The Social Implications Of Footbinding In Ancient China

Footbinding in Ancient China Girls, you probably think you go through a lot to make yourselves look beautiful. And you might think that you do more than any girl to make yourselves look as good as possible. In ancient China, little girls were required to bind their feet for acceptance in society. Throughout history, fashion and style has come at great costs to many Chinese women. From the young age of 6, girls had to endure the torturous process of breaking the arch and curling the toes under so that their feet would fit the ideal golden lotus which is a euphemism for the three to four inch, painful and mutilated foot that was so revered in China from the tenth-century up until the twentieth-century. Footbinding has a rich history. Footbinding’s social implications go far beyond its physical pain, into the role
of women in Chinese society, and the male fetish. It became more than just a fashion but a necessity to achieve a good life and even a good after life. When a girl turned six or seven she would have to endure two pains. In the first month of her sixth or seventh years she would have her ears pierced, soon after she would have her feet bound. Her mother would consult the lunar calendar to make certain it was an auspicious day for her daughter’s feet to be bound. If the girl’s feet were bound on the wrong day it was thought that the process would be more painful or that the foot would not come to the desired shape. The date was usually in the autumn so that the cold winter would numb the foot during the painful formation period. When the chosen day came about the mother would soak the daughter’s feet in warm water with herbs or warm animal blood. After they were dried, all of the dead skin and flesh was rubbed off. The toenails would be clipped so that they would not dig into the foot after it was bound and thus cause infection. Then the foot was massaged with alum to keep it from sweating. After that, bandages of white cotton were used to wrap the feet. One end was placed on the inside of the instep. It was pulled across the small toes in order to force them in towards the sole. The big toe was left unbound, so that the finished foot would come to a point. The wrapping was then brought around her heel to force the heel and the toes together. Directly afterward the mother would force her child to walk on the newly bound and painful feet. The foot was bathed and rebound frequently. It was put into progressively smaller shoes. The entire process took about two years. However, even after the foot had achieved the desired shape and size, it had to remain bound for the entirety of the girl’s life so that it would not try to heal. The result was a three to four inch foot. Footbinding had many physiological effects. It forced a woman to focus her weight on her lower body putting a lot of pressure on the pelvis, which caused it to expand in diameter and to lower the height of the pelvis. It also caused the sacrum to be longer and wider. This practice not only affected a woman with pain but it also affected her entire body causing it to become deformed as well. Such a painful custom can’t totally be an effect of fashion. There are many reasons as to why families would torture their young daughters with footbinding, but it is difficult to understand how any reason could make footbinding an agreeable idea. Sexiness is not the only reason. It also differentiated men from women, upheld conservative Chinese beliefs, kept women weak, and was thought to be a mark of gentility. The bound foot harnessed a great deal of sexual power.
The Chinese female was concealed from men for most of her youth, hidden in the house. The hidden feet followed this idea of the concealed female. The foot was always wrapped, and even when women slept they wore slippers. Sexual positions were often based upon the manipulation of the bound foot. A woman was weak because of her bound feet and could therefore be at the mercy of her lover, which was sexually exciting to many men. Furthermore, some men had odor fetishes, and enjoyed the smell of the feet. It was common to use the foot in foreplay. Many men would place it on their bodies. Men would also use the crevice of the foot to stimulate their genitals. There were also many drinking games in which the men would try to drink from a cup placed in the shoe. A large part of the experience of prostitution was the drinking game. One such game involves tossing seeds or beans into the prostitute’s shoe. Each guest had a turn to throw the seed into the shoe from a foot and half away. The prostitute would then have the men who missed drunk from a cup in her other shoe. Men found this extremely
enticing. Besides for the sexiness of the foot itself, footbinding also resulted in a seductive walk and enticing body shape. A woman with bound feet had to walk with her weight on her heals her chest thrust outward, and her pelvis sticking backward. This led to a swaying walk, and that the muscles in the buttock and thigh became more developed creating a more curvaceous body. It was also thought to tighten the skin around the vagina; supposedly making the man feel like the woman was a virgin every time they made love. It was also said that women with bound feet were more attractive because they stepped lightly and carefully. It created a feeling of love and pity from men because of the weak and feminine posture that it created. A woman with bound feet could also move around more easily in bed. However, footbinding was tenacious in Chinese culture because it fit the traditional expectations of women. Footbinding was an integral part of a man’s society which taught women to obey a strict and comprehensive moral code hallowed by time and tradition. Footbinding kept a woman weak and easily dominated by her husband. She could not be mentally independent because footbinding restricted her physically. It also reflected well on her husband; if he could afford to keep a wife who was so helpless, he must be successful. Footbinding did not necessarily come about from men, but may have come about from women hoping to ensure marriage. Bound feet attracted men; therefore a mother would bind their feet so that they could be married to wealthy men. Women also knew that their tiny feet and beautiful slippers could bring them admiration from men, and if they could entice a powerful enough husband with their perfect feet they could attain great power as well. It also could help a girl increase her social standing if she could marry into a higher class. China’s history is perhaps best known for its lack of change and the tenacity of footbinding is one of the many examples of the consistency of Chinese history. Footbinding was part of the Chinese way of life. It was embedded in their culture for centuries. Unlike the fashions of today, it did not go out of style because it was far more than a fashion; it was a manifestation of culture. Chinese culture and beliefs supported footbinding, and because Chinese culture did not change for all of those centuries neither did footbinding. Anti-footbinding and the granting of women’s rights were indivisible. The role of women in the society had to change before the practice would cease. As long as women were still supposed to be subordinate to men, they would consider footbinding necessary. If women were treated as equals and did not feel the need to attract a high bride price perhaps footbinding would have stopped sooner. However, women were still seen as objects, not human beings, to be observed by men, and therefore being aesthetically appealing to men took precedence over health. Although footbinding is a terrible custom, it is unfair to judge it with modern eyes. Many cultures in the past and presently have customs that could be considered barbaric. Even in the United States today, women and men mutilate their bodies with copious piercing and tattoos. Clearly, footbinding was a cultural manifestation representing something more than fashion.