Taken from: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/07/07/cameroon.breastironing.reut/index.html (that's just the first paragraph) Don't really know what to say to an article like that. Could West Africa be much more screwed up?
How the hell could you say that the mutilation of 4,000,000 women is a good thing? I sincerely doubt it actually makes any dent in the number of rapes that occur, and it does manage to deform young girls, almost certainly screw up their minds, and put any children they have in danger. Jeez, it's right up there with female circumcision in the list of things that need to be abolished in this world in my opinion.
Africa is in a state beyond repair, corruption, civil war, massive debt, disease and lack of proper education have lead to a whole Continent in almost unstoppable collapse. Unfortunately with the massive debt, and the extreme level of corruption I don't see any hope in the near future. When all the money goes to buying guns and lining the back pockets of high level officials then there is little hope.
Remember that stuff like this doesn't really apply to SOUTH AFRICA. I live in South Africa and stuff like this doesn't happen here. However, in the higher parts of africa, female circumcision is taking place all the time. It's a form of initiation, or "Becoming a REAL Woman". It's friigin stupid and should not be tolerated. But then again, those african tribes are all in a world of their own. See, in SA we live in the world of FX-62's and 7950GX2's
Sorry, SA and parts of Northern Africa are a different case. I was mostly considering Central and West Africa.
Without meaning to offend, if South Africa is what the rest of Africa is going to "progress" to, it might as well stay as is. I've known a few people from SA, and by and large they all left for the same reason, they couldn't stand the violence and hatred. The levels of violence in parts of SA are mind-blowing and almost as horrific as the tribal practises of parts of 3rd world africa. Sorry if that offends you, it's not meant as a personal insult, I just think while SA is 1st world in many ways, it's still such a violent place that it has a long way to go.
How do you know that it makes no dents on rape numbers? I'd sure as hell rather have no boobs as a girl than get raped (I'm not actually a girl, so don't bother asking for pictures of me). Unless I see some proof of the effectiveness of this procedure, I'm not saying this is a bad thing (or a good one).
I think the fact that this considered a necessary evil, says a lot more about the problems. I'm sure the girls would rather have boobs and not be raped.
Humanity always has an uncanny ability to achieve new lows just when you thought it had hit rock bottom... so yes, West Africa could probably be more screwed up. Keep in mind though, that more "civilised" countries engaged in quite similar barbarisms up until quite recent in history. In China, binding the feet of girls was quite common until the last century. In some Middle Eastern countries, women are treated in ways I can only think of as seriously warped. But check out Western Europe in the Victorian age: we had corsets, and female clitorectomy for women who were a bit too much in touch with their sexuality (straightjackets for children who were caught masturbating). We fed opiates to kids in nursery to keep them compliant. Girls who got pregnant out of wedlock (not rarely through intervention of a "friendly" vicar) were often committed to a mental asylum for life --and until 50 years ago, to harsh workhouses where they were treated like criminals (much like their offspring). A lot of what was then accepted Western medical practice is pretty ignorant and barbaric by today's standards (but we still do Electroshock Therapy), and today we still often treat our mentally ill, elderly infirm and learning disabled in fairly cruel or callous ways. I also wonder whether people in the future will look at the crap we feed our children today, and shudder at the cruel and barbaric practice of "turkey twizzlers" and almost half of all children growing up below the poverty line. And then the stuff we did to others. Need I mention black slavery and the genocide of Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians? How about Nazi Germany? How about Yugoslavia as recently as in the 90's? How about any war we waged? Primitive? And then some. What happens in West Africa is astonishingly cruel and primitive, but unfortunately, our civilisation does not improve how people treat each other; it only refines the practice and its justifications.
yodasarmpit makes a good point. Wouldn't it be better to combat rape than to perform a crude involuntary double mastectomy? To that I would also like to add that rape is not a matter of sexual attraction. It is a matter of having power over, dominating and humiliating a person. It is a form of aggression, not sex. Rapists will rape pretty much anybody --and do: from five-year olds and babies to seventy-year old pensioners, boys as well as girls. This practice won't make any difference. A rapist will rape. Period. Let's make this more personal to you, a male. Suppose that the only way you can absolutely prevent male rape is to have your testicles removed (hey, they are far less visible than boobs in any case, and you can take hormones, right?). Would you go for it? I think you'd rather take the risk and preserve your body integrity.
I would say that because rape is less about breast size and more about domination, breast size plays little role in which person becomes a victim. It's not as easy as saying, "I'd sure as hell rather have no boobs as a girl than get raped." If I understand the article correctly, most of these young girls don't have a choice. The physical and emotionally damaging torture is forced upon them by their mothers, in the hopes that some stranger won't engage in his version of physical and emotionally damaging torture. Sad, really. -monkey edit: Darn it, Nexxo beat me to it.
No offence taken. You are absolutely right. The violence and crime in this country (i'm a South African myself) is absolutely insane. It's unsafe for me to walk from my house to the nearest McDonalds, i will almost certainly get mugged. And the beauty of it all, is that i won't get mugged by a grown up man, i'll get mugged by a snot-nose 16 year old with a knife (and trust me, he WILL use it).
QFT. As individuals, we may be striving to make the world a better place, but as a civilization, we don't seem to get it...
i realy hope they dont use those electric irons that are used to iron clodes. those are realy painfull when in contact with the skin, and leave a big scar........i had a friend that had one of those on the chest, the guy was realy realy evil and was epileptic, and sometimes he would go balistic and go fighting random people with sticks, clubs, stones and cement building blocks. realy?
DXR If you'd read the article you'd know that they used hot stones, which I imagine are equally horrific as an electric iron when pressed against your chest for a few minutes. Your comment that Hitman deleted was not funny, in fact it was in seriously bad taste. More people talking in SD is something great, but keep it serious, and discuss the matter at hand
sorry if what if the post that Hitman deleted was bad taste, realy, we here in Portugal hear about rapists every day, even rich and famous people are being caught and put into jail for raping, search "casa pia" and you will see what i am talkin about. as for my friend that i talked about, if a guy that has less sensitive brests that a woman can become violent and have psicological problems, imagine what would happen with a girl. i know a hot stone is equally horrific so i compared it to a friend that has passed that. the hot iron has a hiden little extra, if it is not grounded, is defective or old you will get shocked and it will create more damage.
