Does Chinese Foot Binding Still Impact Society Today?

Chinese foot binding was a very ancient tradition in China in which the foot of young girls was tightly bound to prevent it growing. They wore especially made very dainty shoes. A smaller foot in the culture at that time was considered more erotic and a higher price could be demanded for a bride. The practice was painful, resulted in a lifelong disability but was accepted by the girls of the time as it was part of the culture to do this. It was really a form of torture. Fortunately the practice dies out due to changing cultures and social pressure. There are still some older females alive today in China who were subjected to the practice and are certainly suffering the consequences of it.

While the practice in historical China has died out and no longer continues, some experts like to draw parallels between that practice and the wearing of high heel tight fitting shoes that are worn in today’s culture by many females. The webmaster of Podiatry Arena, Craig Payne, says “For sure! The technique of Chinese foot binding in China was only to please the males of the time. You have to ask, why are females today wearing tight fitting shoes for? Who are they trying to please by wearing them if they hurt and lead to some disability in the longer term?”.

Others consider it might be a bit of a stretch to make parallels between what we see today and what happened in the historical culture of China., there is no doubt that the wearing of tight fitting and high heel shoes is causing long term problems like bunions and hammer toes. They do not come remotely close to causing the kind of deformity and disability that was seen in China. Payne suggests that it probably does not matter if the parallels exist or not, the pain and disability caused by footwear practices in the name of being more attractive does exist.

This article is based on a press release from PRLog.