Women of the both the Tiv and Nuba peoples of Nigeria in west Africa endure extreme scarification rituals in order to undergo a rite of passage, as in the case of the Nua, or to accentuate their beauty. The scars are made using a knife or more traditionally stone or shards of glass or coconut shell ­ and the deep wounds rubbed with toxic plant juices to create swollen welts or “keloids”. Scarification ­or cicatrization of the torso begins in young Nua females at the first appearance of breasts; further scarring of the entire torso coincides with the onset of menses; and finally the back, arms, legs and neck and scarred once the woman weans her first child.
In the Tiv, scars are associated with sexuality – the most scars the woman bears, the more sexually demanding, and willing to reproduce.