Location: Mauritania, West Africa 🇲🇷
Story: In a stark contrast to global beauty standards that often prize thinness, Mauritania holds a longstanding cultural tradition where larger body size is equated with beauty, wealth, and suitability for marriage. For generations, girls, sometimes from as young as five, have been subjected to a practice known as Leblouh or gavage, where they are forced to consume excessive amounts of food to accelerate weight gain. 🙆‍♀️
Twist: This practice, rooted in historical notions of prosperity and health, often involves girls drinking liters of fatty camel milk, eating buttery porridge, and consuming calorie-dense meals under pressure from family members. While some defend it as cultural tradition, many activists and health professionals condemn it as a form of abuse that leads to serious long-term health issues such as diabetes, heart disease, and mobility problems. Today, the custom is slowly declining in urban areas but persists in rural communities, highlighting the painful conflict between cultural identity, autonomy, and the universal desire for acceptance and love. ❤️‍🩹