Foot Binding

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Reading the selections, viewing lecture photos, and doing my own research, I was quite perplexed at the binding of feet. Often times when learning of different cultures, we have some difficulty understanding different customs if they seem drastically different or we do not understand their purpose. Looking at different photographs, the ramifications of foot binding seemed rather hurtful, barbaric, and gruesome. The way in which the feet ended up looking seemed rather disturbing and that people would do so willingly wasnt something I understood well. Reading on it was fascinating to see what motivations and reasons were presented.

Then I thought of things that maybe someone would think was not normal in our culture. I made a list in my notes: breast implants, plastic surgery, corsets, high heels (guilty), tight tight jeans (on both genders), etc. The person that kept flashing in my mind was Heidi Montag from The Hills and the Lioness lady that gets mentioned whenever plastic surgery problems arrise in the media. It pains me to see things like this and it seems quite confusing when I see women when I'm out in painful outfits that they dont look to comfortable in.

Its reflective of how the society defined beauty and what cultural/economic divides there have been in Asia and generally everywhere. My friend, Lily, is a full figured woman and has often said, "I'm somebody's cup of tea. In Africa, Latin America, and many other places, I"m the ideal woman" There is always a historical, cultural dimension involved in different rituals and beauty regiments/practices. It said that foot binding was in China but not prominent in Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. Someone in class also mentioned that there was no way back from foot binding. My sister was into piercings when she was younger and I warned her that it might be possible later on that she wouldnt like later on. Of course now at 23, she already feels that they were mistakes.

[Anonymous]

There's a short story, "Ribbons," by Laurence Yep in the 8th grade literature (Prentice Hall edition) textbook that discusses the issue of foot binding. I read this story with my students and we discussed briefly about foot binding. I am attaching a powerpoint that I created for this presentation on foot-binding as related the Ribbons.

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