Women of Kayan Lahwi tribe of Burma are the most renowned for their ornaments known as neck rings, brass coils that are placed around the neck. The women wearing these coils are known as giraffe women to tourists. These coils are first applied to young girls when they are around five years old.
Each coil is replaced with longer coil, as the weight of the brass pushes the collar bone down and compresses the rib cage. Contrary to popular belief, the neck is not actually lengthened; the illusion of a stretched neck is created by the deformation of the clavicle. Many ideas regarding why the coils are worn have been suggested, often formed by visiting anthropologists, who have hypothesized that the rings protected women from becoming slaves by making them less attractive to other tribes.
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