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
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