Queen Ranavalona

Rah

Nah

Vah

Lo

Nuh.

Ranavalona III, last queen of Madagascar. She ruled from July 30, 1883, to February 28, 1897, in a reign marked by ongoing and ultimately futile efforts to resist the colonial designs of the government of France.The Merina kings and queens who ruled over greater Madagascar in the 19th century were the descendants of a long line of hereditary Merina royalty, stretching back in oral traditions to such sources as the first human inhabitants.

Ranavalona II, Queen of Madagascar, was lying on her deathbed; the crown was being prepared to pass to the young 21 year old Princess Razafindrahety. On the 13th of July 1883, Queen Ranavalona II had passed into the next life. Her niece was subsequently proclaimed her successor under the name Ranavalona III. Her coronation took place on her 22nd birthday. She was formally proclaimed Her Majesty Ranavalona III, By the grace of God and the Will of the People, Queen of Madagascar, and Protectoress of the laws of the Nation. 

The new queen was described in the American press: “She is a little above the ordinary height and has delicate features, her complexion is a little darker than that of most of her subjects. She appears quite timid and she presides well at the solemn functions of her court.”

As agreed to under the conditions of the earlier Aristocratic Revolution, Ranavalona III consented to marry her prime minister her significantly senior Rainilaiarivony, who had been married previously to Queen Rasoherina and Queen Ranavalona II. The marriage was, of course, purely ceremonial, the couple having to real intimate feeling towards one another (there was doubt if their marriage had ever been consummated).

The French it seemed decided that now was the proper time for annexation. In December 1883, France formally declared war on Madagascar. This war became known as the Franco-Hova War or the Franco-Malagasy War. 

Ranavalona III appealed to the now peaceful America for assistance by sending the then President Grover Cleveland gifts including silk akotofahana cloths, an ivory pin and a hand-woven basket. But the United States took no interest in asserting Madagascar’s independence and seemed to (morally) support the French having recently overthrown Hawaii’s time honored monarchy.

After a series of temporarily successful treaties between Madagascar and France, France launched a full scale invasion of the island. Six-thousand French soldiers lost their lives to disease as they gradually moved inland towards the capital. In September 1895 after nearly three days of being bombarded with heavy artillery Ranavalona III admitted defeat. On January 1st, 1896, Madagascar was formally annexed and declared a French Colony.

At first little changed in Ranavalona III’s life. She still held court and continued to live at the royal palace in Madagascar. But fearing that she would stir rebellion among the people it was decided that the ex-Queen Ranavalona III be deported to Reunion Island, off Madagascar’s coast. Despite France’s best efforts to keep the transferring quiet, a crowd of French onlookers jeered and shouted as the boat docked at Reunion Island, angry at the queen for the loss of French lives during France’s campaign to occupy Madagascar. While on the island Ranavalona III’s niece Razafinandriamanitra gave birth at fifteen to the child of a French soldier who raped the young Princess. The child proved to be a girl, christened in a Catholic ceremony as Marie-Louise in the hopes of appeasing the French. If Ranavalona III were to ever retake the throne, Marie-Louise would become her heir.

After two years it was decided to move the Queen and her household to Algeria. Ranavalona hoped to continue to Paris but was disappointed when she was denied entrance. When she arrived in Algeria she proclaimed in tears “Who is certain of tomorrow? Only yesterday I was a queen; today I am simply an unhappy, broken-hearted woman.”

Luckily Ranavalona seemed to be well accepted among the Algerian elite, being constantly invited to parties and cultural events.

After several years in Algeria she was allowed to visit Paris which she did six times over the course of her lifetime before WWI broke out. Ranavalona III died suddenly May 23rd 1917 in Algeria having never returned to Madagascar despite two formal requests in 1910 and 1912. 

She was buried among her ancestors in her familial tomb in Madagascar. Her niece Marie-Louise was recognized as the Queen’s heir apparent. Having married once and becoming a nurse (being awarded the Legion of Honor for her medical services during World War II), Mari-Louise died January 18th 1948 leaving no descendants and was buried in France.

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Killing Their Breasts: How Far Will Women Go to Avoid Rape..?

It is harder than ever to be a woman in this world. Sexual assault against women worldwide, occurs once every 2 minutes. It would stand to reason that women would try to find ways to prevent these assaults, both for themselves and their daughters. Ironically however, some of these efforts cause the very trauma they try to avoid. From female circumcision, to the legal requirement that women wear burqa's, women though the ages have been forced into practices that attempt to lessen their sex appeal, and decrease their chances of being raped. In Cameroon, the secret practice of 'Breast Ironing' falls into this category. Sadly, it does not work to curtail violence on womens' bodies, it IS violence on womens' bodies.

Women and men alike need rape education, NOT body mutilation. Although surely unintended, practices like these reinforce a "blame the victim" mentality, as if a woman's looks are responsible for a man's actions. Men don't rape women because of how big her breasts are. He rapes her to gain control.

If ironing breasts is not going to help a man achieve a healthy self-worth, then it certainly won't prevent him from raping someone. Leave your breasts alone. Use that iron to bash his head in.

