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Hidden North American tribe performs daily self-torture in pursuit of beauty

Ellsworth Toohey
Sep 16, 2025
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In 1956, Horace Mitchell Miner visited the Nacirema people to study their habits. He wrote a paper on what he observed, "Body Ritual among the Nacirema," which was published in the June 1956 edition of American Anthropologist.

Excerpt:

The daily body ritual performed by everyone includes a mouth-rite. Despite the fact that the…

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