Culture

How the Culture of Lip Stretching Was Commercialized

These women were exported from Africa, misrepresented, and paraded for entertainment in the USA

A poster from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus featuring lip plates
Source: Wikimedia

Lip plates are a form of body modification practiced by tribes in Africa and Amazonia. Even today, the African tribes Mursi and Suri follow the practice of inserting increasingly…