Pratique de gavage chimique en Mauritanie : La quête de la beauté
Le gavage des femmes mauritaniennes : entre tradition et enjeux contemporains. Une pratique controversee mettant en lumiere des questions cruciales autour de la sante et des droits humains. Avec le temps, laugmentation des prix des produits alimentaires et le conditionnement societal, les Mauritaniennes se tournent vers une nouvelle pratique : le gavage chimique. En depit des risques, les jeunes filles continuent de subir une pression familiale et acceptent cette nouvelle version de la tradition, preferant repondre aux normes. Mbelha, un terme en hassanya issu du dialecte arabe, est une pratique ancestrale. Il designe letat des femmes grosses et donc pretes a se marier, apres avoir ete gavees. Dans le passe, pour preparer au mariage, les jeunes filles nexcedant parfois pas 10 ans etaient envoyees en maison de gavage. Certaines femmes temoignent aujourdhui de ce quelles ont subi. Elles racontent quelles ont ete battues, maintenues de force, et parfois mal traitees afin de consommer un maximum daliments contre leur volonte. Les aliments les plus utilises sont le lait de chamelle, la bouillie et le couscous de mil, dont leffet immediat est de procurer du poids. Depuis 2018, le prix de ces aliments a fortement augmente, cette pratique de gavage traditionnel tend a sestomper, certains disent meme quelle est revolue. Dans les faits, les mentalites restent fortement conditionnees a un ideal de beaute et la technique a simplement evolue. Il nest plus question denvoyer les jeunes filles en maison de gavage, il est desormais pratique dans lintimite des maisons. Elles ingurgitent des produits naturels favorisant la prise de poids comme le lait de chevre sucre, ainsi que des medicaments et des pilules destines au betail. Issu de la pharmacie et du marche noir, une potion explosive est concoctee a base de Tres-Orix, un sirop stimulateur dappetit et de prise de poids, de Premarin, une pilule contenant des oestrogenes conjugues et de Dexamethasone, un corticoide de synthese destine a faire grossir les animaux plus vite. En echange dune remuneration discrete, il est facile de se procurer ce cocktail. Les effets de cette course effrenee aux kilos sont dramatiques pour la sante de ces jeunes femmes : diabete, maladies cardiovasculaires, risques dinfertilite, hypertension arterielle, insuffisance renale... les consequences sanitaires sont nombreuses. Afin de lutter contre ces effets secondaires, certains medecins avise leur recommandent de pratiquer des activites sportives regulierement. Un changement de paradigme sopere chez certaines femmes, conscientes des benefices pour leur sante mais desireuses de garder certaines rondeurs, elles souhaitent se reapproprier leur corps. Au sein de ce mouvement societal, certaines prennent le parti de rejeter cette pratique et iront meme jusqua lutter contre la tradition. Ces dix dernieres annees, certains leaders dopinion et ONG ont lance des campagnes de sensibilisation afin dalerter sur les risques et consequences de ces pratiques.
Force-feeding in Mauritania: the obsessive quest for beauty
As the saying goes: "A woman occupies the same place in a man's heart as she does in his bed".
The force-feeding of Mauritanian women: between tradition and contemporary issues. A controversial practice highlighting crucial health and human rights issues. With the passage of time, rising food prices and societal conditioning, Mauritanian women are turning to a new practice: chemical force-feeding. Despite the risks, young girls continue to suffer family pressure and accept this new version of tradition, preferring to meet standards.
Mbelha, a term in Hassanya derived from the Arabic dialect, is an ancestral practice. It refers to the state of being fat and therefore ready for marriage, after having been force-fed. In the past, to prepare for marriage, young girls sometimes as young as 10 were sent to a force-feeding house. Today, some women testify to what they were subjected to. They tell how they were beaten, held down by force, and sometimes badly treated, in order to consume as much food as possible against their will. The most commonly used foods are camel milk, porridge and millet couscous, whose immediate effect is to put on weight.
Since 2018, as the price of these foods has risen sharply, this traditional force-feeding practice is tending to fade, and some even say it's a thing of the past. In reality, mentalities remain strongly conditioned to an ideal of beauty, and the technique has simply evolved. There's no longer any question of sending young girls to be force-fed, which is now done in the privacy of their own homes. They ingest natural weight-gain products such as sweetened goat's milk, as well as medicines and pills intended for livestock. Derived from pharmacies and the black market, an "explosive" potion is concocted based on Tres-Orix, an appetite stimulant and weight gainer, Premarin, a pill containing conjugated estrogens, and Dexamethasone, a synthetic corticoid designed to make animals put on weight faster. In exchange for a discreet fee, this cocktail is readily available. The effects of this frantic race for kilos are dramatic for the health of these young women: diabetes, cardiovascular disease, risk of infertility, high blood pressure, kidney failure... the health consequences are numerous.
To combat these side effects, some well-informed doctors recommend regular exercise. A paradigm shift is taking place among some women, who are aware of the health benefits but still want to keep their curves, and want to reclaim their bodies. Within this societal movement, some women are rejecting the practice, even going so far as to fight against tradition. Over the last ten years, a number of opinion leaders and NGOs have launched awareness campaigns to warn of the risks and consequences of these practices.
