Showing posts with label male. Show all posts
Showing posts with label male. Show all posts

Friday, June 6, 2014

Niger: A Wodaabe Man Checks The Whiteness Of His Teeth And Eyeballs Before Joining A Male Beauty Contest


Looking into a small mirror in his hand, a man of the Wodaabe tribe, also known as Bororo, is checking the whiteness of his teeth and eyes before joining a Yakey dance, which doubles as a male beauty contest among members of a clan. Later, during the rains, when pasture will be abundant enough for those nomads’ cattle to stop moving in search of grass for a while, the clans will gather and compete in a Gerewol dance. This will be a much more demanding beauty contest. This time it will oppose clans against clans, and the less-than-handsome will be ridiculed by the elders. The good-looking ones will hook up with potential wives.
     The Wodaabe canon of beauty demands light skin, thin nose and lips, high forehead, and mostly shining white teeth and eyeballs. This invites much make-up.
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