In the Western world (and not only) women are constantly under pressure.

The media is promoting the image of anorexic, skinny women as being a beauty ideal, and every women dreams to lose weight in order to try and get close to that image.

But there are some countries that haven’t been influenced by the media.

The opposite

In the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, the situation is completely different. It’s is the mirror opposite of the West on questions of women’s weight.

To men here, fat is sexy. And in this patriarchal region, many Mauritanian women do everything possible — and have everything possible done to them — to put on pounds.

A 2001 government survey of 68,000 women found that one in five between ages 15 and 49 had been deliberately overfed. And nearly 70 percent — and even more among teenagers — said they did not regret it.

Altough this is also far from healthy, at least women here don’t have a psychological issues about their weight. The message “skinny is sexy” didn’t influence Mauritanian women too much.

In 2003, the women’s ministry mounted a slim-down campaign, wielding messages that were anything but subtle. One television and radio skit depicted a husband carting his fat wife around in a wheelbarrow. Another featured houseguests raiding the refrigerator because their host was too obese to get up to feed them. Doctors were recruited to explain health risks.

But messages spread slowly in the desert. Nearly three-fourths of Mauritanian women do not watch television, and an even greater share do not listen to the radio, said Ms. Haidy, the statistician.

Women are very sensitive about their weight and want to keep a good image, but the natural image of good doesn’t corespond to the image that the current television is promoting.

What to do

If you’re reading this and you’re a woman and you don’t feel too comfortable in your skin, here are a few words that will help you feel better:

• If you think you’re “fat” but your friends and other people tell you that you look ok, trust them. They are right.
• Watch less TV. In Mauritania and other countries where women do not watch television, women aren’t obsessed about their weight.
• It doesn’t really matter how your body looks. Someone else can just love you for who you are.
• Weight isn’t really that important as the media tries to convince you.
• Celebrities don’t look as good in the real world as they do in movies, posters or commercials. Hours of photoshop and armies of make-up artists make them look that way. And there’s the buzz about them which makes their (many) flaws nearly impossible to see.
• Women are not here to just please men. The important thing is to be healthy.
• Self-confidence and personality are way more attractive than a good looking body, and they also last longer.
• Watch the video below from a man’s perspective. Which girl looks better?

I prefer the one in the mirror and I think that many of you would agree if I would say that skinny isn’t sexy.What’s important in the end is not your weight or the way you look. What’s important is to just be yourself and feel good about it!

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