Nigeria

Western culture all but glorifies a fuller figure. Slim anorexic models grace the covers of our magazines, and incredibly petite actresses are all over out televisions. But half way around the world, in the West African country of Nigeria, the opposite could be said to be true. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder within their culture that glorifies a plump and voluptuous figure on their women.



The following clips from the 2006 film Phat Girlz show the story of two plus-size African American women as they encounter Nigerian men. The film chronicles their journey of self growth and acceptance to love themselves and their bodies by finding their value within a foreign culture.

In Nigerian culture a fuller figure on a woman shows good health, wealth, and status. To follow the popular ideal for female beauty, Nigerian actresses aim actually for a fuller, more voluptuous figures. Alarmingly, some  actually take weight-gain supplements and appetite boosters to achieve these curves, and the practice has become a health concern. Often before weddings, women are placed in fattening houses where they eat incredibly fattening meals various time a day in hopes of transforming their bodies into large curvy figures to delight their husbands. Unfortunately, the overeating and bingeing can have major health risks including chance of heart attack or stroke. The following clip goes into depth more about Fattening houses in Nigeria.

The practice is quite common within a culture where being female doesn't guarantee any rights.Women in Nigeria are expected to not only be major wage earners in their homes, but they are not given respect from their counterparts for doing so. Nigerian women are frequently taken for granted and their hard manual labor is often overlooked.Nigerian men actually view female work as less intensive.  Men in Nigeria have no legal responsibility for their children, leaving women with the sole responsibility of their offspring.

In regards to marriage and relationships, women cannot expect commitments or fidelity from their partners. Polygamy is practiced throughout the country and marriage is seen as a way of accumulating wealth. Even once married, women hold barely any say within their families; their husband's mother and sister hold more power. She also stands to inherit nothing from her husband either.The shame and disgrace of single motherhood and divorce falls solely on the female as well. As western values gained influence in colonial Nigeria, women lost some of their traditional rights.

The picture to the right is of King Mswati II of Swaziland who has 13 wives. 

For the most part, the women in Nigeria have not attempted to rise in their male-dominated society, therefore patriarchy continues to thrive. Women are now beginning to demand some equality. Perhaps they will be able to reconcile the rights of the past with the freedoms of a modern age as more western influence carries over. 

Brazil

Brazil... the land of beautiful women with perfect butts and amazing cleavage. The country that has blessed the world with so many of its Victoria's Secret Models. The same country that has inspired Brazilian waxing and Brazilian hair treatments. I'm sure men and women alike have some kind of preconceived notion of Brazilian beauty based on the images we see in the media: Tall, gorgeous, perfectly tan (and with tan lines from an itty bitty bikini), a voluptuous bosom, coke bottle curves, and a flat stomach. What we don't see are the extents these women go through to achieve these ideals. 

In Brazil women are guaranteed equal rights to men in every aspect, from the right to vote to equal rights in the work place. Women in Brazil in fact show a higher literacy rate than the men, make up more than half of voters in the country, and also occupy political positions. Regardless of the suppression of Brazilian women based on the official religion of the state, Roman Catholicism, women in Brazil continue to take strides for their own rights.Sexual freedom including access to birth control, and sterilization surgery are very common in Brazil for women. And this is where the problem becomes visible. The surgical procedure(s) of sterilization (tube tying or hysterectomies) is being used by over half the population as a form of contraception. Its alarming considering the countries already high rate of plastic surgery. Is going under the knife really the only option?

When the televised Carnival Parade is dedicated to a plastic surgeon (this occurred in 1999) thanking him for "awakening of the self-esteem in the ego" it's clearly a problem. Brazil has a philosophy of plastic surgery. And its understandable when the heat requires many people to dress wearing less. With bodies all out (even in the typical Carnival outfit), focusing on ones physical attributes is inevitable. So many Brazilians focus tremendously on their appearance. Looking at the Brazilian crazes that have overtaken the US, in particular Brazilian waxing where no hair is left behind, it's evident physical appearance carries much weight within this culture. The following video from Jessica Simpson's The Price of Beauty shows the extent even poverty ridden women will go through to get acheive physical perfection and satisfaction.

It's clear many Brazilian women view beauty as a necessary vanity. The South American country is the biggest consumer of diet pills in the world. The average weight of a Brazilian woman is 110–125 pounds—and the pressure to be thin leads many people to take these extreme measures. Weight is often the subject of conversations, as well as plastic surgery, and salon treatments  

Although many Brazilians have dark, wavy hair, the new trend is blonde, straight hair. Brazilian women will go through great lengths to achieve the look, going through Brazilian hair treatments that contain formaldehyde, bleaching their hair regularly and even spending a great deal of their salaries on beauty treatments. As many of you know Formaldehyde is a  proven carcinogen, and many women are exposing themselves to this toxic chemical regularly, to relax their hair.  

It's clear that in Brazil and even other areas of the world, where plastic surgery is common, that beauty is a natural right, that anyone should be able to achieve. Achieving a physical ideal here is more important than financial stability if women do not mind going broke getting there. It makes you wonder why so much weight is put on physical appearance that many will sacrifice their lives for it because they consider it to be a natural right.

Thailand

When you think of Thai women, what are some of the thoughts and images that cross your mind? Thanks to The Hangover 2 (actress Yasmin Lee - left), those images may easily include prostitution, crazy nightlife, sex and loose morals. These images might also include scantily clad Thai women, with a honey complexion, sexy almond eyes, a curvy figure, and long straight hair. However, these perceptions on the big screen are misleading. A nation in which 95% of the population is Buddhist, many women are chaste and not allowed to even be touched by a man without some major legal repercussions to follow. And the beauty ideals of Thai women vary from the villages to the cities which can actually disfigure the women tremendously.

Although Thailand prides itself in being a nation in which legally, women and men are considered equal, much of Thai culture revolves around the opposition to equality. Many women are educated, holding high status positions, and even their own businesses. However, Buddhist ideals claim women to be further from nirvana then men, placing women in a position where she is unable to become a monk, nor is she respected for being a nun, or even allowed to come into contact with a man physically.Up until recently, universities and colleges were still gender segregated. Customs dictate that women should remain virgins, require chaperoning on dates, and cannot partake in any kind of PDA, even if married (The Role of Women in Thai Culture posted by Kusho, 2010). Further more, marriage requires a hefty dowry, making Thai women specifically enticing to wealthy Caucasian males. It's particularly unfortunate to hear of the tales of young Thai women either sold into a marriage unwillingly or into prostitution and sex trafficking by their own families due to poverty. Prostitution is actually illegal in Thailand, but due to local officials corruption (i.e. commercial interest in the industry) and the vague definition of prostitution and solicitation in their laws, it is tolerated and many prostitutes find themselves exploited and/or living with HIV/AIDS. There's a whole Wikipedia page dedicated entirely to Prostitution in Thailand, that actually covers this topic more in depth. 

It is because of the prostitution occurring in this country, and the media coverage actually, that we have certain ideals and notions about Thai beauty. However, in Thai culture there are certain features that are considered desirable and that women are willing to put their lives on the line to achieve. 

A quick Google search for Thai actresses and singers yielded many images of very small petite extremely light skinned women, many with colored wavy hair, large almond shaped eyes, and long  legs. 

I quickly noticed, many of these Thai female stars were mixed: half-white, half-Thai. The reality is however, that many Thai women do not naturally look this light. Therefore they try to lighten their skin with facial products that include skin whitening agents that could actually cause permanent skin damage; e.g. in the following video from Jessica Simpson's The Price of Beauty (start video at 9:05).

This phenomenon is not uncommon in Eastern Asian countries such Cambodia and India where a traditional caste system enforced racial biases and desires for lighter skin. Being lighter-skinned in these underdeveloped countries is also seen as a sign of affluence; it means you didn't have to work outside in the fields for your living. The appearance of wealth, class, and affluence is important.

In Thailand, like much of East Asia, there a huge desire for rounder eyes, and therefore the Double Eye-Lid surgery has become a very popular surgery in Asia. Many women are going under the knife to create a double eyelid, as well as a larger eye. The procedure to alter the natural Asian "single eyelid" appearance has quite controversial. Opponents of the procedure such as author David Mura, as describe the process as being "indoctrinated by white standards of beauty"

In Kayan tribe that lies on the border of Burma and Thailand, a long neck is the physical ideal, so much so, that girls have golden rings placed around their necks, adding more as the years go by in hopes of lengthening the neck.

It's obvious, with the exception of the Kayan tribe, that many of the physical beauty ideals valued in Thailand and East Asia have white influence and origin. From skin whitening treatments that reinforce racism to eye surgeries to remove naturally Asian eyes to the coloring and curling of naturally straight hair, Thai ideals reflect beauty ideals that are highly influenced by images of white women in the media.