Brautschau
2009
The German word „Brautschau“ comes from the expression „auf Brautschau gehen“ –
which refers to a man going out to look for a woman to marry.
Literally, the word “Brautschau” translates as “bride show” and
can also be understood as “showing the potential brides”.
All over the world and at all times, women have suffered physical pain and limitation
in order to be sexually attractive for men. Often, it’s even the women who inflict the abuse on themselves.
The tradition of their culture forces them to do so. A woman who does not submit to this
doesn’t have a chance of finding a man and being adequately supported.
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Woman with corset and crinoline dress
40 cm
A corset makes it impossible to breathe deeply. Women often fainted.
The breasts are squeezed in an unnatural way and pressed upwards.
The crinoline dress doesn’t allow the woman to move around freely and effortlessly.
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Woman
with Burka
37 cm
the woman is in danger of being abused, mutilated or even killed. The woman belongs to her man
who has exclusive rights over her use. She has no freedom or independence.
She remains anonymous and unrecognised.
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Woman with
neck rings
42 cm
Every year, they add another ring. So in the course of life, the neck is stretched longer and longer.
The neck muscles shrivel. The rings must be worn the woman’s whole life.
Otherwise, her spine would break. This tradition is still alive today.
Lots of young women would like to take off their rings but they are not allowed to.
For their families, this is the only income as tourists pay to take photos of the woman with neck rings.
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Woman
with bound feet
34 cm
In ancient
This
was done in order to make them walk in an erotic way. They could only
walk with
tiny, slow steps.
In order to bind the foot back, the bones need to be broken
first.
Then, the foot is bent down and back and finally bound. After a while,
the toes die off.
It smells of rotting flesh. The cloths need to be
changed and tightened regularly to keep the feet in position.
For the women,
this is life-long pain. The crippled feet and the related unnatural way
of
walking
would also often cause spinal problems. This tradition was still alive
way into the 20th century.
It is said that there are still elderly
women with bound feet.
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Woman with oversized silicone breasts and
high heels
34 cm
In modern western society, it’s common to
change the female body surgically in order to please men.
Women have their
breasts enlarged with silicone pads, often close to monstrosity.
They have
their lips inflated to create a sexy pout. Women have liposuction (fat
removal)
because their men don’t find them beautiful any more.
And women wear high heels
although walking in them causes pain after a while
and inevitably leads to back
problems.
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Circumcised woman
37 cm
In some African cultures, female
circumcision is traditional. Little girls get their clitoris and labia
cut off.
Then the wound is sewn and only a hole as small as a pinhead is left
open.
This
“operation” is usually performed by the older women, without any
anaesthesia or
hygienic precaution.
Often, they just use a razor blade. For the girls and
women, this is a life-long traumatic experience.
Also, there is the risk of
infection. Many soon die of wound infections. For the rest of her life,
the
woman has extreme pain when urinating, having sexual intercourse or
giving
birth.
For giving birth, they cut open the vagina and later sew it up again.
This tradition is based on
the idea that women were not supposed to have sexual
feelings and needs.
A woman who has no sexual desire won’t cheat on her man.
That’s how to keep the woman under man’s control.
As a woman can’t survive
without a man she has to be circumcised in order to get married.
Women who are
not circumcised are considered depraved and dirty.
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