3 more days to driving test!!! I shall not have high expectations for it but I am excited!!
Yesterday I went to have a haircut and while waiting for my turn, I came across an interesting article in a magazine. It's about how Mauritanian women are trying to be fat so that they can be loved by others.
If you are thinking about the ancient Chinese notion of beauty whereby fat is beauty, hm I think it's about the same idea but not sure if the reason behind it is the same.
Apparently, Mauritanian women, from the young age of 14 are sent to camps whereby they are "trained" to be fat. They would drink full cream goat's milk, have heavy meals and sleep or lie around most of the time. They are watched by "teachers" called the fatteners whose job is to make sure that these girls put on alot of weight. Force-feeding is a common practice in these camps because of the aim of making them fat.
And the most alarming thing is that stretchmarks are a bonus! Literally! One fattener said that she will receive bonus from parents if a girl has stretchmarks!
The reason behind this tradition of theirs is that the size of the women will signify the wealth of their husbands. A bigger size woman will show that her husband is able to provide for her even when others are starving.
This tradition of course met some threats when Western images of beauty slipped into their country. Girls who were under the influnece of western media did resist this tradition once before but with a new political regime in place and the encouragement of back-to-basic lifestyle, such camps are in vogue again. Interesting isn't it!
