This is an probably the most extensive article that I’ve seen from a traveler/blogger point of view about this tribe. Very thoroughly written and I applaud you for doing an in-depth article about it.. excellent start.

I like to add my two Kyats (as is the currency in Burma) to this:

I’ve chosen NOT to visited the Padaung tribes particularly in Thailand because I am very sure and certain that they are there mostly because they are NOT able to return to their own country for reasons many of us could probably not ever fathom. All immigrants in Thailand, many many are from Burma do not have a country to call of their own, and they never will given the current political climate. Can you, imagine this? They have no nationality. So they live in Thailand at the mercy of the Thai people and the government and this status is easily and readily exploited.

Inside their own country, they are probably “safe” as long as they are not oppositional. There may be risks, certainly, but they at least have a place they can belong to, a country they can call home.

As for the rings: decades upon decades of traditions and customs fuel their believes to maintain their lifestyle of keeping the rings, despite long term health/medical problems, of which they are not aware – the cause and effect of the rings. Clearly, with proper health education and awareness of the long term outcomes of the act of wearing these rings the younger generation may have a future and opportunities you’ve described in the post.

NO they do not see it as abuse, they see it as part of their way of living, their culture, and custom. As a person whose lived in the west for 30 years I would say education is the best route to helping them become more independent, self reliable and to integrate them into main stream.

On the flip side of that is– along comes with education benefits, over time, there is possibility of this traditional practice disappearing all together. And as a Burmese American, who am I to suggest that even though I also know for these young girls there may be a better future. Frankly, as a Burmese American Social Worker, I would love nothing more than to see young women and girls educated and liberated. So I guess the question is how can NGO’s and informed tourists or anyone in general like us help this particular tribe keep their traditions (for some if they choose), receive proper education not just about health implication due to these rings, but education at large, in general to give them the necessary tools they need to become self relying, productive and confident Padaung people in their own domain being able to make CHOICES for themselves.

Moreover, they also experience many health issues with the skin under the rings including chaffing, reactions to the metal, difficulty cleaning the skin under the rings etc. Further research indicates that some Paduang who remove the rings have irreversible skin issues including permanent discoloration.

As with lip plates, elongated ears, full body tattooing (all of which are fascinating forms of body art), elongated necks permanently relegate a Paduang women to a “tribal” existence rather than allowing these women to integrate into the main stream. While I and many other travelers would hate to witness the disappearance of yet another tribe, Paduang women are not obligated to sit in their huts and weave for our amusement for generations to come.

Young Paduang women with access to education who are undergoing the neck elongation process now may be condemning themselves to a long life as a tribal phenomenon trapped in a rapidly modernizing nation. Outside the tourist industry, companies are not likely to hire Paduang women with elongated necks nor are they likely to hire Mursi women with lip plates or Dayak women with elongated earlobes. It’s a sad fact, but true.

I hate sounding like a corporate executive gone wild, but what will these people do in an ultra-modern world? How will they survive? There is a reason that bound feet went the way of the dodo and it is not just because it didn’t conform to Western expectations.

Plus I might add as an afterthought that most of these surviving forms of body modification are found on women’s bodies rather than men’s. (Clearly not all, but most.) Tribal men seem very willing to give up many of their own forms of body art while requiring their wives to continue theirs in the name of tradition. I often ask myself if this isn’t more about keeping women in their “traditional place.”

I have a hard time calling wearing neck rings abuse. Just because it is something westerners don’t want to do doesn’t mean it is abuse. I’ve seen people in western countries with enormous (and I mean enormous) hoops in their ear lobes.I don’t see how it is that much different. Just because they do something that we wouldn’t do doesn’t make it abuse.

You can’t have respect for other cultures only when it doesn’t effect western sensibilities.