Woman Devotes Half A Decade To Stretching Neck In Honor Of Giraffes, Her Favorite Animal

She’d worked hard, struggled, and put up with people staring at her. Would what her new neck look like?

She had been fascinated with giraffes since middle school, and that obsession did not fade as she got older. Because she had an especially long neck, her schoolmates had nicknamed her “giraffe neck,” but that was before she decided to change her looks.  

The images of their elongated necks, made that way through the addition of more and more neck rings, were completely fascinating to her. Add to that her obsession with giraffes, and we can see where this is going. You can imagine what Sydney was thinking, but her parents had strong feelings about that. 

Sydney planned to wear neck rings and elongate her own neck. When she lived at home, her parents would not allow it, but when she finally came of age to make her own decision, she became a bit hesitant. That is until she saw a photo of a particular famous singer.

This was the final push that Sydney needed. The question was: how would she do it? She decided to go to a friend who specialized in body changes and ask for help. Her friend was happy and excited to embark on this adventure with Sydney and placed the first few rings on Sydney’s neck.

In tribal cultures, this process would start during childhood and would not hurt as much since the child’s bones are more pliable. Sydney was starting at age 25, so she felt that she had to catch up. She had begun her personal journey, so what was she facing?  

Then came something she never expected – modeling agencies began calling the beautiful woman and offering her jobs. Her look was so unusual and striking, and she was model-quality body-wise, so the offers kept pouring in. Next came a flood of modeling offers.  

All those heavy rings weighing down on her collarbone made moving harder and harder. She had to give up her job because she couldn’t work at a desk, being unable to turn her head normally. At this point, she had to decide what to do.  

Finally, she realized that the rings needed to come off. She wanted her old life back but was proud of seeing her goal accomplished. Sydney went back to her friend and asked her to remove the rings. Now she was worried – what would she look like?  

Sydney took herself immediately to a physical therapist and started working to strengthen her neck. But what she didn’t realize was the big difference between how the young tribal girls elongated their necks and how she had done the same to her own.

For the young Asian girls, their necks really did elongate. But for Sydney, as an adult, she had instead been pulling down on her collarbone and pushing down her ribcage. Her doctor explained this to her but also had some good news. 

So, she was no longer known as Giraffe Woman, and Ripley would not follow her saga any longer. The question was: did she regret what she’d done? Had the years of wearing the heavy neck rings and doing some damage to her body been worth it?

“I really enjoyed the feeling of them around my neck,” she stated. So, did Sydney Smith decide to go forward and live a quiet life? She didn’t seem the type to stop challenging herself. Look at what she did as her next step. 

Well, it wasn’t a new beauty trend or body fixation. She decided to devote her life to loving and caring for her husband, and daughter, Skyler Rose, who’d been born in 2017. She set a good example to others who are fixated on physical changes. At some point, family comes first.  

She had learned not to care what the world thought of her and hoped that others would be inspired to embrace their passions and forge their own journey. She had stirred up a lot of attention and some controversy, but she will never be sorry for what she did.  

“She’s trying to set a dangerous trend that’ll disfigure teens who think it’s a new fad,” one of Sydney’s followers wrote. So, let’s consider the safety aspect – how safe is this practice, and what long-lasting effects might it have on an individual? Some medical professionals spoke their minds.

One doctor posted, “This process puts incredible stress on the collarbones and shoulders. It pushes them down and can have permanent effects if they are left on for too long.” Clearly, this was the case for Sydney, and it took her a while to recover from the effects of her actions.

But the experts criticized those who loved Sydney’s long neck. One medical professional stated plainly, “It’s not making her neck any longer. The rings are pushing her collarbones down at a 45-degree angle. Her neck is the same length, but her collarbones are being collapsed.” 

In some places, people wear neck rings because they are forced to, not because it is considered beautiful. It’s important to learn about what life is like for those who do not wear neck rings out of choice.  

At one point in the discussion, a humanitarian spoke up and offered some important new information. She wanted the followers to know how dangerous and tragic the neck rings could be.  

Jennifer was following Sydney’s case, interested in what others said about Sydney’s experiment. She was unsurprised when people spoke out about the fear of a new trend taking hold among young girls to do the same thing. She then shared some incredible information. 

It is hard for us to comprehend a government allowing and even encouraging practices that might harm its citizens to bring in tourists. But for many countries, poverty is rampant, and they are desperate to find ways to fill their treasuries.

Neck rings are culturally important in Myanmar, starting as a way of becoming more beautiful by having a longer neck. But there are also those women who do not want the tradition forced upon them.  

Understanding cultural differences is important, as is respect for those differences. However, it’s bothersome when we find out that people within certain cultures are forced to perform traditional practices against their will.

This statement incited even more back and forth on the topic. Some people agreed with Jennifer, but others felt that traditions were important in any culture and should be respected, not thrown out. Some people seemed to understand the sensitive issue, while some were still on the fence.

To understand the issues in this case, one has to have a sensitivity to culture and tradition but also societies where people are forced to embrace practices they are opposed to. One person, in particular, didn’t get the point. 

The commenter continued, “This lady doctor sounds like she’s European and doesn’t understand our cultural beliefs. Leave us alone, lady.” This person had no clue of the nuances that Dr. Hennings was referring to.

They carried on, “If people will do things anyway, then there’s no point in trying to make a stand on either side of the fence, in my opinion.” But what about the larger issues that this type of practice brings up?

So the question is, would people adopt potentially dangerous neck rings to honor their culture, or would they do away with the tradition altogether? This is a tough one. 

Some people will do anything to pursue beauty, and others think that what Sydney did is too drastic. And, some don’t wear the neck rings for beauty but to respect their tradition. The debate goes on.