Fat is Beautiful
If you are a size 4 in Mauritania, then chances are that you will be considered unattractive.
This story goes to prove that beauty is in the eyes of cultural perceptions. There is no golden standard.
In Mauritania girls have to be gavage(as in fattening geese for foie gras). Girls are force fed from a young age. Mauritanian love songs praise fat women, and the health ministry is trying to change all that. Husbands complain that their wives are not fat enough:) and women actually have appetite-inducing pills including cattle steroids as opposed to diet pills.
Things could be changing because of satellite channels. But it’s strange that men’s preferences from voluptuous to size zero dictate women’s own body preferences. A Mauritanian woman would probably keep the pounds to please her husband.
Until he decides to leave her if she doesn’t look like Britney Spears.
Mauritania, fat women, steroids
June 17th, 2007 at 8:12 am
This reminds me of a “South Pacific” album cover I came across a few years ago, with this idealized scene from the movie that had been DRAWN so as to make it even more perfect, with the kissing couple against the gorgeous sunset. And there, plain as day, right above the waistline and in that sexy bare midriff section was … a fat roll. A small one, sure, but it was there and no one had thought to get rid of it because she was still a stunning woman in a great scene.
June 17th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
I think these women are going to find it is best to look the way that they are happy. Force feeding is cruel but it is also cruel to fall into the trap of believing everything you see on TV. They are now watching soap operas and might soon find their culture much like ours, where they aren’t skinny enough. You can’t please everyone so stop trying and do what makes YOU happy.