In a remote corner of Côte d’Ivoire lies the village of the Apoutchous, a community where cultural norms defy expectation. Here, female beauty is measured in kilograms, with an astonishing threshold set at 300 kg. Let’s take a journey through the unique traditions and practices of this village.
This village goes against all the social norms we know in the West, where the cult of thinness is making a comeback after that of the Kardashian hourglass figure. In recent years, the Body Positive movement has come to the fore, advocating a diversity of bodies and shapes (or at least on paper). And yet, apart from in feeding (but then we’re talking about a particular kind of sexual deviance), no one showcases women the way the men of Apoutchou do. They do everything for their sweetheart, who lets herself be pampered from head to toe, every day, like a goddess. Personally, I wouldn’t say no..
The daily life of Apoutchous women
Traditional diet
At the heart of Apoutchous women’s lives is a diet rich in meat and fish, designed to encourage constant weight gain. Far from the beauty stereotypes promoted elsewhere, here, stoutness is synonymous with beauty and desirability. As a result, every day, the men bring their best dishes to their female companions, so that they eat as many calories as possible. The aim, of course, is rapid weight gain.
Lack of physical activity
True to their quest for beauty, women exercise as little as possible. At the same time, when you’ve eaten well, it’s hard to be physically active. And here, the aim is not to get tired, so as not to “spend” their meal. Their daily lives often boil down to eating, sleeping, and getting together to chat at the village entrance, sharing tips and advice on how to lose weight.
Social pressure and fat contests
Monthly fat contest
In Apoutchou, women are all big and strong. The village chief therefore organizes fat contests to celebrate plumpness, where only women weighing over 300 kg can compete. These events are not only occasions for festivity, but also motivation for those who aspire to reach and surpass this weight. If they win, they’ll receive a big prize.
In fact, at the last contest, the fattest woman in the village reached almost 500 kg. Now, I’m putting a damper on this because this is the information I’ve found, but I find it hard to believe that anyone could weigh so much when we see the cases of morbidly obese people who can no longer move around. But since it was an African who gave me this information, I’ll take his word for it (bearing in mind that they like to exaggerate stories).
The winner‘s life
The story highlights the life of a woman who, weighing in at over 200 kg, embodies the village’s ideal of beauty. Her life, punctuated by the attentive care of her husband and the absence of any laborious activity, illustrates the extremity of Apoutchou’s cultural norms. There’s no doubt that she’s the village flower. She has a sister who is also very fat. To date, she weighs over 316 kg. Her husband looks after her like a little princess every day. She doesn’t need to do anything on her own.
Under his care, she gained 30 kg in one month. She could no longer wear her pants. All she did was eat and sleep every day. She didn’t leave her bed for three months, only to put on even more weight. Whenever she’s hungry, she moves her mouth and her husband comes to meet her. The man rushes off to make rice. He doesn’t want to waste a minute starving his beloved wife. But the woman of the house is getting impatient. She pats her stomach and encourages her husband to continue. Her husband soon serves her a delicious meal. The husband hastens to give her a large bowl filled with rice. The woman opens her mouth wide and begins to eat. In the blink of an eye, she had gobbled up all the food. After the meal, she drank a little soup to cool her throat. Then she lays down for a good night’s sleep. Her life is so beautiful.
The challenge of conformity
The exclusion of less corpulent women
Women who don’t meet weight criteria face significant social exclusion, illustrating the intense pressure to conform to local beauty ideals. If a woman here doesn’t weigh at least 150 kg, no man will like her. If a girl has a slim waist, she won’t be able to live here. She’ll be laughed at and no one will want to marry her.
The quest for acceptance
Finally, let’s turn to the difficulty faced by a particularly skinny woman in the village, rejected for her inability to put on weight – the winner’s cousin. She’s arguably the ugliest woman in the village. No matter how much she eats, she’s still skinny. That’s why she’s 40 and still single. Because she’s so skinny, no man in the village will marry her. Even if she doesn’t pay, no one else will marry her. The program team wanted to try and introduce her to a boyfriend. So they found a very poor man in the village. After explaining the situation, the man was very unhappy. He said he wouldn’t marry her even if he had to die alone. Because he likes big women too. After hearing the man’s words, the girl lost even more confidence in herself. Because even her 18-year-old sister at home is being courted. Every day, people come to ask for her hand in marriage. This made her envious. She told herself she’d put on weight no matter what.
A final word
The story of the Apoutchous reminds us that perceptions of beauty are deeply rooted in cultural context. This exceptional village teaches us the importance of accepting and respecting different conceptions of beauty around the world. And that it takes all kinds to make a world.
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