-WTS

Breast ironing is a human rights violation. According to UNPFA, (Friends of the United Nations Population Fund), one out of every four girls in Cameroon has been affected by breast ironing, equating to nearly 4 million young women. 

As a 14-year-old girl, Chi Yvonne Leina, now 32, became a witness to this custom, which is practiced by all 200 ethnic tribes in Cameroon. She often went to her grandmother’s hut after school, and usually heard the sounds of her cousins playing.

But one particular day, the hut was eerily quiet.

“When I approached the hut I heard my cousin crying inside,” Leina said. “I was curious, so I peeped through a small crack in the door.”

What Leina saw next would change her life forever. “I heard my cousin groaning and I saw my grandmother warming a small grinding stone. Grandma was using that small stone, which she warmed on the fire, to press my cousin’s breast, and was pressing hard on the breast, and she was crying.”

That was Leina ’s first encounter with breast ironing. Although this practice can result in physical damage in addition to retarding developing breasts, many elders condone it. Mothers or close relatives of young girls who perform the practice believe breast ironing will deter sexual predators.

"Interestingly, women did not know how harmful this practice is. To them, they are merely keeping their daughters out of the eyes of sex predators. Not knowing that it is even better for this children to be sexually attractive now, than sexually unresponsive in future."

Those who carry out breast ironing hope to minimize young girls’ sexual activity, so they get an education and become financially independent. Teen pregnancy out of wedlock is on the rise in the region. Such a life event curtails any hope a young woman has of pursuing a lucrative career.

As Per the US State Departments 2011 Report: “The procedure was considered a way to delay a girl’s physical development, thus limiting the risk of sexual assault and teenage pregnancy,” the report states. “Girls as young as nine were subjected to the practice, which resulted in burns, deformities, and psychological problems.”

Yet, there is strong evidence that breast ironing does not achieve the desired goals. “Statistics confirm that in addition to being a human rights violation, the practice is ineffective in deterring pre-marital pregnancy. One-third of unwanted pregnancies occur between the ages of 13 and 25, with more than half falling pregnant after their first sexual encounter.”

"The medical personnel in our team disclosed the health risks of breast ironing, and behold, mothers wept at their ignorance. They could not imagine that what they see as mere help can adversely affect the lives of their daughters. Some women started telling their stories;

• Some say since they ironed their daughters’ breasts years ago, it has refused to grow again
• Some say that their daughters’ breast has grown extraordinarily big after the ironing
• Some say that their daughters’ breasts have grown in an unimaginable way; one very big and 
  one very small; one growing naturally and the other developing a hole in the middle; some
  growing in a shrinking manner.

The revelations were enormous. I could not help but weep when these women continued to reveal what they have been doing to their daughters and what they have passed through as victims of this painful and traumatizing act."

For many women, including Leina’s cousin, the negative effects can be deep, long-lasting, and counterproductive to personal growth.

“All I know is she became suddenly a shy person, which she wasn’t before,” Leina said. “And she fell out of school and got pregnant some years after."

Listed among breast ironing’s many dangerous consequences: high fever, breast cancer, severe chest pain, infection as a result of scarification, cysts, breast deformities and complete disappearance of the breasts.

"Our next stop was at CWF Musang - Bamenda. It is another women’s group of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. At CWF Musang meeting, I cried more than anyone else. In the course of the lectures the women started dishing out the different methods they use in ironing their daughters’ breasts:

• Use of grinding stone that they have
   heated on fire
• The use of hot banana
• The use of hot broken clay pot
• The use of herbs
• The use of hot cutlasses

And then as one woman mentioned that there is a method where the girl is sent under the bed, and then a hot mortar pestle is used to pound the breast from outside the bed by the mother."

Despite the suffering caused by breast ironing, it persists in both rural areas and cities. Older women, often in secret and unbeknownst to men, undertake the torturous operation with faith that it will prevent the difficulties suffered by young women who experience sexual assault, or sex without preparation.

Authorities have tried to stress the need for education and contraception as humane, effective substitutes, yet this tradition, which some says dates back to the 1800s, continues.

Several months after Leina witnessed her cousin’s agony, her grandmother attempted to iron her breasts as well. Leina resisted and threatened to alert the entire neighborhood, so she was spared. “From that day it came to my mind that when you use your voice you can actually free yourself from some things,” she said of the incident. 

This experience influenced the young woman’s decision to study journalism and women’s studies as a university student.

One year ago she also founded Gender Danger, a non-profit that helps spread awareness about breast ironing in the hopes of ending the practice. 

Leina Agwetang

Mrs. Agwetang is one of the 35 volunteers working for Gender Danger in Cameroon who go into communities at least once a month to lecture girls and women about the dangers of breast ironing.

Leina’s organization has already reached over 15,000 women.

Because the custom is clothed in secrecy, taking place behind closed doors between women, Agwetang believes many girls don’t know how to process the pain.


For Leina what is most troubling about breast ironing is the resulting the emotional scars.

“I think it’s the culture,” Agwetang said. “They don’t want to talk about certain things. But now that we are going out… they open up and they tell you their experiences. And even some parents, they tell you what they did to their children and they really regret it.”


Follow Nia Hamm on Twitter at @niaahamm

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