Mauritanian Girls Face Marriage Fattening

Leblouh, or "gavage," is a practice still found in Mauritania, where young girls are force-fed huge amounts of food to fatten them up for marriage. Some girls are reportedly made to consume up to 16,000 calories per day because larger bodies have traditionally been treated as a sign of beauty, wealth, and marital readiness. In some cases, women also turn to weight-gain drugs.

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