Beauty and the Neck! Meet the ‘Giraffe’ Women of Padaung tribe in Burma Where the Longer the Neck, the More Beautiful to Woman

There are cultures that seem very exciting not because we want to practice them but just that they are too strange to make sense. One of such cultures is found among the Padaung tribe, a subgroup of the Karenni, Burma (Myanmar) where the beauty of a woman lies in the length of her neck. There you find several women moving like Ostrich of Giraffes, giving the tribes women a nick name – the Giraffe women. This is an interesting piece. Find out why the Padaung women choose to look like Ostrich to prove their beauty. An interesting piece by Rai17 posted on Justkeeprunning social media platform provides a quick insight to the world of the ‘Giraffe’ women.


The Longer, the More Beautiful

How having long neck makes you look beautiful? Well, as a Malay, I’ve always seen a woman with long neck to be physically attractive, in which you refer her to have ‘leher jinjang’. But, what beautiful long neck is for “giraffe” tribe in eastern Burma or Myanmar, is certainly does not fit the image of being beautiful in my mind.

These women with long necks are from Padaung tribe, a subgroup of the Karenni which in turn is a subgroup of the Karen. “Padaung”, in the Shan anguage means “long neck”. The coils around their necks are actually made from brass and gold alloy. These women start wearing the coils as early as 5 years old, and as they get older, they add up more coils to their necks. It’s like spending long years of your life having something around your neck. Aarghh…I just can’t imagine if I were to be one of those women.

For them, having long neck is the symbol of wealth, position and beauty. Apart from being a beauty tradition, it is also said that many myths or histories lie behind the long-neck custom. Some said that wearing brass coils around necks in the past functioned to protect Padaung women from tigers, as they bite people’s necks. Others claim that it made them resemble the myth dragon, but it is also claimed that long necks were intended to make them look less attractive, hence they are likely to be taken as slaves in the past. Ironically, today’s Padaung women who still practise the coils wearing tradition tend to have long necks to preserve the tradition, and to look more beautiful!



However, one thing you need to know is, having long necks for this tribe is only an optical illusion. As the coils are added, they actually push the women’s collar bones and ribs down. It looks like they’re having long necks, but actually they only painfully compress their shoulders and collarbones, rather than stretching their necks. They go through the pain to achieve the standard of beauty in their tribe. These women with long necks can’t lean their head’s back, so they drink from straws. A British journalist who interviewed the ‘giraffe’ women, said that their voices sound as if they were speaking from the bottom of a well.