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North America and Europe, most women want to be slim. In those places, a slim woman is a beautiful woman. People think that a slim woman is healthy and careful about what she eats. But in some parts of the world, women want to be fat. In many parts of Africa, a woman is a beautiful woman. How fat? There is no limit. If a woman is fat, they think she is healthy and rich. If you are slim, that means you are a worker with little money and not enough food to eat. Also, people believe that a slim woman will be sick. A fat woman has enough to eat, so she is healthy and will have many healthy babies. To help girls and women look healthy and beautiful, people in central Africa send them to a fattening room. Fattening rooms are an old tradition ad an important part of a girl's life. After a girl goes to a fattening room, her family and her village say that she is a woman. The fattening room is usually near the family's house or part of it. In the fattening room, a girl sits on a special chair until it is time to eat. Then she sits on the floor on a mat made of leaves. She also sleeps on the floor. Her mother gives her bowls of food like rice, yams, and beans-the kinds of foods that help her get fat. She also drinks a lot of water. In the fattening room, the girl does not move very much. She can only eat, sleep and get fatter. Her only visitors are women who teach her how to sit, walk, and talk in front of her future husband. They also give her advice about cleaning, sewing, and cooking. It is boring to be in the fattening room for so long with nothing to do, but the girl doesn’t mind. She knows that it is important for her. In southeastern Nigeria, brides go to a fattening room or a fattening farm before they get married. They can not leave the farm for many weeks. At the end of this time, but before the wedding, the brides walk through the village so everyone can admire their big bodies. After a woman is married, she can also go to a fattening room. She may go several times because it is important for her to stay fat. A man wants his wife to be fat so other people will think that the man is rich and that he is a responsible man. If their parents do not send their daughter to a fattening room, their friends and relatives may laugh at them. They will say that they are not doing their duty. In the old days, girls stayed in the fattening room for two years. Today, some families cannot afford more than a few months. Also, fattening rooms are not very popular in cities now. In cities, health education and Western culture have a big effect on people's ideas. But in villages, this traditional custom continues. In Niger, they have a festival to celebrate the heaviest woman. Here, women have a contest to see who is the fattest. On the morning of the contest, the women eat enormous amounts of food and drink lots of water. The fattest women is the winner. She gets a prize- more food. |
Answer the questions
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1. What kind of things do people do to change their bodies? Which of these can be bad for their health? 2. What makes a man attractive in your country? 3. A person's size is not important, but in some societies, people still think it is important. How can we change our society to accept people of different sizes? 4.Do you think skin color affects whether a person is regarded as beautiful or not? 5. Is it better to be physically attractive or intelligent? 6. Is it better to be physically attractive or wealthy? 7. How much time should be spent on making yourself look better each day? 8. Is there someone famous that is considered beautiful, that you think is not? |
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