Mauritania Girls Force-fed to Satisfy Men's Love for XL Women
In one of the world's poorest countries, obesity is a sign of beauty and wealth. In the West African country of Mauritania big is beautiful and stretch marks are sexy. The parents send their young girls to rural fattening camps where they are brutally force-fed a diet of up to 16,000 calories a day—more than 4 times that of a male bodybuilder—to prepare them for marriage.
By Sadho Ram — 16 Jul 2013, 03:36 PM — Updated almost 11 years ago
READ: Force fed to find a husband: How Mauritanian women are fed with pills meant for animals
A belief that big is beautiful is causing a self-inflected obesity crisis in a West African country and putting the lives of women at risk. In Mauritania women are encouraged to gain as much weight as possibly from childhood in order to be considered attractive.
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Morton said he felt sick from the food he was having to consume, a problem often experienced by the Mauretanian women. So they have found another way to gain weight that's easier to stomach but just as damaging to their health - taking pills.
Image via vice.comFor Mauritania women to find husbands, they have to be fat. So they force-feed themselves large quantities of camel milk, bread crumbs soaked in olive oil, and goat meat. This practice is referred to as "gavage" — meaning force-feeding of ducks to make foie gras
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According to Vice magazine, more than half of women in Mauritania are overweight and 20% of the female population are obese.
U.S. journalist Thomas Morton was sent to Mauritania to investigate the problem for the HBO documentary series, Vice.
malaysiandigest.comOne local woman told Morton: 'Medication is the modern form of gavage. These pills are not meant to be used by humans.' The women said the animal growth hormones end up giving the women who take them a disproportionate body shape with a big stomach, face and breasts but thin arms and legs.
dailymail.co.ukShe said: 'Women can't have children because of this type of gavage. The big problem is this often leads to heart failure, repeated heart attacks, rare are the ones who escape. There are consequences - diseases, malformations and insanity.'
malaysiandigest.comIn Pictures: The fat farms of Mauritania (Click to read brief descriptions inside)
Even so, about 20% of females in Mauritania are obese, and more than half are overweight. Comparatively, only about 4% of men are obese and 20% are overweight.
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The number of obese women is striking for a country that struggles with drought.
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Obesity has long been the standard of beauty in Mauritania. Being fat is considered a sign of wealth, where being thin is a sign of poverty.
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Local men who spoke to Vice agreed that in Mauritania, big is beautiful.
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As a result, mothers begin force-feeding their daughters at a young age to ensure that when they're old enough to marry, they are attractive under Mauritanian standards.
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The tradition of "gavage" is sometimes referred to as torture by those who are familiar with it. Parents sometimes crush their daughters' toes with pincers if they resist
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Vice sent Thomas Morton to Mauritania to experience gavage first-hand. He heads to a gavage camp in the desert to see how much weight he can gain in two days
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Morton's "gavage partner" teaches him about the tradition, which she has participated in since childhood. At first, the process doesn't seem too different than overeating at dinner.
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But soon, the heat and copious amounts of milk and food start to take their toll.
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Lunch is goat meat, bread and another bowl of milk. Mauritanian women sometimes eat two or three lunches a day.
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Morton can't keep it all down. He says, "It feels like the food has filled my entire chest cavity and is now deflating my lungs."
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After two days at the desert gavage camp, Morton goes from around 120 pounds to around 130. If that's the effect two days of force-feeding have, it's hard to imagine what a lifetime of gavage does to one's body
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Fortunately, some Mauritanians are beginning to realize how dangerous the practice is. Morton's gavage partner says she'd never make her daughters participate, because she's worried about what it could do to their bodies.
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Mauritania, in West Africa, is one of the poorest nations in the world
Mauritania, in West Africa, is one of the poorest nations in the world. The country is "suffering from a worsening food crisis," according to Vice.
Image via businessinsider.comTheir government has launched a TV and radio campaign highlighting the health risks of obesity
Zeinebou Mint Mohamed, 26, shows off her stretch marks, a major turn-on for Mauritanian men.
Image via marieclaire.comTo 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.
nbcnews.comThese efforts, combined with the rising popularity of foreign soap operas featuring model-thin women, has helped reduce the practice, especially among the country’s urban elite.
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