1,000 young women endured the pain of having their breasts flattened to avoid being raped.

Right here in England, in the heart of civilized Europe, as many as 1,000 young girls still face the daily pain of having their breasts flattened, a way to avoid being raped.

British authorities have issued a shocking warning that around 1,000 girls in the country are victims of the barbaric practice of "flattening breasts" to avoid rape.

A mother is ironing her daughter's breasts to protect her from rape.

British officials said they were shocked to discover that African-American girls in Birmingham and London were victims of this practice. Even more horrifying, the perpetrators of this breast flattening were mostly the victims' parents.

Margaret Nyuydzewira, founder of the Women and Children Development Organisation, told The New Day: “We know it’s happening through members of our community. This is brutal. There’s so much trauma. The mothers are doing it with good intentions, to protect their daughters from sexual harassment, but it’s not in line with British values.”

The heated stone was used to iron the breasts of young girls.

This is a truly unbelievable story because, in the middle of civilized Europe, these British girls were still subjected to torture in an extremely backward way.

Breast flattening is a barbaric practice originating from Cameroon (Central Africa), where one in four women is a victim of this custom.

The tools used to flatten the breasts were stones, hammers, or a spoon. These tools were heated up and used twice a week to flatten the breasts and prevent them from growing.

The reason this custom developed stems from mothers' fears of their daughters being raped. Worried that their daughters' developing breasts might put them at risk of sexual harassment or even rape, many Cameroonian mothers began flattening their daughters' breasts as early as age eight.

"I started doing this with my two daughters when they were eight years old. I took a whetstone, heated it over a fire, and pressed it firmly against their chests. They screamed and said it hurt a lot. But I explained that it was for their own sake," one mother said.

The tight swaddling around the chest can cause many babies to feel like they are suffocating.

In Cameroon, the rate of sexual abuse among teenage girls is as high as one-quarter, forcing mothers there to devise this method of protecting their children.

According to incomplete statistics, an estimated 4 million women in this country have undergone the painful process of breast straightening.

Emmanuelle (23 years old, from Cameron) shared: “I was raped by my cousin when I was 13 and then had to give birth to his child. At that time, I was forced to breastfeed but couldn't because I had no breasts. People said that ants could sting my breasts to make them swell and encourage milk production. I tried it and it was very painful, but it didn't work. I have three children and none of them were able to breastfeed.”

Nine-year-old Manuella said, "Sometimes I can't breathe because the bandages are wrapped so tightly around me."

"It scares me. I've been wearing the band for over a year. It makes me feel hot and causes red spots on my skin. I can't understand why my mother would do this to me," the girl said.

Recognizing the impact of this outdated custom, many international organizations have campaigned to raise awareness about breast development and combat all forms of abuse against women.

Many women's rights organizations around the world have spoken out against this barbaric ritual because "breast ironing" of young girls can lead to many dangerous diseases such as breast cancer, cysts, inflammation, loss of milk production, infections, and uneven breast development. In fact, there has never been any statistical data to show that "breast ironing" reduces the risk of rape in women.

According to Ngaynay.vn