As the international community believes, there are many tribes and countries in Africa whose customs are sometimes too cruel. In Cameroon, one of the most feared customs is considered to be "flattening" the mammary glands.
This practice is usually done by loving parents on their beloved daughters, who are usually 10-12 years old at the time. This, they say, slows down their daughter's visual maturity. After "ironing", the chest will become flatter, and the girls will make the opposite sex look less attractive.
At first, parents used elastic bandages to mask their children's upbringing, but they later took more radical measures.
Due to low levels of education and illiteracy rates, superstitious parents worry that their daughters who go to school begin to mature prematurely and drop out of school. In addition, early marriages and unwanted teenage pregnancies are not uncommon in Cameroon, and it is well known that the spread of a bad thing is alarming.
Most often, this ritual is performed independently by parents, who consider it a useful educational measure. Wealthier families hire trained therapists who hope to free girls from unwanted thoughts at an early age.
Despite the serious consequences of this practice, the statistics remain relentless. In Cameroon, one in ten girls undergoes this ritual, which leads to the fact that in addition to psychological problems, girls subsequently experience eating problems and inflammation as well as pain.
Janet
"When I was ten, my grandmother brought an iron. She put a bamboo mat on my chest, and then Grandma took the solace and began the ritual. It was hot, it hurt a lot, and I felt like my skin was about to be cooked, and I begged for a long time before my grandmother stopped doing that. Since then, I have had a strong phobia and am often woken up at night. But my grandmother would still give me this ritual once or twice a month. Janet, 14, said.
"Ironing" therapy using a feverish object in "slimming" is indeed one of the common methods, and it is believed to help melt subcutaneous fat. Yes, this therapy does achieve some weight loss results after many uses.
Carol
As happened to Carol: "My relatives and elders thought my looked shameful. In the end, my mother decided to do an "ironing" ritual for me, and in order to get the best results, she did it for me more than 10 times a month. My chest later became inflamed and the doctor told me that my mom had destroyed the tissue structure of my chest and that one of my chest muscles was necrotic. ”
Unfortunately, in Cameroon, the condolences used to perform this ritual have been passed down to this day, and despite the fierce struggle begun by the authorities and social services against this ritual, this tradition has not been transformed into a vestige of the past.
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