Preview

Bodily Mutilation Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
577 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Bodily Mutilation Essay
Bodily mutilation to achieve the goal of ultimate beauty for women resides within every culture in the world. An average American way of bodily mutilation to gain beauty is through plastic surgery. As for Africa, women believe having a long neck symbolizes their beauty and status within their village. In some parts of China, the women believe the smaller your feet are the more desirable you become. Within the Mae Hong Son area of northwest Thailand, the women of the tribes are more commonly known as the, “Long-Necks.” The women in these areas are known for adorning brass rings around their necks, The rings on the neck reach from the clavicle up to beneath the chin, and these rings are held very tightly by the bone structure from clavicle to chin. This neck ring adornment is started when the girls are five or six years old and the neck grows longer as additional rings are added with each passing year. It is from this practice that this tribe has gained the name of "Long-Necks". Some women wear thirty-seven …show more content…
to the restructure the feet by the breaking of the arch and four smaller toes on each foot. After the initial binding procedure, usually around the age of seven, the feet would remain tightly bound with long cloth strips until the feet were no longer growing. The ideal foot consisted of three features, which was the length of three inches, a cleft between the heel and the sole, which was wanted to be around two to three inched deep, and that the feet appeared to be an extension of the leg, instead of platforms for the legs. Binding of the feet symbolized a lily or lotus flower because of the similarities in looks, if the woman’s feet were bound, they would be comparable to the grace and delicateness of the flower. If a woman had a natural size foot similar to a mans, it meant she was the opposite of grace and beauty such as a man would be

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    It can be said that American Literature has been profoundly influenced by specific era’s and their philosophies; some including Puritanism, Deism, Existentialism, etc. All of the above - mentioned, as well as others, impact American Literature with its new ideas culturally, socially, and politically. Ranging from poems to short stories, each of these systems of beliefs contributed from their authors, creating ideas that stayed with the American people.…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This infamous short story by renowned writer, Edgar Allan Poe, contains many dramatic twists and turns while brutally describing the murderous events that took place at a marvelous masquerade ball. As the story begins Poe walks the reader through each of the rooms in the house. When he describes that sound made by the clock it shows that there is a nervousness in the crowd of people. Later on in the party this happens again but instead of just a single daunting ring there were twelve, which brought fear to the guests. Once the last bell had sounded, a mysterious masked figure appeared and took everyone by surprise.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay About Foot Binding

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The origin of foot binding began when Emperor Li Yu created a six-foot tall golden lotus that was decorated with both pearls and stones. He asked his concubine Yao Niang to bind her feet in white silk into a crescent moon shape and performed a dance ballet-like on the points of her feet on the lotus. Her dance was very graceful so others decided to imitate her. The practice then replicated by upper-class women and spread throughout China. Thus becoming popular in during the Song Dynasty. Children ages four or five years old were made to bind their feet and deal with the intense pain. By the end of the Song dynasty, men would make a “toast to the golden lotus” by drinking a special made shoe containing a small cup in the heel. Some would even drink from the shoe itself during the Yuan dynasty and lasted until the late Qing dynasty. By the 19th century, approximately 40-50% of women had bound feet and 100% of women from…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In fact, the extreme body modification should be seen as a new culture in this society and not as something grotesque that only insane people do. Although the people think that body modification should be made only as an alternative to a physical deformation, concluding that it is a fact that the body modification is made as an option to show the world your thoughts and feelings that is something fascinating and exquisite that many admire and will…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Human beings exhibit little reverence for the sanctity of their flesh. In our eternal quest for aesthetic perfection, bodies are twisted, molded, plucked and burned in order to live up to unobtainable ideals. Unfortunately, though human desires can be appeased, they are never satisfied, and beauty is no exception. To quote Legal Professor Deborah L. Rhode: “Desires, expectations, and standards of comparison increase as rapidly as they are satisfied.” (Rhode 30) Undeniably, the female body is overwhelmingly and disproportionately subjected to such modifications, due in no small part to the pervasive desires of patriarchies perpetuated through history. This beauty mandate has left innumerable women aching for perfection in an era where the feminine…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In order to take a stance on circumcision, one must know some things about circumcisions. A circumcision is a procedure done to male patients. The doctor conducting the procedure first numbs the penis. Then the doctor grabs the prepuce (foreskin) and tears the synechia apart. The prepuce is held and a vertical slit is cut into the bottoms side of it. A device is laid over the prepuce, and the excess skin is cut off using a scalpel or surgical scissors. This procedure removes about one third of the penile skin, takes ten or so minutes to complete, and is often not felt, with the exception of the initial numbing, by the baby boy. Circumcisions are helpful in improving the quality of hygiene, prevention of some diseases, and his sexual partner’s health.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Essay On Lobotomy

