10 Countries That Revere Female Obesity
Despite the many problems that come with being overweight, obesity is embraced voluntarily by many countries because it is considered a sign of health, wealth, and happiness. The list below will highlight ten countries that revere obesity, especially female obesity, because historical and cultural influences in these countries only contribute to it.
On the small South Pacific island of Tonga, physical size is considered beautiful. This, combined with fatty, nutrient-poor imported foods and a lack of exercise, has created a nation plagued by obesity. Of the island's 140,000 adults, 100,000 are overweight.
Several studies released in 2004 by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity suggest that Tongan residents are genetically predisposed to being overweight. The bias toward female obesity is also rooted in local customs and heredity.
Kuwait in the Middle East is not only rich in oil fields, but also a certain kind of people. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the country, and 52% of Kuwaiti women over the age of 15 are obese. Historically, these desert nomads considered being plump a sign of health and wealth, a trend that continues to this day.
In a country where the development of women is taboo, wives are often valued only as decorative elements that serve to fill the home. And the more women, the richer the home.
Leaders of this once-isolated island sought to connect it to the rest of the world, and as a result, the Fijian diet was heavily weighted toward high-calorie foods. The customs of this South Pacific nation revolve around giving food to others as a show of prosperity. This, coupled with a lack of awareness of the health risks, has left the majority of Fijians overweight. But they’re not just fat, they’re happy. A large waistline has long been revered in a woman as a sign of health, wealth, and fertility.
With 65% of Jamaican women classified as overweight, the ideal beach body there is almost twice the size of medical standards. The island's women are known for their large hips and buttocks, a condition known as "steatopygia" (i.e. excess fat deposits in the buttocks area).
A 1993 study in rural Jamaica found that being thin was associated with sadness, while being overweight was associated with happiness, kindness, and social harmony. Consequently, there is a market for pills catering to young women who want to gain weight.
As the country abandoned its Pacific diet of tubers and fish for the food popularized during World War II, Samoans' body weight began to climb. Obesity is nothing new, however: Samoans have suffered from food shortages for centuries, and biological anthropologists believe that Samoans are genetically "programmed" to store extra calories in fat tissue. This natural tendency has led to a population of large people, and large women are the norm.
The prevalence of HIV has associated weight loss with illness, and as a result, South Africa has developed a negative attitude towards being thin. Even the post-apartheid European notions of ideal body size have not been able to overcome the centuries-old correlation between being overweight and being overweight. Large women are still loved for their weight, which is intuitively preferred as an indicator of health and financial status.
For centuries, plump Afghan women have been prized for their striking contrast to the barren surroundings. Female fertility among the nomads who eke out a miserable existence in the sands is strongly associated with the accumulation of extra pounds. The burqa largely conceals the precise contours of a woman's body, but a round, soft-featured face is coveted.
On the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia, there was a local custom called ha'apori. Literally, it means "to fatten up." Young women were fattened up and then presented to the chief so that he could judge their beauty and fertility. The veneration of obesity continues here to this day, partly due to a diet rich in coconut milk and carbohydrates. Tahitian women are still loved for their round faces and curvaceous forms.
Nauru is not only known for having the world's highest diabetes rate at 31% of the population, it is also famous for being overwhelmed by obesity. The 14,000 people who inhabit this small island in the South Pacific associate being overweight with beauty and fertility. Women are fattened up to prepare for childbirth, and men for strength competitions.
Phosphate deposits covering much of the island prevent large-scale farming. Fresh food imports remain unprofitable, so the cheapest but most obesogenic foods are imported from New Zealand and Australia.
In this people of drought-stricken West Africa, plumpness in women is synonymous with beauty and wealth. Although sometimes force-feeding (called gavage, a French word for the process of force-feeding a goose whose liver will be turned into foie gras) is still practiced, with young girls consuming huge amounts of rich camel milk daily.
Women are unable to convert this amount of fat into kilograms and cannot constantly work as "fat farms", so they are forced to take antihistamines and animal steroids to stimulate their appetite. Exercise is frowned upon, and women often get divorced after having children, as they are unable to maintain their former huge body volumes.