Obese women are prized in Mauritania
By estherlou
@estherlou (5015)
United States
April 22, 2007 4:22pm CST
In the paper the other day, hubby saved an article for me to look at. I couldn't believe what I read. In NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania, Obesity has long been the ideal of beauty, signaling a family's wealth in a land repeatedly wracked by drought. Girl children were force fed camel's mild to make them gain a lot of weight. The story was about "Mint". Mint was 4 when her family began to force her to drink 14 gallons of camel's milk a day. When she vomited, she was beaten. If she refused to drink, her fingers were bent back until they touched her hand. Her stomach hurt so much she prayed all the animals in the world would die so that there would be no more milk. By the time Mint was 10, she could no longer run. Unconcerned, her proud mother delighted in measuring the loops of fat hanging under her daughter's arms.
"My mother thinks she made me beautiful. But she made me sick," says Mint, who suffers from weight-related illnesses including diabetes and heart disease. She asked that her full last name not be disclosed because she feels embarrassed.
A quarter of the 1.5 million women in Mauritania ? a barren, dune-enveloped country more than twice the size of Texas ? are obese, according to the World Health Organization. That's lower than the 40 percent of American women who the WHO says are obese, but surprisingly high in a country that has not a single fast-food franchise.
To end the brutal feeding practices, the government has launched a TV and radio campaign highlighting the health risks of obesity. Because most Mauritanian love songs describe the ideal woman as fat, the health ministry commissioned catchy odes to thin women.
Only one in 10 women younger than 19 has been force-fed, compared to a third of women 40 or older, according to a survey conducted by the National Office of Statistics in 2001, the most recent available.
Those still forced to eat were overwhelmingly from the country's rural areas.
But although the canon of beauty is changing, entrenched values are hard to uproot.
"My husband thinks I'm not fat enough," said Zeinabou Mint Bilkhere, explaining that her husband found her pretty during the last months of her pregnancy. Since giving birth, the weight has dropped, however, and with it his desire for her.
This is just incredible! Women are taking pills to make themselves fatter to keep their men interested. What a crazy, upsidedown view. I don't know if the link to my daily paper will work for you, since I'm a signed-up member, I'll put it here to try out.
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/041907/fea_maur.shtml
9 people like this
23 responses
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
22 Apr 07
Me too. And the emotional baggage we carry around is at least as heavy as our excess weight. What a crazy world we live in.
2 people like this
@loved1 (5328)
• United States
23 Apr 07
This is so sad. I can't imagine what this practice is doing to the self esteem of these women. What in the world are people thinking? It is too bad that women everywhere think they have to be a certain size, fat or skinny, in order to be loved. We need to love one another unconditionally.
3 people like this
@Marie2473 (8512)
• Sweden
23 Apr 07
The link didnt work but I think that u put most of it in your text anyways. People are so different everywhere. I have once seen a documentary about men that only go after fat women and also tries to make them even more fat. They feed them all the wrong things so that eventually 2 of the women in the documentary could not even get out of bed - and this is when her husband loved her the most! I find this just as sick as the men thats forcing their women to starve themself to loose weight...
The ideal should be a healthy woman - overweight or not.. And we are all different, women and men... I just wish that all people would see that!
2 people like this
@mom2chriskel (1060)
• United States
23 Apr 07
WOW! That story is amazing. I can't believe that parents are fattening their children up so they will be more appealing at a marrying age!
Gosh, I've gained weight since having my kids and it is the worst I have ever felt in my whole life. Physically, I hate it. Aches and pains pop up all over the place. I'm tired more easily. And Mentally it is hard to look at yourself and like what you see. So I'm working on ditching some pounds. It is really hard for me to believe that someone wants their child to be overweight :(
2 people like this
@albert2412 (1782)
• United States
22 Apr 07
I guess this just goes to show that people in every country have a different idea of beauty. Someone who is ugly in one country might be beautiful in a different part of the world. What do you think makes someone beautiful?
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
23 Apr 07
I knew a very large person here in the states I think she weighed 260lbs and she had no shortage of male admirers, she also belonged to a "Big is Beautiful Club" and the men she dated were not in the least obese. She did have a very pretty face but she said it was her figure that her men friends liked.
3 people like this
@weemam (13372)
•
23 Apr 07
I am fat , not obese but I have Ben slimming on and off I became conscious of it , I hate being fat as it is unhealthy too , I feel so sorry for all of these girls I would imagine they will all die very young too , It is a sham we have to be what people think is ideal weight xx
1 person likes this
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
23 Apr 07
I have often heard of men even here in the States that prefer an ample woman. No where has anorexic looking women the ideal of a lovely woman, that appears to have been our doing. Those pills to make them fatter. Amazing when we so desparately seek a pill to make us thinner. I hope they find a healthier level of weight and it becomes the norm for them and us.
