It’s feared up to 1,000 women and girls in the UK have undergone the traumatic experience of breast ironing.
This practice usually involves placing hot items, usually a stone, on to a girls chest to stop or slow the development of breast tissue. Breast ironing is thought to be a way to protect girls from unwanted sexual attention however, the damaging effects can follow womens bodies into adulthood, and cause long term mental trauma.
One victim’s Mother warned her “if I don’t iron them, men will start coming to you, to have sex with you.”
The victim goes on to explain “Time does not erase that kind of pain,” stating “You’re not even allowed to cry out. If you do, you [are said to] have brought shame to your family, you are not a ‘strong girl’.”
The National Education Union are now urging that girls should be educated on this danger in schools, alongside FGM as part of compulsory sex education. They are also asking for teachers to be taught to look out for the warning signs for girls which may have undergone this treatment.
One woman told Victoria Derbyshire “If my PE teacher had known, if they were trained, I could have had the help I needed growing up.” This call for education is backed by Conservative MP Nicky Morgan, who emphasises her belief that teachers have a “very important role to play” in recognising these abuses in children.
Only last month Equalities Minister, Susan Williams said “Breast ironing is child abuse and it is illegal,” stating it would be prosecuted as either common assault, child cruelty or grievous bodily harm, stating “No one should suffer because of who they are or which community they are born into.”
Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, explained how FGM, breast ironing, and other harmful cultural practices are “complex issues to solve” however, “we must do all we can to educate communities against the practices and seek to prosecute perpetrators and protect victims.”
Currently, there is no law protecting children from the specific dangers of breast ironing, but this is something victims have called upon ministers to look into, hopefully helping to bring an end to FBM.
> Leona Hubbard
Victims Call For Awareness Of Breast Ironing
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