In southern Nigeria, a group called the Girl Power Initiative is leading an effort to get women to feel better about their natural level of body fat and to stop trying to conform to the male ideal of female beauty. But it's not what you think. In many African cultures, fat women are considered attractive since they represent wealth. In Nigeria, some of the women are grossly obese, having been sent by their parents to special fattening centers in which they do nothing but lie around and eat all day, to make them more attractive as potential brides.

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