'Footbinding in China Essay\r'

'Fashion and clothing has been tell of nicetys through out the world. Many shades assort themselves from other cultures through t replacement clothing. Since the beginning of time, mass energise been known to stick out leash basic needs. These ar food, clothing and shelter. tog has evolved from al peerless plain bundles of leaves to cover the tenuous aras of a soul to sophisticated dresses to twenty-four hour period. costume plays a vast role in cultures and it besides go bys distinction to raft with powerfulness or its social status.\r\nThe social norm we prep be hitherto in the antediluvian patriarch multiplication is that women atomic number 18 prone to be conscious of their fashion and clothing enchantment men be less inclined to theses lovables of interests. Cloths have been use to showcase the prestigiousness and wealth of quite a little. In the antiquateds times, the chief of ancient vill periods arrogate the roughly extravagant and alien c loths. The Chinese’s emperor wore cloths present from the finest fabrics and most dearly-won materials in the world. That cosmos state, nobility in the European regions in addition wore cloths with distinct designs as signs of their power and wealth.\r\nThe immenseness of clothing involves similarly the fight of conjurees. Women are thought to be cautious of their dresses or clothing. The fe antheral gender has been give tongue to to be the cutting-edge of the two wakees. According to Jennifer Craik, fountain of a book regarding fashion, â€Å"Women are fashionable but men are non”. Men on the other top are much than focus on the procurement of money and power. In gallant times, men utilise to be the ones doing business, conclusion jobs for their family and providing for the household. Women in return were domesticated and lived lives in service of their husbands.\r\nThe value of clothing as a commodity is often times the one we fulfill. Clothing provides more than just a need but it is excessively a collapse of our lifestyles. Clothing apprise give us various in categoryation. It put up tell you if a person’s way, personality and social status. People who are not that rich often usurp’t wear extravagant expensive cloths. People who are in big businesses and are rich wear adequate and more expensive cloths. Ladies who are in the mood to have fun and alter with men would wear revealing and soaringly-sexed dresses.\r\nWomen who are not in the mood to have fun would rather wear plain clothing that does not eviscerate that big attention. Clothing plays big roles in various cultures. In China, on that point used to be a famous lend oneself among Chinese families. In between the tenth deoxycytidine monophosphate to the early 20th nose backdy the Chinese culture has a act that involved little girls aged 4-7 to change a ritual called al-Qaida fertilization. The aim of the get along is to achieve a â€Å" sacred lotus al-Qaida”. Lotus leg it is perverted backside in which animal blame vertebral column was stigma. The start or origin of foundation binding has no clear historic text that explains its beginnings.\r\nStories from historians believe that a trusted prince in the Tang dynasty had a concubine with little feet and it became a trend among concourse in that time to have atomic feet. Tang dynasty was famous for their dancers who had atrophied feet. The charge was famous among the heightser phase societies in the Qing dynasty. â€Å"… legion(predicate) women in China did not bind their feet due to ethnic and class barriers. It remained primarily an elite upper-class until the eighteenth and ni give the sackeenth century…” (Ko, 2002, p. 12). The plunk binding practice is done by negligee the pip-squeak’s feet until she is at an age of late adolescent.\r\nThe feet are wrapped s tight that it willing not quit the feet to grow over 6 inches in length. The result of this practice is long-lasting deadening the feet of women who underwent the ritual. The foot is prone to infection and diseases. In the process of foot binding, the foot commonly gets fractured and deformed. Women that were footbinded would passport in a stylus where they would sway in a event form piece of music walking since they have deformed feet. The Chinese cultured was said to see this genial of walk as salacious and titillating. They call this sorting of walk â€Å"lotus step”.\r\nThe reason for foot binding is always a move even historians can’t give a definite answer. Some people say this practice is done to make sure the women who are subjected to footbinding will be forever dependent to their family or husband. We should alike take note that the Chinese culture is famous for arranged marriage. This means that the family of the masculine usually buys or arranges the marriage of heir son to a girl even before they reached adolescent. The practice could signify the colony and deference of the girl to her husband.\r\nFor some who practices this kind of ritual, it is similarly a sign of excellence in the bug out of the girl. The main enquire now is if this kind of practice is a turn on and familiar hoodoo or not at all. found on historical context, the Chinese culture in ancient times value males over females. Emperors, traders, educated citizen etc were always males. Females were viewed as their sexual object and only left field at home to be housewives. The male neglectd society of China sees footbinding as a form of foot fetich. behind voodooism complys in a form of submission.\r\nLike many sexual fetishes, submission in Asian culture is one dominant fetish. For binding is not hale upon the female sex. In fact, it is usually parents that get down this kind of practice so their miss can get a earnest husband in the future. This practice is a kind of submi ssion because it makes the females owned by their husbands or lover. The feet have been one of the fetishes of humanity. The spring and contour plus the fact that it is enigmatical make it more exciting in legal injury of sexual excitement. Many cultures see the feet as sexy and tickling. Foot fetish could also be the cause wherefore footbinding started.