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.
was frowned on. Skirts would fly upward and legs would show! And it was not
In her article "The body as attire," Dorothy Ko (1997) reviewed the history about foot binding in seventeenth-century China, and expressed a creative viewpoint. Foot binding began in Song Dynasty, and was just popular in upper social society. With the gradually popularization of foot binding, in the end of Song Dynasty, it became generally popular. In Qing Dynasty, foot binding was endowed deeper meaning that was termed into a tool to against Manchu rule. The author, Dorothy Ko, studied from another aspect which was women themselves to understand and explained her shifting meaning of foot binding. Dorothy Ko contends that “Chinese Elite males in the seventeenth century regarded foot binding in three ways: as an expression of Chinese wen civility,
Traditions in Chinese culture are long-rooted and are taken very seriously from generation to generation. However, there must always be room for modern change in order for society to grow and strive across the globe. In Bound Feet and Western Dress the conflict between Chinese traditions and modern change arises. With this conflict it is important to discuss the different meanings of liberation for men and women and they way in which Chang Yu-I was able to obtain liberation throughout her life.
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.
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
The role of a woman in this society is entirely dependent upon the color of cloths that she wears. The women will get this color for a specific reason. If a woman is able to reproduce she will become a Handmaid. The Handmaids exist because the Wives are physically unable to have a child of their own. The Handmaid’s position is to reproduce for the Commander and his wife, so that they can have a family together. A woman will become a Martha if she is unable to reproduce. The Martha’s job is to look after the families. She has to care for the family, protect them, and to comfort them at all times. The Wives job is to essentially have her family. The wife is to make sure the Handmaid has her child and she is to be calm and peaceful. A woman would become one of the Wives if she was already married to her husband before the laws in their society changed.
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
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 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 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.
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 ...
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...
Girls were seen as the property of their fathers – to be given away to