环球英语 — 476：Body Image: Big and Beautiful
Voice 1
Hello and welcome to Spotlight. I’m Mike Procter.
Voice 2
And I’m Marina Santee. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 3
‘I do not care if she is crying. This will not hurt her. It is good for her. I was force fed as a child. And I cried too. I did not like it either. But when I got older I started doing it to myself. And then I liked it. When I was their age I cried. I ran away to be sick - just like they do now.’
Voice 1
The mother pours more milk into the bowl. Then she holds the bowl to her daughter's mouth. Noha is just seven years old. She has had enough. She cries and pushes the milk away. The little girl’s stomach cannot take any more. The food comes back out of her mouth as she is sick several times. But the milk remains in front of her. She must sit there until she has drunk it all. Noha’s mother has only just begun ‘gavage’ with her. Gavage is a French word meaning force feeding. It is an old cultural tradition in Mauritania, West Africa. This is where Noha and her mother live. In today’s programme we look at ideas of body shape in Mauritania.
Voice 2
Mauritania is a country of deep tradition and culture. And one of these is 'being big is beautiful'. Throughout Mauritania’s history, women have followed the custom of gavage. Reports say this custom is less common in the cities today. But it is still present in country areas.
Voice 1
Noha’s family lives in a country area - three hundred [300] kilometres southeast of the capital city. Noha’s mother explained why she force-feeds her daughters;
Voice 4
‘Men like women to be pleasing to their eyes and hands.’
‘Being fat speeds up a girl’s development. It changes her body quickly. Then she can get married faster’
Voice 1
People believe that a woman’s size sends out a message about her husband. Noha’s father explained;
Voice 5
‘Having a fat wife means that you are treating her well. You are giving her everything you have. Then other men speak well of you.’
Voice 2
Being fat may be pleasing to Mauritanian men. But what effect does it have on the female body?
An emergency vehicle stops outside Nouakchott Hospital. Inside the vehicle is a woman - Amy. Amy is extremely fat. In medical terms, she is obese. Her health is suffering because of this. She can feel her heart beating strongly. She hears it in her head - loud and fast. She has high blood pressure. Medical workers take Amy inside to the heart department. Here, they will try to treat her health problems.
Voice 1
Nouakchott is the capital city of Mauritania. Doctors in Nouakchott Hospital treat women like Amy every day. In the same hospital is Aminetou. She too is suffering from severe health problems because of gavage.
The doctor can also see evidence of pinching on Aminetou’s arm. In gavage, some mothers use sticks to pinch, to press the girl's skin together until it hurts. The idea is that the pain forces the girl to think about something else and to forget about rejecting the food.
Aminetou tells her experiences as a child;
Voice 5
‘I was beaten. I was sick again and again. My arm was pinched until it broke. I had to drink a full bowl of milk in the morning, at noon and at night. I was made to eat animal fat. I was very overweight.’
Voice 2
Lebneik Mint Soule is the government Minister for Women in Mauretania. She says that gavage is not as common today as it was in the past:
Voice 6
‘Gavage in the cities is starting to disappear because people know about the health risks. In country areas people are less educated, so it continues. But today most people want their children to go to school. They do not want anything to stop them studying. So gavage is decreasing.
Voice 1
Gavage may be less common in the cities. But some modern women have found new ways to make themselves fat - a kind of ‘false gavage’. They are buying drugs to make themselves fat! Some human rights workers feel that social pressure makes women take these drugs. SUnya Mohamed Saleek is a human rights activist. She works to help women and children in Mauretania. Sunya says:
Voice 6
‘The false gavage is so dangerous. People do not understand the serious effects of these products. They do not know! Some people do know - but they do not care. They want to be fat. They do not care what it costs!’
Voice 2
Sunya asked a local market seller for drugs to make her fat. The seller took the drugs from their hiding place - under the clothes she was selling. Sunya bought the drugs to get a medical opinion about them.
Doctor Ahmed Ould Eba works in the city. He said:
Voice 4
'This drug will increase a woman’s desire to eat. It will make a woman greedy. She will want to eat all the time. This other one is for animals - including camels. It even has a picture of a camel on the box. But some women do not think; they just take it. I have seen patients who took a lot of this. Their livers failed. A woman who gains weight in this way risks a lot of health problems.’
Voice 1
It is late in the day, in the capital city of Nouakchott. A group of women are just leaving the sports centre! This is an unusual place for women to be. But here, a small minority have decided to go against the tradition of being big! They have decided to put their health first. One woman said:
Voice 7
‘People do not think well of women who are doing sports. When I came out someone said to me, “Why are you trying to be thin? You will not be beautiful.” But I do not want to be very thin. And I do not want to be very fat.’
Voice 1
These young sports women have decided to listen to their own minds - and not the voice of society. This is a rare and difficult thing to do anywhere - not just in Mauretania! Many people do not even think to question the ideas that society says are normal!
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