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Media personality Toke Makinwa has strongly criticised the traditional practice of using tribal marks as a means of identification, calling it a form of cruelty inflicted upon children without their consent.
In a post on her X account on June 16, 2024, Makinwa recalled her recent encounter with an influencer who had tribal marks, which prompted her to think about the age-old practice.
She wrote, "Today I saw a beautiful beauty influencer with tribal marks and it made me think about the cruelty that culture brought upon us. Marking a child without his/her consent as a means of identification is Evil, I know our parents didn’t know any better but damnnnn!!!!"
In a series of posts that followed, she emphasised that while she appreciates the beauty of individuals with tribal marks, her issue lies in the lack of consent involved in marking children for identification purposes.
"Thank God it’s abolished now. My grandma had tribal marks too. Some on her face and her arms, I wonder what life was like when she was younger walking around with it, though I’m sure a lot of people around her had the same but thank God it’s cancelled now," she said in another post.
After receiving backlash from some X users, Makinwa re-affirmed in another post, that her disapproval was with the lack of consent involved and not the beauty of the marks.
"It’s not the beauty or lack of but the lack of consent. But yeah, I’ve seen a couple of beautiful people with tribal marks," the media personality explained.
When an X user slammed Makinwa and compared tribal marks to tattoos, she retorted saying, "Tattoos are a choice, marking a child without their consent is not the same. You rest, weirdo."