2 people like this
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
23 Apr 07
Although this country goes to extremes with it they are not alone in this thought. For many centuries bigger women were prized in most societies. It was thought to mean that one the family was prosperous but also that they were better for having children. Even up into the 20th century plumper women were thought of as sexy. I'm not talking morbidly obese here but just curvier women. You look at the actresses of the 1950's and most today would be considered larger women. Marilyn Monroe would wear a size 14 to 18 in today's sizing which most would consider to be a full figured woman. It's all about perception and what is considered to be ideal at that time.
Now I do agree that this country has gone to extremes with it. That they do need to fix things and make it so women are healthier. It won't be an immediete fix though and it will take time. Nothing happens over night especially when you are trying to change the perception of a large society, a perception they have had all their lives. Hopefully though they will succeed in doing so.
@patootie (3592)
•
7 May 07
I think there are quite a number of cultures where the preference is for rotund women .. being thin is certainly a 20th-21st century fad ...
In fact you only have to think of Rubens buxom wenches to see the preferred female form in Europe for many years was .. well more rotund ..
In some cultures you need to be more rounded to be seen as healthy .. and given the choice between being too big or like the grotesque size double o x-ray thin folks that are appearing these days I know I'd choose to be buxom every time ..
1 person likes this
@ItTakesAllSorts (4096)
•
26 Apr 07
I saw a TV programme last year on the same thing and it was very disturbing to watch. A girl would have her fingers pinched when she refused to drink constantly through the day. They showed the amount of women who could not walk properly and had many illnesses relating to this form of abuse.
What was horrible was the fact it was women doing it to girls. The men were nowwhere in sight when this was going on and some even protested against it when interviewed. Its like female curcumcision, all for the mans pleasure and these women do not stand up against it, but seem intent on carrying on these traditions. This is something I can never figure out.
It makes me realise how stupid humans are. We are bombarded with skinny women, who represent fame, fortune and happiness, while they are feeding their young girls to make them fat. Its a mad, mad, mad, mad world!!
1 person likes this
@gemini1960 (1161)
• Philippines
23 Apr 07
i have seen those in cable tv here,where in parents feed their daughter to fatten her like a cow in preparation to get married its a kind of preparation for them before the marriage. My wife is not overwieght just have a normal weight on her structure, for me whatever weight or body structure my wife will be i will still love her.i agree with you on the consequences of being oveweight.
1 person likes this
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
23 Apr 07
I was telling this story to my son who lives in another state. He remembered years ago, a family with a chubby daughter were vacationing in Europe or the Middle East somewhere and a man came up to the father and offered to buy his daughter from him. Because she was chubby, she was looked at as a prize. Not only offensive to us, but she was only 12 at the time! Back home, she was probably made fun of for being chubby!
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
22 Apr 07
That is crazy, and sad that someone would do something like that to their child. It would seem that they would prefer their child to be healthy and happy, than to be beautiful, no matter what their opinion of beauty was.
@BarBaraPrz (47164)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
23 Apr 07
Just the other night, I heard a similar report on the radio on CBC's overnight service where they broadcast shows from different countries... Anyway, one reason for the force-feeding was that it sped up puberty, so they could marry off the girls sooner. And the pills they are taking to fatten up are actually animal steroids which are not safe, and only really increase the size of their upper body.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
23 Apr 07
wow what a story, this is something new to me. I am so shocked I don't know what to say. These poor women. I am obese myself but nobody force feed me.
by the way you have to be a member to see that article.
1 person likes this
@girtsmomma (297)
• United States
22 Apr 07
That sounds like the ideal place for a Walmart super center, everybody would feel right at home.
1 person likes this
@jennybianca (12912)
• Australia
23 Apr 07
I*t is sad that this view of fatness still continues.
Even in western countries, women believe that a fat baby is a good thing.
A lot of this obsession with fat babies & children, stems from the days in the past when starvation was common & very few babies survived toddlerhood. Then, the only babies who may survive, were those who had mor weight on & less to loose if a famine hot.
I believe this obsession with fat babies & children stems from those times long ago.
It is unfortunate that the Mauritania society has taken this even further.
The Government certainly needs to actively promote good health for many years to come.
@angelofdeath (345)
• Philippines
23 Apr 07
really? are they praised in that place? it's a good news to hear. because in the status quo, these obese persons are morally degraded and bullied by others. they are even made a laughing stock even before.
1 person likes this
@revdauphinee (5703)
• United States
22 Apr 07
guess instead of dieting i should spend my money on a ticket to NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania,Id be a knockout there LOL
