Message from syamada

[Anonymous]

I introduced all my students to footbinding with great success. On Tuesday, a PD day, my 9th and 10th grade English classes completed a worksheet consisting of three questions about clothing we wear that might be considered uncomfortable or ugly in another culture; things people do to make themselves more attractive; and reasons people might wear restrictive clothing.

I then had them read a two-page personal narrative by a woman who had had her foot bound starting at age seven. By nine, she was betrothed to a neighbor’s son and the mother-in-law took over the binding ritual, inserting tiles in the binding to cause severe inflammation. She says her husband was pleased with the result, but at the time she wrote her essay, he had passed away, the family wealth had been dissipated, and she had to wander about looking for work. She writes:

“…. That is how I came down to my present circumstances. I envy the modern woman. If I too had been born just a decade or so later, all of this pain could have been avoided. The lot of the natural-footed woman and mine is like that of heaven and hell.”

Source: Howard S. Levy, Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom (Walton Rawls Publisher, 1966) Reprinted by permission in: Riley, Philip F., et al. The Global Experience: Readings in World History to 1500, vol. 1. (Prentice Hall, 1994)

I sent around photos of women with bound feet, a close up of a bare deformed bound foot, and an embroidered shoe. I then asked my students to write on topics such as the meaning of beauty, the influence of media on our perceptions of beauty, how much is too much (plastic surgery), or comments about the essay. My students were attentive and engaged and responded enthusiastically to class discussions. I read the essay to my Strategic Literacy students with the same results.

This was a very successful lesson and can easily be expanded with other projects, such as researching rituals around the world pertaining to beauty.

Useful websites: http://starbulletin.com/98/03/10/features/story1.html
http://www.autry-museum.org/learn/images/Tom_Shee_Bin_Lesson_Plan.pdf