Some women of the Padaung people are fitted with brass neck rings at a young age to ward off evil spirits. The weight and pressure of the added rings crush the collar bones and sometimes the ribs of these women.
(Text adapted from "The Many Faces of Thailand," February 1996, National
Geographic magazine)
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Many Faces of Thailand," February 1996, National Geographic magazine)
