Apparently, in this African country, fat women are considered beautiful, and so they force-feed their children - girls as young as 7 years old are force-fed so that they become fat and beautiful. Fatematou, a lady who runs a fat-farm in Mauritania, had this to say about force-feeding the girls:
"I make them eat and eat and eat. And then drink lots and lots of water," she explained. "I make them do this all morning. Then they have a rest. In the afternoon we start again. We do this three times a day - the morning, the afternoon and the evening."
Fatematou said that it was rare for a girl to refuse to eat, and that if they did, she was helped by the child's parents. "They punish the girls and in the end the girls eat," she said. "If a girl refuses we start nicely, saying 'come on, come on' sweetly, until she agrees to eat." Fatematou admitted that sometimes the girls cried at the treatment. "Of course they cry - they scream," she said. "We grab them and we force them to eat. If they cry a lot we leave them sometimes for a day or two and then we come back to start again. "They get used to it in the end."
In the present day's context, especially in North America, where we witness anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders, it's not astonishing to notice something this idiotic in another part of the world. However, I am astounded by this kind of idiocy, moral hypocrisy and the cultural value we accord to outdated traditions and physical appearances. How can parents be willing to abuse their children to such extremes. On the similar vein, I have neve understood how parents in North America can accept their 13 - 16 year daughters getting breast implants, botox injections and so on. I guess, I'm not someone who believes in following 'generally accepted ideas/outlooks'. Oh well, woe betide me! :)
I'll end today's tirade with Fatematou's very 'wise' words:
"Once they are fat and beautiful they can serve their men well, once they are fat they can be married."
What bulls***!
No comments:
Post a Comment