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Sources

Congo's Changing Beauty Standards

Nastou
Nastou
Alphonse Nekwa Makwala

MATADI - "I used to be ashamed of my small breasts, but I have finally fulfilled my dream of making them bigger," says a cheerful woman from Matadi, southwest of Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.

In this region, big boobs have become the new standard for feminine beauty. "It is sexy and so feminine. Men love it," the woman explains. In Matadi, cosmetic surgeries are always packed with customers. "Over the past six months, we've had a dozen girls come here for boob jobs," says the manager of one of these clinics, which offer a wide range of local and imported products as well as dietary supplements for customers who want to see their breasts grow in size. They sell herbal teas, creams, suction cups as well as pills – whose contents and adverse effects are unclear.

Big breasts have been fashionable in the Bas-Congo province for the past four years. "Back in the old days, we would get picked on for having big breasts. They would make fun of us and call us names. Out of embarrassment, many girls were forced to hide their breasts under loose-fitting clothes,” recalls Carine Makwala, a local grandmother. "It was hard to be constantly subjected to mocking looks." Some women even deformed their body trying to hide their breasts. Mothers would bring their daughters to the village elders who would try to "cure" them with plants.

"How mentalities have changed!" says 70-something Madeleine Nzuzi from Matadi. Every day, many girls would come to her for help in reducing their breast size. "Nowadays, I hardly see any," she says.

Buxom zeitgeist

Popular television series like “Ma famille” (My family) have played a major role in this trend reversal. The show’s star, Nafissatou Traoré, also known as “Nastou,” is an actress who is no longer shy about showing off her exceptionally big natural breasts. When she was younger, she was picked on by classmates and would try her best to hide her body underneath large dresses. But now that she is famous and her films have been seen all over the world, she is no longer embarrassed by her boobs, and wears them with pride. In the Bas-Congo province, the word “Nastou” now refers to the trend of wearing tight, low-cut dresses that highlight a woman’s neckline.

Thanks to this new trend, shops, naturopathic doctors and traditional healers have found a new market. They all advertise the quality of their products in the media. "If you want nice-looking breasts, visit us," says an ad for a cosmetic surgery in the local paper. "After a first consultation, customers get a massage and then have suction cups applied to their breasts. Results come three or four months later depending on body types," says an employee. Customers are also given natural dietary supplements “free of adverse effects," she adds.

Yet the composition of these products is not clear. "Everything that has to do with hormones is dangerous for your health. People should be cautious. This is why breast-enhancing products are forbidden in some countries," explains Emmanuel Nzuzi, a pharmacist and local health official. He says that the authorities intend to crackdown on these products, and to test them. "Women may end up with breast cancer, they need to be careful about the origin and the composition of these dodgy products."

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Society

Italy's Right-Wing Government Turns Up The Heat On 'Gastronationalism'

Rome has been strongly opposed to synthetic foods, insect-based flours and health warnings on alcohol, and aggressive lobbying by Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government against nutritional labeling has prompted accusations in Brussels of "gastronationalism."

Dough is run through a press to make pasta

Creation of home made pasta

Karl De Meyer et Olivier Tosseri

ROME — On March 23, the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, announced that Rome would ask UNESCO to recognize Italian cuisine as a piece of intangible cultural heritage.

On March 28, Lollobrigida, who is also Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's brother-in-law, promised that Italy would ban the production, import and marketing of food made in labs, especially artificial meat — despite the fact that there is still no official request to market it in Europe.

Days later, Italian Eurodeputy Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of fascist leader Benito Mussolini and member of the Forza Italia party, which is part of the governing coalition in Rome, caused a sensation in the European Parliament. On the sidelines of the plenary session, Sophia Loren's niece organized a wine tasting, under the slogan "In Vino Veritas," to show her strong opposition (and that of her government) to an Irish proposal to put health warnings on alcohol bottles. At the end of the press conference, around 11am, she showed her determination by drinking from the neck of a bottle of wine, to great applause.

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