In Cameroon, nearly a quarter of women and girls have had their breasts flattened—often by mothers trying to protect them.
SHE WAS JUST 28, ALREADY A GRANDMOTHER, and her eldest of five daughters had gotten pregnant at 14. She was determined to keep her other girls from making the same mistake, so this past November, in a village near the city of Bafoussam in Cameroon, she brought her 10-year-old and her 7-year-old inside to flatten their breasts. She took a stone the size of her palm, normally used to smash herbs, and, one at a time, pressed it into the sides of one girl’s breasts and massaged it in circles for about 10 minutes as the other daughter looked on nervously. All the while, the woman’s twin toddlers were running around the room, tugging at her dress. She wasn’t punishing her daughters; she was trying to protect them.
This story is from the August 11, 2017 edition of Newsweek.
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This story is from the August 11, 2017 edition of Newsweek.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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