African women have always been known and celebrated for their curves. While Western beauty standards only recently started coming around to embracing a woman's curves, Africans have always been in admiration of all body shapes and sizes. These days, the want to get the hour-glass figure is so intense that people are doing any and everything including going under the knife to get this shape.
Let's delve into the world of Nigerian beauty standards, exploring the admiration for curvaceous figures, the influence of social media, and the cultural traditions that shape these perceptions.
The Curvy Ideal: A Cultural Perspective
Sociocultural perspectives on body image assert that culture influences attitudes, behaviors and values regarding the body. A woman’s attitude toward her own body is influenced by what she perceives to be physically attractive in Western cultures.
In many African cultures, the ideal female figure is often depicted as having a curvaceous body with wide hips and full breasts. This feminine ideal is voluptuous - big belly, rounded hips, a large butt - and sometimes sports a long neck.
Across tribes in West Africa, like the Efik and the Ibibio, they believe that beauty is evident in health, and this is showcased in the size of a woman. The fattening room is a system among this tribe, that takes in a young lady, and as the name implies, confines her to a room, to make her thick. Of course, the experience goes beyond just making her thick. She learns the values of being a good wife, and proper training, in taking care of her household, but still, she is fed more than three times a day, with different traditional elements that would make her grow thick. By the end of the fattening room exercise, the first obvious sign of change would be seen in how much fat the once fleshy or slim lady has added.
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Another customary traditional element across some African tribes that celebrates thick women as prettier is portrayed in their traditional dance. Among tribes in West Africa and some parts of South Africa, the traditional dance of the woman is carried out with the rhythmic shaking of her waist, and this dance is mostly accentuated by thicker and bigger women. They move the crowd and are appreciated when they indulge in these dances. Among the Ijaw, Urhobo, Igbo, Ibibio, and other tribes in Nigeria, the individual who dances better is the one who shakes her rear end better.
The fattening room is a system among some tribes, that takes in a young lady, and as the name implies, confines her to a room, to make her thick.
While growing up, slim girls were a big deal -it appeared no one appreciated any extra roll of flesh falling from the stomach or thighs and their consequential long stretch marks that told silent stories of feminine delicateness. Men felt justified in their high horses to judge women for their size and pass the most obliterating comments as ‘‘jokes.’’ Big women were easily body-shamed if they ate too much, and the word Orobo¹, always said distastefully, was bestowed as a third name.
In recent times, we have seen a shift in the definition of whether a woman is beautiful or not. Now everyone uses the words thick, bunda, and yansh³ more frequently. Now, you’ll hear Nigerian men say things like ‘‘I can die for Yansh, or Yansh is life.’’
Nigerians are known to be loud people, and we love making jokes. Mostly, I have found the whole obsession over a big behind on a female funny. Actually, it’s best to take it lightheartedly - otherwise, you will end up offended too often. It’s also wonderful that big women are finally getting the accolades they’ve deserved for a long time, and I’d rather have us grumble half-heartedly at the overemphasized praises thrown their way than listen to the lame comments from lame men (and women) that attempt to body shame them for their size.
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There is nothing wrong with men and women having their preferences of what they want or don’t want in a partner. The problem is this set of people that go all out in their attempts to appeal to this yansh-ogling generation. Many of our celebrities have gone under the knife and gotten their bodies done. Many young girls are looking for supplements and diet regimens that will boost their weight. Some slim queens are desperate to add flesh, and for this, they swallow questionable drugs. Gyms are overflowing with people who are there for everything except their health. It seems the tables have taken a 360-degree turn. Years ago, I would never have guessed the narrative would change.
The Influence of Social Media
Media can be a vehicle for the transportation of an idealized body. One way media exposure influences body image is through appearance-based comparisons with popular media. This leads to body dissatisfaction because many women focus their attention on how their own appearances do not equate with idealized media. Looking at images that correspond to the current ideal of beauty leads to negative effects on women’s own body image.
In particular, image-based social media channels, such as Instagram, present a monotonous body image that produces significant pressure on social media users. It was shown that exposure to attractive celebrities or peers increases body dissatisfaction and negative mood. Recently, various trends have brought the curvy figure to the center of attention. This trend can be seen through increasing frequencies of the hashtags #thick, #thicc and #slimthick.
