Here's the crazy story of Sydney, a 30-year-old woman living in Los Angeles, California. Taking her passion for giraffes to another level, she decided to extend her neck by progressively placing brass rings around it, in hope of pushing down her collarbone gradually and, in turn, lengthening her neck. Whilst it wasn't an attempt at atransformation, Sydney committed to these drastic means for quite some time.
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With the desire to become a recognised 'giraffe woman' around the world, she took inspiration from the Kayan people, from Southeast Asia, who traditionally would begin wearing the metal coils around their necks from around the age of 5. Whilst the extreme technique doesn't actually lengthen the neck, it allows it to appear longer and slimmer through deforming the clavicle and compressing the ribcage. Sydney followed in their steps and ended up spending five years adding ring by ring around her neck, eventually reaching 15 rings in total.
A passion she had to end
Unsurprisingly, Sydney woke up one morning realizing that she could not handle this lifestyle any longer. She decided to have all 15 rings removed. She told the Daily Mail:
I could not function as a long-necked woman with fifteen rings in the US. You could only do it if you were willing to isolate yourself completely and you never have to leave home. I spent five years of my life with rings around my neck and I became very introverted and isolated.
If you're a trust fund baby and don't ever need to leave the house, don't ever need to drive, then maybe you can pull it off.
Today, Sydney does not regret anything, despite the fact that her neck has become very weak and she had severe bruises around the collarbone when she removed the rings. She still feels like a giraffe woman and her injuries are healing quickly. She also says she misses the feeling of the rings, which strangely felt "comforting". Sydney is continuing physical therapy in order to return her neck back to normal.
