Sunday 31 December 2006

Big is Better?

Welcome to my blog. And Happy New Year to you!

Finally, I've launched a blog. I'd been meaning to do this for a while now and I knew that if I didn't start writing it in the new year, I would keep procrastinating. I had thought long and hard about a title and for some reason, the fattening room, which is a coming-of-age ritual in southern Nigeria, came to mind.

For those who aren't familiar with the concept, the fattening room is a place where pubescent girls and young women are taught how to be dutiful wives, in other words, to please their future husbands and mothers-in-law. They are also fed plenty of food to make them sufficiently rotund (we won't use the F word here) as women with fuller figures are considered attractive in the ethnic communities that practise this ritual.

I intend to write mainly about health-related issues here, particularly those concerning women. The fattening room with its emphasis on weight gain is, in my opinion, hazardous to women's health - that's one reason for the blog's title. And as for grooming girls for a lifetime of servitude to men and their mothers is...well...let's not go there. At least not yet.

Although this blog will have a health focus, I reserve the right to write occasionally about other issues and so we'll see how this evolves. I welcome your comments. If you would like to know when a new post has been uploaded, you can choose to be notified via the link at the end of the page. And please spread the word.

Here's hoping you stay healthy in 2007!