The unrealistic shape is reflected with great interest on social media. Celebrities such as Cardi B or Kim Kardashian achieve these forms only through esthetic procedures, such as breast augmentation, liposuction of the waist and especially buttock augmentation. The waist and buttocks represent the fundamental components of the WHR. In particular, the buttocks are pushed into the center of attention.
Unlike the ideal-fit or ideal-thin types, the slim-thick-ideal type is very difficult to achieve naturally. Studies show that exposure to this type of body image leads to higher surveillance, reflection on one’s own body image and lower body self-esteem.
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How much social media impacts one’s own body perception is still a topic of current scientific discussion. Furthermore, the influence of specific influencers or role models on the assessment of one’s own buttocks has not yet been examined. The current study was designed to broaden the literature about the perception of female buttocks with the implication of social media influence. The extent to which media influence the perception of a very specific part of the body should be examined.
A Cross-Cultural Study
A cross-sectional study was conducted by facilitating a web-based questionnaire with several sub-categories that depict the most discussed elements in gluteal esthetics. Recruitment took place between 1 January 2022 and 30 June 2022. The first part contained general questions about demography, level of education, relationship status and social media consumption, as well as feelings about one’s own buttocks, one’s own body preference and one’s attitude toward esthetic interventions.
Participants from Germany (n = 321), Nigeria (n = 1172), USA (n = 366) and Japan (n = 304) were included and tracked to ensure that the correct IP address corresponded with the stated origin. Concerning happiness with one’s own buttocks, women from Germany gave a rating of 3.45, Nigeria 4.37, USA 3.66 and Japan 2.23 on average on a scale from 0 to 5. Regarding the question regarding whether the women had esthetic procedures done on their buttocks, 17.2% of German women, 5.3% of Nigerian women, 11.2% of US women and 1.3% of Japanese women answered yes.
Attraction to Body Parts
The women were also asked what part of a woman’s body they are most attracted to. Buttocks were named by 20% in Germany, 34% in Nigeria, 57% in the USA and 5% in Japan. The face was named by 39% in Germany, 39% in Nigeria, 15% in the USA and 41% in Japan as the most attractive part of the female body.
Top 10 Curvaceous Nigerian Celebrities
Here are 10 Nigerian celebrities who are celebrated for their curvaceous figures:
- Uche Mba: A popular Nigerian Instagram model and fitness trainer with over 1.4 million followers.
- Crystal Okoye: A Nigerian actress known for appearing in projects such as Speak the Words, Enemies Masquerade, and The Promise.
- Daniella Okeke: A Nigerian actress best known for starring as Joke in the 2013 blockbuster movie Lagos Cougars.
- Toolz: Tolu Oniru, a Nigerian radio personality, talk show host, and presenter.
- Biodun Okeowo: A popular Yoruba actress also known as Omobutty.
- Empress Njamah: A Nigerian actress and model.
- Simon Evia: An actor, producer, model and humanitarian.
- Didi Ekanem: A fast-rising Nollywood actor, fashion designer, entrepreneur and brand ambassador.
- Niniola: A popular Nigerian singer known for her Afrohouse music.
- Tracy Obonna: A Nollywood actress known for her movies such as Backfire Dope Fiend and MUDA When Time Is All That Matters.
Beauty Beyond the Physical
In many African cultures, the concept of beauty is closely tied to morality and ethics. This is reflected in the use of a single word to describe both beauty and goodness. Beauty is essential and important and critical in the arts of Africa as well. But it’s not necessarily the beauty that you as an outsider would see in it.
The rules of beauty are fickle and subject to quick change. This idea of harming our bodies to appear more desirable to society should make us cringe. Give it ten years or maybe even less and certain standards will change or become forgotten. The best way to live is to be proud of your preferences and not the public’s suggestions. Life will be easier when you readily embrace your physical features and remain an amused spectator of passing trends. Stay true to yourself -our society has no idea what it wants to call fashionable or beautiful.
Every society out there, whether black or white, has a view of how they want their women to be. If you haven’t been hiding under a rock for the past couple of years, you may have noticed the trendsetting curvy style bloggers that have often been overlooked. These women don’t want surgical changes and they don’t abide by body conformity and unrealistic beauty standards.
Style is undeniably yours. Style is unapologetic. Style is what separates you from the norm of everyone else. Style is creativity and layers of ideas that compliment who you are as a person. Style is understanding every trend may not work for you, but maximizing on what trend does work and creating your own lane.
