Although no definite reason or person has been identified as responsible for the birth of footbinding, there are a few theories. One deals with the Shang dynasty's last empress' malformed feet. Some say she had club feet, bound them in attempts to distil beauty from malformation, and convinced her "spouse to make the compression of feet obligatory for young girls" (Levy, 37). Another scenario involves the Mongols attempting to impair the health of the Chinese women in order to weaken the Chinese. Still another theory, and possibly the most credible, involves the Chinese women attempting to attain greater appeal. Footbinding was not started by women for want of greater self control, nor did it originate from foreign powers. Well bound feet brought honor to the girl's family. Binding feet was even thought to improve other parts of the feminine figure. Footbinding increased attraction by males, which led to a better match. Overall, all the main reasons for binding one's feet, or one's daughters' feet, arise from masculine desires and wants.
Daughters were expected to be mild mannered, do their chores, and be completely submissive to any male figure in their lives. If these basic goals were achieved by the parents, the daughter was considered good, fit for marriage, and brought honor to the family, until she left the family. If these ideals were not met, dishonor would be bestowed on the family. Footbinding helped with this. After having their feet bound, women and girls had trouble walking, which almost forced them to stay in the inner quarters and do their chores. In a nineteenth century play, one character states that "the purpose of footbinding was to control women so they couldn't wander about lewdly and as the...
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... the people, or a despicable husband" (Levy, 81). It seems as though the pain, control, and oppression caused by footbinding indicates a lack of voluntary beginnings. Men had all the reasons they needed to force women to start binding. To control the woman, shape the feminine body, accentuate the differences between man and woman, and even increase sex appeal, men had their reasons. After the practice was started, a combination of obligation and encouragement kept the practice going. If one has only known the world to work one way, it will most likely keep working that way. Fortunately, it finally fell out of favor, at which point, due to women's newfound freedom and lack of obligation, the practice of binding all but died out.
Works Cited
Levy, Howard S. Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom. 1923, Neville Spearman Ltd., London.
I will be explaining the role of women in society in Bound Feet and Western Dress. The Chinese have traditions that are generations old and are very serious in their culture. These Chinese traditions have been deeply established. In Bound feet and Western Dress, a dispute between Chinese traditions and Westernization of Chinese women begin to emerge. The women in traditional China were treated unequally and were basically looked upon as property for their husband. The women were taken in by the husband’s family and had to always obey their husband and also had to take orders from the husband’s family as well.
was frowned on. Skirts would fly upward and legs would show! And it was not
The time period from “Girl” portrays how women were treated and forced to act when they were raised as oppose of young boys. Through out the story we understand that young ladies were forced to learn how do domestic duties from a very young age. An example of this is” this is how you sew on a button…this
Girls were seen as the property of their fathers – to be given away to
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In the home, Athenian women were treated like slaves with no rights. Married women were not people under the law of the Athenians any more than a slave, as they were shifted from one male’s authority to another throughout their lives, powerless to affect anything except through the intercession of another male (To Have Power or to Not Have Power: Athenian vs. Spartan Women). Also, when other males occupied their home; women we told to evacuate the male quarters. Women lived secluded in their own quarters, kept out of the lives of their husbands, working endlessly at the loom or some other repetitive chore. They competed for their husband’s affection against prostitutes, hetairai, and slaves of both genders, including those within their own household. By contrast, Spartan girls exercised publicly alongside boys(and often in the nude) (Fleck).Thus, Spartan women were rarely confined to the home. This is because of the abundance of a workforce and male children serving in the army from seven to
Funnily drag did not n’t start out as a form of expression but as a necessity. In Ancient Greece, women could not n’t perform in plays because it was considered deemed “too dangerous”(Conger). In the middle ages, Europe’s Christian church continued the ban
The Crucible shows that women had no say so in how their life and marriage went. Their husbands spoke for them. The only task women had to worry about was reproducing, praying, and understanding their place in the family. Farming was usually run by the farmer and his wife. The woman usually fed the chickens, collected the eggs, or did the milking. Being a midwife was also very important to the community. It was usually run by two women, who helped with childbirth. Spinning wool and flax into thread was a very important task due to the limitation of fabrics during this time. Children usually helped their mothers tend to the farm, or became servants in homes at a very young age. Working as a servant was done by young girls, until she and her prospective husband had saved enough money to start a business, and or get married.