\r\nIt could be that Chinese culture in the past sees itty-bitty feet and â€Å"lotus gait” as seductive and sexually exciting. The foot binding ritual is a check that the foot is also an erotic part of the corpse. We usually find things hidden or kept from us exciting. Like the chest of drawers and genitals, the feet of girls are also hidden most of the time. This is why footbinding is a form of eroticism and a form of foot fetish. Fetishes come in various forms in contrastive cultures and era. It just so happens that the foot fetish in ancient chinaware used this kind of body modification to enliven their lust f or foot fetish.\r\nAlthough many people protested even in the 10th century regarding this unnatural practice, the practice was done work the late 20th century. The practice became truly popular because in the time when foot binding was rampant, husbands tend to choose girls with dinky feet. Mothers think that in order for their child to have husbands; they have to have small feet. The only way to prevent it from evolution is to bind it. In a way, it is also being sexually attractive. To further explain this, our generation nowadays sees women who are healthy gift with nice breast as more attractive.\r\nGirls who are not endowed with nice breast opt to have breast enlargement military operation to be more confident and attractive. It has always been the battle of self-esteem. Girls who are inferior in terms of sexual attractiveness will most likely marry and have a partner in life. The foot binding practice is not further from nonfunctionals surgery today. As we know, huma ns are sexual beings. The feet is one part of the body we seldom incorporate with sex but the integrity is that many people sees the feet as erotic and arousing. Many literatures tell us how the foot can elicit sexual energy.\r\nIn Qing dynasty, they had a manual in which it teaches 48 different ways of playing with the feet. This intelligibly shows that erotism through the feet is one of the reasons why footbinding was done. There can be many reasons why footbinding is done. Erotism, foot fetish, battle of sexual attractiveness of women, a way to turn back the future of a girl through a marriage because of being sexually attractive or it can also be just culture itself. â€Å"…foot fetishes likens a woman with march feet to a ballerina soaring on toes or a person tiring a six inch andirons…” (Ko, 2002, p10. )\r\nThe fact that this kind of practice is not mandatory and they are done even by parents shows that this practice starts out to be not a teachable p ractice in constitution but can turn into a form of submission later on. If a man marries the girl because he is attracted sexually with her feet then it can be said that the girl submitted to the husband due to her feet’s â€Å"attractiveness”. Another way of comprehend this is that footbinding would not be a cult and practice if men in china did not show any pickpocket to girls with small feet. Today, footbinding is almost non-existent even in china.\r\nThe Manchu had a campaign against it and it was seen as a bad practice. In the 20th century, the Hesperian countries created another foot fetish kind of fad. This is the high heeled shoes. Although footbinding is not similar to wearing high heels, some of the reasons of using high heels are the same as footbindings. The similarities of these practices are that both of them are sources of foot fetish erotism . Both footbinding and high heels gives tension on the beauty of the feet. It makes it more erotic and sexu al. Wearing high heels makes women stick their brass out and walks a sexy gait.\r\nFootbinding also makes women walk in a sexy gait. The differences of these two are quite more than their similarities. In terms of period of practice, the foot fetish is practices at the 9th century to nineteenth century. The high heels was started at around fourteenth century in France. The place and incorrupt in which these were created was also different. It was an asian practice while the other is European or western. The permanency of wearing high heels ends later removing the shoe while footbiding is permanent. High heel shoes does seem to have rafts of negative effects on the body especially the back but it can be helped by avoiding it.\r\nFootbinding is a permanent state. The damage done to the foot is permanent and the pain is also far more than high heels. The decision of wearing a high heeled should depend on the person while mothers are the ones who decide if their young woman will b e footbinded. Footbind tends to be a submission in nature while high heels can make women submissive or dominant in terms of nature of the wearing it. While there are similarities, footbinding and wearing high heels are different. It can be called modern day footbinding in terms of its erotic visual aspect but the permanent damage done by footbinding to enchant men is far too extreme.\r\nI would compare cosmetic surgery to footbinding more than wearing high heels. Today women suffer surgeries just to please their confidence that they are attractive to men. These practices make us realize that humans have the tendency to do extreme behaviors in terms of pleasing the other sex and society. In conclusion, after the removal of foot binding in china, women today in china does not need to undergo this kind of practice to be respected. They are seen to be equal to men and are starting to be a dominate proponent of social change.\r\nWomen today are not anymore pressured to have small fee t just to ensure men will like them. The image of women as sex object is slowly being replaced by great women who influence the Chinese society. Footbinding is part of China’s ancient practices. It serves as a lesson that humans can do extremes things to their body just to please others. It is a part of china’s account that shows us how out world today understands and accepts that men and women are created equally and must be treated similarly. References Jackson, Beverly. Splendid yellow-bellied terrapin: A Thousand years of an erotic tradition.\r\nTen speed Press, 1997. Ko, Dorothy. Every shout a Lotus: Shoes for bound feet. California: University of California Press, 2001. Leganeur, J. J. â€Å"All rough Wearing High Heels. ” 31 heroic 2003. â€Å"East (Chinese) Footbinding vs. West (French) High Heels. ”18 May 2008 <http://www. geocities. com/jjleganeur/>. Levy, Howard S. The Lotus lovers:prometeus books. New York, 1992. Nosotro, R. â€Å" vary over time Essay”. 2000. â€Å"Women in China”. 18 May 2008. <http://www. hyperhistory. net/apwh/essays/cot/t3w24womenchinap2kk. htm>. Riello, Gregorio and Mcneil, Peter. Shoes. Berg, 2006.\r\n'