A quantitative study on body modification (neck ring wear) by Kayan women

Abstract

Some Kayan women (a subgroup of the Karen People with Kayan as their native language), living in the most remote parts of Myanmar, continue the tradition of wearing very long and heavy brass coil neck rings throughout their lives. 10.6% of the female population wear neck rings in eastern Myanmar’s Kayah State, Demoso Township (T village, S village, R village, P village), where many Kayan people live (Shimoda, 2015). However, there is no clear or accepted explanation for this rare custom, and with the rapid changes to lifestyle due to modernization, this tradition is steadily disappearing. “Why do people ornament themselves even though it is painful?” “Why do people modify their body to make themselves beautiful?”- this research investigates these questions using principal component analysis on the results of an oral survey regarding the visual appeal of neck ring wear, dividing the region’s people into three groups: ‘neck ring-wearing women’, ‘non-wearing women’, and ‘Kayan men’. The results showed two things clearly. 1) Neck ring-wearing women are approve strongly of their own body modification and think it beautiful. 2) Neck ring-wearing women feel the neck rings are burdensome objects. They consider the rings to be heavy or uncomfortable.