The first tradition mentioned in “Like Water for Chocolate” was the role of the youngest daughter as pertains to her future. These women were not allowed to marry. Their duty in their life was to care for the mother as ...
Shoes are danced to pieces not by honest walking, but by dancing, dancing in the underground with the bewitched. It unravels the mystery by amplifying two crucial ideas – that of shoes, and of dancing. Shoes are worn for protection and warmth. In many cultures, it is a part of modesty and aristocracy. On the other hand, secretive nocturnal act(dancing) can be seen as an act of something illegal such as prostitution, extra-marital relation, sexuality before marriage as Freud Considered the rhythmic activity of dancing as sex (1935, p. 20) a. Shoes that were worn apart symbolizing modesty of the princesses or issue of
The ancient Chinese custom of footbinding has caused severe life-long suffering for the Chinese women involved. The first documented reference to footbinding was from the Southern Tang Dynasty in Nanjing. It was introduced in the 11th century and spread from the ranks of the wealthy to those of more modest means to peasantry. A main reason women did this was for the pleasure of men. Men preferred women with small feet and sexual urges weren't present for un-bound feet. Although the history of footbinding is very vague, it lasted for at least one thousand years. This painful process which folds all the toes except the big one under the sole to make the foot slender and pointed, was created just for the enjoyment and looking pleasures of men.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China begins with author Jung Chang’s grandmother, who was born in 1909 with the name Yu-fang. In traditional Chinese culture, for any hopes of marriage, the mother must first bind her daughter’s feet. Though a long and painful process, foot binding was considered a beautiful trait in Chinese men’s eyes. By the age of two, Yu-Fang’s feet were bounded and were referred to as “Lotus Feet”. Having one’s feet bounded during this time period, made it difficult for a woman to walk, and spent their life in pain due to the broken arch and constant bending of the toes. Her father, Yang, was determined to have his daughter’s social status...
In the area of religion the “emphasis of religious based subordination suggested that, for a woman to be virtuous and serve God, she must follow the lead of her husband […] this gave men the impression that they had a God given right to control their wives, even if this mean through the use of physical correction” (Nolte 1). Due to the fact that religion is claimed to be an important Victorian ideal, men believe that for women to lead a virtuous life, she must follow the wishes of her husband. Even if these wishes allow her to be beat.
From ancient time through now, people always want to be a fashionable person; especially for women, because they want their bodies have a curve and they also want their bodies more fit and more shape. Each person has their view of fashion, and each country also has their types of fashion. In the western country, people think that wearing a corset is very fashionable. Between the middle of the 16th century to 18th century, women always to wear corset between a rigid quasi-cylindrical torso above their waist and heavy full skirts below to let their bodies look more gorgeous. In the ancient China, Chinese’s women think foot-binding is fashion. From the 10th century to early 20th century, most ancient Chinese women think small feet looks beautiful and fashionable. They used a strip of cloth to tightly tie their ankle when they were four or five years old, and they were kept it for life time. No matter what method people use to express the fashion, people’s primary goal is to make them look beautiful, make their bodies has a curve and become more fashionable. By today, wearing shapewear can modify people’s bodies; can influence people to believe fantasy thinner is normal; can let people have more self-confidence and it also encourage people to pursue high social status. Although shapewear may pose some health risk, it benefits many people physically and psychologically.
The mother’s genuine care for her daughter in girl is displayed through her imperative instructions. The mother decides to transfer her domestic knowledge and life experience to her daughter in order to shape her daughter’s behavior from a young age. She gives out detailed instruction on how to “sew a button, how to hem a dress when the hem coming down to how to iron a khaki shirt so that it does not have a crease” (Kincaid). Although heming a dress is not a difficult chore, the mother emphasizes the its importance since she understands that the appearance of clothing reflects a woman’s character. Because domestic skills serve as a measurement for women’s competence and self-worth, the daughter’s inability to take care of her clothes will indicate her lack of interest in household affair and organizational skills. Through these advice, the mother highlights the importance of house...