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Footbinding's Position In Imperial China

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Footbinding's Position In Imperial China
RESEARCH PAPER FOOTBINDING: A PAINFUL TRADITION IN CHINA

By

Liliana Melo

Composition I. I: An Introduction to Expository Writing, Course 101.5767
LaGuardia Community College, Long Island City
November 16. 2006

OUTLINE

Thesis:
Although footbinding increases a woman’s chances of marrying well, it was a violent act against women.

I. Footbinding:

A. Definition.
B. Origin and its history
C. Description and Process.
D. Myth around footbinding

II. Footbinding increased a woman’s chance of marrying well.

A. Beauty
B. Eroticism and Femininity
C. Obedience and Discipline
D. Status and Social position in Chinese society

III. Women’s position in Chinese society during 10th century of Imperial China.

A. Family.
B. …show more content…
It strengthened the Confucian ideal for a woman to be confined and subjugated by men. The control of women’s mobility not only assured her chastity, but also prevented her from running away or seeking help in the neighborhood. As a result, women must be passive and accept every whim and desire of her husband. In most cases, women were only treated as sex objects for men’s satisfaction. Women are being dehumanized. Because of this gender inequality, men are allowed to have as many concubines as they want, while women should always be loyal to their husbands. Footbinding covered all aspect of the core social, political, moral, and economic institution of Chinese society:”The Chinese family was both the root and microcosm of a highly centralized and stratified political system. “The root of the empire is in the state” … The root of the state is in the family” (Greenhalgh 11). “Feet and shoe were advertisement for upbringing, cultural level and accomplishment, family background and temperament. Impossibly small, these feet were originally a source of great pride. Small feet added prestige to a family” (Ross
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