As a woman with teenie weenie feet and an appreciation for Asian cultures, it was inevitable that I become interested in the bizarre tradition of foot binding. The reason for my becoming completely obsessed and researching foot binding, I blame fully on my sick, twisted curiosity. And that’s just what foot binding is….sick and twisted (literally).
Chinese foot binding was a tradition for many, many years to, basically, stop foot growth. The smaller her feet, the more beautiful the girl was. All of the toes, except the first toe, were broken, twisted under, pressed to the bottom of the foot, and bound tightly with cloth strips which kept the feet from growing larger than ten centimeters. Next, the arches were broken and cloth bandages would be tightly wound around the foot from the toes to the ankle to hold the toes in place. But wait! It gets worse! With the lack of circulation flesh would rot and fall off and sometimes the toes would ooze pus. Sounds sexy, huh? If the bindings were too tight they could cut off circulation, leading to gangrene and blood poisoning. The pain was said to have been excruciating.
There are many legends as to why foot binding became a tradition. One legend says that it was a young prince in the Sung Dynasty, between 960-976 BC, who is responsible for such a torturous tradition. Apparently, he had a fetish for tiny feet and required his “ladies” to bind their feet in order to create the small-foot illusion. After their feet were bound, he would make them dance a variation of ballet. What a sicko.
Apparently, bound feet became a major erotic zone. One quote says, "When a Celestial takes into his hand a woman's foot, especially if it is very small, the effect upon him is precisely the same as is provoked in a European by a young and firm bosom..." It was also believed that walking with bound feet caused the women to have the "permanent muscle tone of a virgin,” and that the nerves in her feet would become more concentrated, thus making them a major erogenous zone. HAHAHA! Wow. Poetry and writings from this period express a great obsession bordering on perversion, for small feet. There were tons of pornographic paintings and engravings with scenes of men fondling women's feet.
The foot binding tradition went on for over one thousand years!! Over one billion girls had to endure the pain and torture. I bet even though my feet are small, I STILL would have had to do this! EEK!
There is a great book called SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN by Lisa See. It goes into great detail about foot binding and the lives of Chinese women of that time. When I say detail…I mean gory detail. I had to stop reading it for a while because I was so grossed out. It’s a very sweet story, though. I cried throughout the entire book. I highly recommend reading if you are interested in Asian culture! So, ladies out there with little feet….be proud of your “golden lilies.”
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Flower-Secret-Fan-Lisa/dp/1400060281
If you want to learn more about Chinese Foot Binding, here are some websites to look at:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/beekeeper/foot.html
http://www.essortment.com/all/chineseculture_rdpp.htm
http://www.sfmuseum.org/chin/foot.html
http://shoes.about.com/od/footwear/qt/foot_binding.htm
SHOE OF THE “WEAK”: from www.pretty-small-shoes.com
A little foot binding inspiration.
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