Foot Binding

Foot Binding

The Song Dynasty represents another culture that undermined the position of women not only in the Chinese textile industry but also in their society as a whole. Although women had at one point in time dominated the more lucrative silk weaving industry this was taken over by men. Women’s opportunities in this industry were limited to attending to the silk worms and the spinning of silk thread.

This also led many women transgressing into roles such as concubines, courtesans, and prostitutes. Which in turn led to women competing against women for men’s attention and for married women the result led to household battles.

But what intrigued me more is the foot binding tradition. This to me is just another example of the patriarchal societies attempts (and successes) at controlling their women.  The process is painful, debilitating, and is started at a very young age for girls. The foot is broken, bounded, and displayed in tiny beautiful slippers. Apparently, this was a right of passage of sorts. However, the picture of the results of this practice on page 372 made me rather ill. The foot has conformed to show that it is bound to. The reason you see images of these women walking slowly and gently is that they are in constant pain. This is obviously a form of abuse to an outsider, but what do the women feel that have been subjected to this tradition and torture feel about it?

I can almost hear the critics saying, “Well, look at how your current culture envisions beauty and to what extent women go to in order to achieve this ideal?” Small, delicate, ultra-feminine, submissive are in some cultures required in order to find husbands and procreate. Today’s society the message is to be thin, get breast augmentation, plastic surgery (you name it!). This superficial judgment and consequences on young girls is appalling.

According to the reading the foot binding is symbolized with female beauty that emphasized small size, frailty, and deference to their male counterparts and served to keep women restricted to the ‘inner quarters’. (Strayer, p. 371).

If this is a society that emphases this belief and practice then it is no wonder that a mother would inflict this type of abuse on her daughter in the hopes that she would be seen as desirable and hopefully find a good husband.    

I will take flip-flops any day of the week!!