Experts believe that Chinese society was male-dominated at this time and thus the practice of foot binding was legitimised as an expressional means of elegance and purity in order to please men. Following on from the perceived beauty that lies within smaller feet, sexuality then became associated with foot binding. Some historians and scholars believe that the fetish that surrounded bound feet involved the fact that when seen out of their wrappings, some thought the feet resembled the most sacred and secret of things, and that was the female genitalia 3.
In addition to this, a foot in its bindings or wrapping is thought to have resembled the male penis. Thus, the sex appeal that surrounded foot binding is one of the most well-known ideals behind the practice. Following from the symbols of beauty and sex appeal that were linked to foot binding, the practice then progressed into being used as a tool for marriage.
Men began to prefer women who had bound feet, thus women across China began binding their feet so as to attract a suitor and please their future husband 3. A number of marriages were arranged during this time, as a result, daughters who had bound feet were not only attempting to attract a suitable husband, but more importantly his family and potentially, their shared wealth and status. Scholars have suggested that, although foot binding is heavily associated with beauty and sex appeal, the practice also signalled morality and modesty.
As foot binding progressed, the practice started to become something that symbolised status and wealth. When foot binding initially began, it was thought to only be performed by women who belonged to the higher classes of society, as these women had the time to bind their feet and could afford to not work. Women who were considered poor and lower class had to be on their feet to provide for their families through gruelling physical labour.
This resulted in men who belonged to the higher classes of society only choosing to marry women of comparable status whose families could afford to support them. The implementation of this practice was deemed as a significant sacrifice for the families from the lower class as each daughter who had her feet bound, meant less income for the family as she would be unable to perform physical labour that required lengthy periods of standing and walking to earn her keep.
Some scholars have written accounts of girls from lower class families begging their mothers to bind their feet after seeing other girls with extremely small feet in beautiful shoes and wanting to wear shoes and look just like them 3. China was a country that was dominated by men during this time and the customs of foot binding was a reflection of this.
Women were subjected to excruciating pain in an attempt to showcase their obedience in order to please their families and husbands. Some theories suggest that foot binding made it more difficult for women to run away from their husbands and due to their difficulty in balancing on such small feet and the pain that resulted from foot binding, they were more likely to stay home and remain loyal to their husbands.
Walking more than a few miles was difficult for most women with bound feet, this meant that women would never wander outside of their villages, thus making them more conservative as a result of limited exposure to the outside world. As a result of their diminished mobility, they were also less likely to have affairs or run from the beatings or unfair treatment of their husbands.
In these ways, foot binding was regarded as a form of control which men used to keep women loyal and submissive.
Foot binding was also linked to another vital role assigned to Chinese women, the production of Lotus shoes the name given to the tiny shoes made for women with bound feet. Shoes became a prominent feature and means of expression among women in the Chinese culture. They often went without food as they could not fulfill their daily production quota nor forage in the mountains for fruits like other women [source: Lim].
Today, foot binding is not practiced anywhere. A 3-inch foot seems an impossibility. If you have the stomach, read on to see how it was achieved. The foot binding process was long, excruciatingly painful and pretty gross. It generally began when girls were 4 to 7 years old, because at that age the bones in their feet were still fairly soft and pliable, and thus easier to reshape [source: Footwear History ]. First, the feet were softened in hot water.
After a few hours, any dead skin was scrubbed off, toenails were clipped as short as possible and alum was sprinkled between the toes to stop perspiration. Next came the actual binding. Cotton bandages, generally 2 inches 5 centimeters wide by 10 feet 3 meters long, were soaked in hot water so they'd shrink as they dried. Then the binder -- sometimes the girl's mother, other times an experienced woman in the village -- folded the girl's four small toes under her feet and began wrapping each foot with the bandages in a figure-eight pattern.
The goal was to leave the big toe and ball of the foot largely intact, but keep the other four toes under the foot and bring the heel forward, towards the front of the foot.
The bones in the arch and foot would break during the process. To ensure a tight bind and prevent the little girl from ripping off the bandages, the bandages were sewn together at several points. Once the binding was finished, a small pair of shoes was placed on the girl's feet and she was forced to walk around. The initial steps taken when feet were bound were incredibly painful [source: Footwear History ].
Every day or two, the girl's feet were unbound, bathed and rebound. Slowly, the bindings became tighter and the shoes smaller, until her feet reached the coveted 3-inch crescent moon shape, a process that took about two years [source: Minnesota-China Connection ]. During this lengthy process, many things could go wrong. If a girl's toenails hadn't been trimmed enough, they could cut into the bottom of her feet and cause an infection.
Gangrene was also a worry; it could quickly set in if the bindings were too tight [source: Evans ]. Even when everything had been properly done, it was common for bound feet to become swollen and pus-filled, then break open, causing even more pain, plus a terrible odor [source: Holman ].
Perhaps the most unpleasant thing about foot binding was that it was never over. Even after a girl's feet were successfully bound, she had to meticulously tend to them for the rest of her life -- regularly bathing them to avoid infection, and always rebinding quickly after a washing. If her feet weren't rebound, they'd begin to lose their form, which some Chinese women said was as painful as the original binding [source: Holman ].
Once foot binding became entrenched in the culture, it was impossible to stop. Bound feet became the norm; unbound feet were seen as freakish, lewd and ugly.
And while mothers undoubtedly hated to inflict pain on their daughters, leaving their feet unbound was never considered. For if a mother didn't bind her daughter's feet, her daughter would be ridiculed by other women and would almost assuredly never snag a husband. A young girl could be lifted out of poverty if her feet were small and perfectly curved, because that was more important to men than her social status [source: Holman ]. Foot binding also fostered the dominance of men over women.
Since it was difficult for a woman to walk with bound feet -- the farthest she could walk was 3 or 4 miles 4. This made them more conservative and more willing to obey their husbands.
Their diminished mobility virtually ensured they couldn't have extramarital affairs, or run away to escape a beating when their husbands were displeased. As foot binding became entrenched during the Song dynasty , education for women was strictly curtailed and independent property rights outlawed [sources: Evans , Ross , Holman ].
He was seeing them in the lab only because transportation to the hospital was provided. That amounted to millions of women stuck at home, unable to engage in everyday activities such as grocery shopping, because they had such difficulty walking—never mind squatting while waiting for the bus or carrying shopping bags while managing canes and crutches.
In his study, Cummings concluded that older Chinese women were less prone to hip fractures than American women in part because the former squatted much more often, which builds bone density and strengthens hips. Older Chinese women with bound feet, though, had a completely different story. Further clinical study of foot-binding is nearly impossible; the women who were girls when it was outlawed are dying out.
She found 50 women to photograph, all in their 80s or older, three of whom died before the book was published in They had a wider range of mobility than the women Cummings met in Beijing—among them were women who worked in fields, raised children, fixed chimneys, and went bowling—but descriptions of their childhood binding were no less horrifying. In certain periods in France, for example, women were arrested if they were found walking on certain streets at certain times. But women have been bent in more literal ways too.
Foot-binding was one. Like recent research that makes visible the long-lasting brain damage inflicted by childhood abuse or PTSD, examining the medical consequences of corsets, high heels, and foot-binding in detail forces us to look their effects in the face.
The restrictions of foot-binding and other physical constraints imposed on girls and women are obvious; the damage is real.
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