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
Nahim Rancharan
This article is an excellent read! It is crazy to see that how, despite having made a great deal of progress in recent years, there were outrageous standards for beauty across several different cultures. It is easy to believe that there a different standards for beauty depending on where you go, but those that involve body mutilation like the Chinese’s foot binding is hard to accept. Although these traditions also include life lessons like the reality of pain, marriage and acceptance, it is interesting to look at the circumstances that involved these beauty techniques and how popularity has been able to root itself in history for over a thousand years. Although Chinese foot binding is a rare practice in today’s society, it is interesting to look at the different standards of beauty across history. Great Article!
Steven Clinton
Interesting topic. It doesn’t surprise me that women would put themselves through so much for beauty. Foot binding was just the fad of that era, just like how high heels are now. Once I heard my mom and sister talk about wearing heels. My sister told my mom I hate wearing heels. After hearing that my mom said, “beauty is a pain.” She couldn’t be any more right.
Irene Astran
I am sure there is still a large group of women who still practice this regardless if factories stopped making shoes for them. They could quite obviously structure their own footwear. I hold respect for the women that still do this. Although this was widely held as a beauty statement I do feel that it is much more than that. I believe it has a strong cultural significance that many of us will never quite understand. I am all for the people preserving their culture in whatever way they see fit.
Elizabeth Garibay
This article was amazing! I had always heard and seen pictures about foot binding but never knew such great detail about it. It’s crazy how different cultures have different mindsets and want to change the way they look. It’s crazy to say that they go as far as damaging their feet. The more I read the more my mind was blown on how people centuries ago people would actually believe in this! Overall, this was a very informal but eye-catching article and enjoyed it so much!
Ana Gonzalez
Foot binding sounds like an extremely painful practice! It is crazy to think that social norms have affected every aspect of a woman’s life including her feet. I’m glad that laws were passed and that foot binding is now illegal because women should not have to put themselves through pain in order to meet a culture’s beauty standards. You did a great job beginning your article with a quote that explains how women felt when they were pressured by society to mutilate their bodies.
Zaraly Frasquillo Bejarano
Ouch! I could feel my toes curling up as I was reading this article! I honestly wish this article was longer, it had me hooked and I wanted to know more about the process in which stopped foot binding. Great job in making me feel grateful to have been born in a place (and era) in which my big feet are acceptable.
Luke Trevino
This article was great! I never knew foot binding was a thing. It is insane how different cultures will change the way they look, even going as far as destroying your feet, to impress someone. I think it was interesting how it was excepted to do foot binding as a whole country, just because someone did it once as a fashion trend. Overall, very well written article.
Alyssa Valdez
How intriguing! I have heard of foot binding before, but I never knew they made girls as young as five do it! I can’t even imagine how painful that must be! It is a good thing they have stoped manufacturers from continuing to make shoes for this sort of practice and women are no longing binding their feet. No one should have to feel the need to alter their body so it’s more “appealing” for someone else!
Anayeli Prieto
It is interesting to know that every culture has their own version of beauty and the pain that they must go through to fit into the standards that were created by society. What people don’t realize is that we still to this day go through trying to fit into the expectations created by our community. The breaking of the foot to make themselves appear more attractive is like woman using corsets to make their waists smaller. What is even more interesting is that like the foot binding, the corsets are a negative impact to our bodies due to the crushing of our organs and can very serious complications and even sometimes death. So why hasn’t anyone tried to end this terrible trend by making a law to end this practice the way they did with foot binding/ what makes corsets less important if they are just as dangerous?
Mario Sosa
The thought of breaking your own bones to make your feet as small as possible is horrid. It is hard to believe that women actually did this to attract men. I cannot believe that women were protested against laws that allowed the unbinding of feet. The photo of the shoe comparison is very frightful! I enjoyed reading this descriptive article.