    • 1238 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Lobotomy is neurosurgical operation on the brain's prefrontal lobe. Lobotomy was performed for about two decades and was used to treat many of the mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, manic depression, and bipolar disorder. Mainly it was performed as the treatment for Schizophrenia. Lobotomy was the most popular and the post known treatment for any psychosurgery.…

    • 1238 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Foot binding was a practice that started during the Tang Dynasty when a prince, Li Yo, enjoyed watching his concubine dance before him with tiny bound “lily feet”[i]. Since then it became popular in the Han Dynasty. Women would wash and massage their daughters’ feet, turn their toes under, and then they would break their daughters’ arches, and finally wrap the foot tightly in a cotton bandage pulling the big toe and heel together as well as hold the rest of the toes in place[ii]. The average length of the foot was three inches after the process had been completed. This caused the foot to be seriously deformed. The women would be disabled to the point where they could barely walk; sometimes toes would even fall off as a result of the bindings[iii]. Working and peasant class women would not usually have their feet bound because it was necessary for them to be able to do manual labour, but if mothers desired for their daughters to marry into good families they would risk losing their daughters labour to bind their daughters’ feet.…

    • 1396 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    They reshape and sculpt their bodies and adorn them with paint, cosmetics, clothing, and jewelry. These customs, however, are diverse and particular to a culture at a specific time. The diversity of body costumes has led anthropologists (e.g., Douglas 1970; Strathern 1996) to conclude that a body is both a physical and a symbolic artifact, forged by nature and by culture at a particular moment in history (Sullivan, 2000).Social institutions, ideology, values, beliefs, and technology transform a physical body into a social body. Bodies, therefore, provide important clues to the mechanics of society…

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Medical Trauma

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The machines were beeping and there were pools of blood beside the woman. She was laying in the middle of the floor but nothing could be done. The victim was on the television. The incident wasn’t real, but the experience was undeniable. Medical dramas have become so realistic, that we often blur the line between what is real and what is fictional. On television, hospitals experience abundant traumas, rarely experience death, and doctors are glorified as heroes, whereas in reality it is not as dramatic.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Essay About Torture

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages

    far better than harming thousands. However, I think there is no scenario where it is acceptable to torture innocent children.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Foot binding was first practiced by the royal court ladies, dancers and wealthy families and once flourished in the Ming dynasty, eventually spreading all over the country by 1273. In the days of ancient China, Chinese society women were not equal to men. Women were inferior and were forced by society to obey any male, including their own sons. They were actually considered a man’s private property. After they get married, conditions remain much the same, only instead to being subject to their fathers there were subject to their husbands. Foot binding showed status for women in wealthy families, since it affected their ability to walk, it came to be seen as a sign of wealth. The wealthiest of the people didn’t need to walk or work in the fields.…

    • 288 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Many health professional have a difficult time defining self-mutilation. Often times individuals who present with self-inflicted injuries are said to be suicidal. This is not always the case. In order to guide nursing research and develop effective nursing interventions, the concept of self mutilation needs to be examined closer. Nurses need to have a better understanding of what self-mutilation means, why people self-mutilate, and what the risk factors for self-mutilation are. This knowledge will provide a basis for research leading to effective interventions so that nurses can provide competent care to patients presenting with self-inflicted injuries.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Plastic Surgery Essay

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages

    to different areas. Cosmetic Surgery enhancing different parts of your body. Even though you may think they are the same they are in some ways different. It’s good to know a lot about procedure before you commit to it.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many procedures throughout history that dealt with the brain and how someone behaves has been created. Out of all of these procedures, lobotomy stands out the most. Lobotomy is a procedure that severs the nerve pathways in the prefrontal lobe of the brain in order to reduce signs of insanity or relieve mental illnesses. Swiss physician Gottlieb Burkhardt was the first to show evidence of pacifying patients through manipulation of the human brain. He was influenced by Friedrich Goltz, who practiced on dogs with brain ablation.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays