Breast ironing: Barbaric ritual sees young girls having their chests 'flattened' with hot stones to disguise puberty

Breast ironing

Breast ironing - the brutal flattening of a young girl's developing chest to 'protect her from rape and sexual harassment' - now affects 3.8 million women around the world, according to a UN report.

The process uses large stones, a hammer or a spatula that has been heated over hot coals to compress or mutilate the breast tissue and make the adolescent look less 'womanly'.

It is a widespread practice in Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa with the girl's mother being the abuser in 58 per cent of cases, according to the Department of Public Health Services. READ MORE AFTER THE CUT

The rationale is to prevent girls from developing breasts between 11 and 15 years old in the belief that a flat childlike appearance will discourage unwanted male attention and premarital pregnancy.

The mother often warrants the ritual, removing signs of puberty, so her daughter can pursue education for longer rather than being seen as 'ready for marriage'.

However, much like FGM (Female Genital Mutilation), breast ironing is widely considered to be just another form of hidden abuse.

Writer Leyla Hussein told Cosmopolitan: 'Destroying a woman's or girl's breasts in this way can take anything from a couple of days to a few weeks.  READ MORE HERE