pre-teen girls from the diaspora of several African countries are subjected to the painful, abusive and ultimately futile practice.
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“It’s usually done in the UK, not abroad like female genital mutilation (FGM),” [an anonymous activist] said, describing a practice whereby mothers, aunties or grandmothers use a hot stone to massage across the breast repeatedly in order to “break the tissue” and slow its growth.
Ouch.
They do it as often as every week.
The perpetrators, usually mothers, consider it a traditional measure which protects girls from unwanted male attention, sexual harassment and rape. Medical experts and victims regard it as child abuse which could lead to physical and psychological scars, infections, inability to breastfeed, deformities and breast cancer.
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Nyuydzewira, who was herself subjected to the abuse as a girl, said British authorities were not taking the problem seriously, and have not prosecuted those doing breast-ironing on their children on grounds of it being seen as a “cultural practice”.
“The British people are so polite in the sense that when they see something like that, they think of cultural sensitivities,” she said. “But if it’s a cultural practice that is harming children … any harm that is done to a little girl, whether in public or in secrecy, that person should be held accountable.”
It’s politeness toward the “cultural sensitivities” of the adults. What about the girls? How about putting the girls first instead of the adults? Wouldn’t that be a more reasonable way to approach “cultural practices” that more powerful people inflict on less powerful people? Ask cui bono but also ask cui noxa.
Oh, those pesky medical experts, always insisting on promoting good healthy practices even for females.
And, of course, no one considers protecting girls from unwanted male attention, sexual harassment, and rape by TEACHING BOYS NOT TO RAPE. No, instead they teach boys they are superior to girls, stronger than girls, and entitled to female attention. Rape becomes almost inevitable. So we iron breasts…sometimes, bind them. (My mother didn’t want my breasts to form as early as they did, either, but she didn’t try to do anything about it. She let it happen, but waited to buy me a bra because she couldn’t admit I needed one for some time. At least ignoring the problem didn’t lead to hot stones giving me scar tissue…)
Last night I was reading about the mythologies of ancient Greece. Legend has it that the Amazon warriers would burn off their right breasts so as not to hamper them when using their bows. I winced somewhat at that, despite it being a myth. Not for a second did I think I’d hear of similar acts of cruelty being inflicted on girls outside of reports of sadistic crimes comitted by individuals, and certainly not as a ritual act regularly carried out on such a scale.
Fuck cultural relativism, cultural practices, and cultural sensitivites. When girls are being burned with hot rocks that’s a crime.
I’ve heard of mothers taking measures like this in extreme circumstances, such as invasion by a marauding army of warriors. Young girls would be disfigured not just to look younger, but to look too sick or disgusting for the enemy to take note of them. But to do this in a relatively peaceful, safe country isn’t protection. It’s making a point.
Might I suggest using hot rocks on the men that do this? A quick smack of a hot rock on the penis of a harasser, while still barbaric, would at least be directed at the right person.
But…its an expression of their Rich Cultural Heritage. A celebration of Maternal Bonding. An expression of Resistance to Western Hegemony.
Yeah, because the best way to say “I care” is not with a Hallmark card but with a hot rock to the chest.