Winner of the Fall 2016 StMU History Media Award for
Best Use of Scholarship
Best Article in the Category of “World History”
Best Use of Primary Sources
When I knew I couldn’t suffer another moment of pain and tears fell on my bloody bindings, my mother spoke softly into my ear, encouraging me to go one more hour, one more day, one more week, reminding me of the rewards I would have if I carried on a little longer. In this way, she taught me how to endure—not just the physical trials of footbinding or childbearing, but the more torturous pain of the heart, mind, and soul.1
More often than necessary, women are consumed with the idea of infatuation. Every culture has its own form of standards that pertain to women and what constitutes beauty. Although the world is slightly more accepting now, women used to go to extreme lengths to achieve an image that would be deemed attractive. In the Chinese culture, foot binding was that well-known beauty expectation for centuries. What started off as a celebrity fad, turned into a way of determining social status and eventually an all-around beauty expectation. 2 The objective of foot binding was for women to have the smallest foot possible, starting at very young ages. Not only was this a painful process for girls as young as five years, but it also promoted the idea that women must mutilate their bodies to become appealing to men. At some point in time, women began to just accept that this was something that was supposed to be done in order to be attractive. Often referred to as “lotus boats” or “golden lotuses,” bound feet started as a fad for the famous, and slowly made its way to becoming the social norm.3
This practice began around the tenth century with women in the entertainment business. These women were adored for their tiny arched feet and were seen by men to be much more attractive than middle class women with average feet. As these dancers were gaining an audience, the idea of “lotus feet” was becoming familiar. Not long after these performers expressed their “beauty,” foot binding became a norm for women who wanted to fit in and even for those who had a desire to find a husband.4 This painful process consisted of the breaking of young girl’s toes to form the desired triangular shape. Then the arch of the foot would be bent horizontally from the toes all the way to the heel. As if this was not painful enough, the girls were forced to walk on their feet to intensify the arch, breaking the foot even more. After all of this, the foot would be wrapped to maintain the shape of it as well as prevent any sort of deviation.5
Although this practice was around for centuries, it was only a matter of time before someone realized how inhumane and cruel it really was. Thankfully, many people began to protest against foot binding, forming “anti-foot binding organizations” to raise awareness on the inhumanity of binding women’s feet. By the 1950’s, laws were passed, allowing women to unbind their feet. Although hesitant at first, the trend slowly declined. Many women protested to unbinding their feet, due to the fact that it had been a social norm a thousand years. However, the movement against foot binding continued and eventually the last of the factories that make the tiny shoes were shut down, disabling the women from continuing the custom. Today, foot binding is no longer practiced and the only women who continue to maintain the tiny feet are those elder women who refuse to let go of the past.6
- Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (New York: Random House Publishers, 2005), 3-4. ↵
- Yaodong Gu et al., “Foot Loading Characteristics of Chinese Bound Feet Women: A Comparative Analysis,” PLoS ONE 10, no. 4 (April 2015): 1–9, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0121695. ↵
- Yu-ning Li, Chinese Women Through Chinese Eyes (New York: Routledge, 2015), 125-127. ↵
- Women in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia, 2004, s.v. “Footbinding (Late 10th Century-early 20th Century),” by Patricia Buckley Ebrey. ↵
- Amanda Foreman, “Why Footbinding Persisted in China for a Millennium,” Smithsonian, accessed November 8, 2016, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-footbinding-persisted-china-millennium-180953971/. ↵
- “Women with Bound Feet in China,” Reshaping the Body: Clothing & Cultural Practice, accessed November 8, 2016, http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/clothes/lady_bound/. ↵
189 comments
Michelle Falcon
I’m in awe after reading this article. It breaks my heart to read of all the painful things that young girls had to be put through to achieve these “lotus feet”. Thankfully it was stopped and laws were put in to place. The crazy thing to me is that they did this to themselves to make themselves more appealing to men, even after laws were put in women still did this because it was all they had ever known. Over all this was a very well done article.
Josemaria Soriano
In my life I have read terrible cases, to the point of no longer being surprised by anything, but this case has surprised me impressively. How is it possible that such an atrocity happened for the sake of beauty? I’m really outraged. I congratulate the author for the great choice of her subject. This case should be a lesson for all of us who live in a consumerist world as ours: aesthetic prejudices should never lead to madness. On the other hand, any “beauty” involving torture must be banished forever. Although the case of foot binding has been practically banished from China, there are other similar cases that lead, especially woman, to end in health problems such as bulimia or anorexia. It is time to stop this atrocities, and for that, we need to be a single voice in order to denounce those people who torment millions with a false and unattainable “beauty”. An excellent article.
Troy Leonard
what a very interesting article. ii never have heard of foot binding before but its very unfortunate what women did to themselves to make the feel more attractive. its sort of similar in todays time. due to pop culture and music it makes women think that they wont be beautiful without a big butt and big breast. its sad that women still do foot binding even though by law you aren’t supposed to.
Dayna Valdez
The article was well written and began with an amazing introduction. I had never heard of foot binding so I found this article to be very surprising. Though it is still done, it’s crazy how women would change something as little as their foot appearance for men. It is even more surprising that they were actually willing to go through all that pain.
Josselyn Arrieta-Meraz
I remember reading a book about this social norm on the perspective of a young girl in the Chinese culture who was forced to change her foot in order to attract men in the future, the amount of pain these children went through is hard to imagine, looking at the images only makes me think on the influence that society has on people why would women ever think that changing their foot and going through the amount of pain they did was a good idea. I’m glad this is no longer imposed in these women and maybe we can learn something from what these women went through.
Tara Sellers
I have heard of this practice before and that is why this article caught my attention. I did not know that foot binding had been done by children as young as five. How are you supposed to know how big your feet are going to get when you are so young? I don’t understand why you have to change your appearance for someone else. This practice is just teaching young children that they are not good enough. I am happy that it is no longer the social norm any more.
Lisa Varela
This article is great!!! It kept me interested all the way until the end. I can not imagine having to break my toes and all the pain that young girls (as young as 5!!!) must have gone through because of a tradition that was based on beauty. I am in awe that it went on for centuries before it was stopped.
Amanda Perez
Before anything, I’d like to point out how well written this article is. Aside from how the article is presented, the information is more relatable than we like to think. In our modern culture, we may not harm our feet, but we do engage in painful and unnecessary practices such as waist trainers, lip injections and Botox. The lengths that people go to for vanity purposes are insane.
Eduardo Foster
It’s incredible the influence Chinese culture had in society. Almost every woman does the process of binding foot since the age of 5. It is also crazy the fact that binding their foot make them more attractive. The practice is very dangerous by the fact that the foot ended broken! Great article and very informative keep it up with the good work!
Carlos Aparicio
I am stunned at the fact that women actually made permanent changes to there body for the Chinese culture. This topic was very interesting to read and the article was well written. I can’t imagine how painful it was for little girls to practice this horrible tradition. Thankfully, this practice isn’t practiced anymore today.