African Dancers Forced to Cover Up to Avoid Gawking European Tourists

Young virgins have been performing the Zulu Royal Reed dance for centuries now attracting 25,000 visitors a year. They tend to wear nothing but beads and short fringed skirts. They flaunt their bare bottoms as a sign of their chastity in the hope that the King will select them to be one of his wives.

But now the King has ordered all of them to wear garments around their bottoms. He is hoping to protecting them from the scores of European tourists who descend on the ceremony every year to gawk and take provocative photos with their high tech cameras.

While the ceremony is usually regulated to limit the audience to recognized journalists, there has been increasing suspicion that most visitors are just there for self-satisfaction.

Response to the King's orders has been mixed. Some of the dancing virgins are reportedly miffed at the loss of a chance to display their purity. Others felt that removing this aspect of the performance would encourage more girls to get involved.