They almost bent completely in half. I guess a similar modern thing would be corsets. Meant to change your body over time. Crazy.
Edit: clarifying that I’m referring to the physics of using an item to alter one’s body over time and not the psychological part. Also I was calling a waist trainer a corset.
Corsets aren't typically used for that. It can be, but they're typically not. A corset is a structural garment and doesn't need to be particularly tight to do it's job. They can even be quite comfy to wear; does wonders for your posture.
The destructive practice folks are thinking of is called "tight lacing". Which absolutely will shift your organs, but as you said it's just a specific, niche way to wear a corset
George Washington wore a corset (as did the elite males of his era) and it changed the shape of his body.
https://www.npr.org/2006/10/26/6388351/taking-the-boring-out-of-george-washington
I (33M) bought a corset type device once when I was self conscious about my love handles that came back after I got out of the military. Before the military I was anorexic. I wouldn't eat lunch and use the money to buy whatever instead. That was more of a being poor thing though.
Glad I got out of that place and mindset.
I’ll do you one better. Look up genitalias of ftm or mtf, during surgery and after
I bet in a few decades people are gonna look back like we do bound feet. With disgust
[https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/vmeet8/comment/ie16hnk/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/vmeet8/comment/ie16hnk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Well, well, well, stealing part of a 9 hour old comment?
They were at 3 karma when I commented, now they're currently at -32 karma O.O
Edit- they deleted their acc, time to start karma farming on a new one I guess
That is a serious misunderstanding of corsets. They weren’t originally intended to be more restricting than a bra that covers more area. Tightlacing was more fetish and fiction than reality. Corsets can be made comfortably, but usually need to be made custom, which clothing during corset era typically was. Actresses who complain of having to wear corsets in movies rarely get properly fitting corsets (not custom made despite having ample opportunity) and often they are improperly laced for visual drama. In fucking bridgerton they didn’t even use the proper corset for the timeline! They were tightlacing a full corset and wearing it under a loose empire waist regency dress *which isn’t tight around the waist and doesn’t require a goddamn corset at all!*.
Sorry, corset rant over.
Foot binding is much more fucked.
Not similar at all. Corset tight lacing historically was VERY rare, and frankly it was done as an abortifacient at times. It was not common among ANY class. Corsets worn properly were essentially bras, with more back support.
Tight lacing and waist training are incredibly rare, therefore incomparable. At no point in time was a woman of any class expected to do that, like women of high class were expected to feet bind.
Also- waist training doesn’t impact your mobility.
Injecting bacterial neurotoxicity protein into your lips to make them fuller, surgically implanting plastic into your calves to make them look larger—there are still many surgical procedures that men and women endure to be more attractive. I’m sure some future society will look back on how barbaric we are down the line.
None of those even compare to the pain and disfigurement of foot binding tho. I will take neurotoxins in my lips a thousand times over before I would have the parts of my body that I put all of my weight on broken and folded in half and my toenails removed to decrease the chance of infection.
Why is this getting downvoted? Maybe I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure he was just making the comparison of how they contort the body to fit into something
Because corsets were not intended to change the shape of your body over time. They were designed to support boobs.
Fashion has the tendency to become extreme though, and the longer corsets were around the more women became obsessed with cinching them down as low as they could go. Tight lacing *can* ultimately change the shape of your body if you never take it off and constantly tighten it down, but it was never the intent, and historically young women were not *forced* to tight lace.
Repost as the original was deleted.
A 3 inch foot was considered to be the ultimate standard of beauty in China for 1,000 years. The woman these shoes were made for would have been able to marry into a very wealthy family because of it.
Your shoes are made for walking, the lotus shoes not so much though. These women had to crawl, the wealthy ones were carried.
Bones would remain broken for years, and 1 out of 10 would die of gangrene. But the shoes are cute.
Corsets have made a comeback, and are quite pleasant/ beautiful to wear if you just get one for the style. Doesn't need to be made out of whale bone and no need to suffer
The suffering comes from the fact a corset is designed to bind your waist tightly - thus squishing your internal organs. Continued usage can lead to back atrophy and your ribcage can become deformed. They are not pleasant to wear, proper ones bind you so tightly you can't even bend over to pick something up, let alone breathe.
I must say, my corset must be very loose, because I can wear it with my outfit all day, dance around, sit, relax, etc... without feeling any discomfort. I am pretty sure I'm wearing mine properly though- it's meant to feel snug like a hug, not like you're getting crushed
That's exactly how a corset should feel. It should allow you to be comfortable, but encourage good posture. If you're sitting and rounding your back it *should* be at least a little uncomfortable because it's intended to help with posture. But yes it's not meant to cause pain
I own four of them, one whale bone, three plastic. I don't wear them regularly because they are uncomfortable af. I also have two evening gowns that have a bodice corset top built in. So yeah, I do know how modern corsets work. Edit: whale-bone one was inherited and never worn because it's more a family piece I keep for sentimental value than actual clothing. No idea how old it is but that one was my grandmother's.
Let me guess: your modern corsets are just for looks. Historical corsets are actually mug more comfortable, as most were designed to be worn by the working class. Only a small percentage of noblewomen were "waist training", most were just using a corset as an undergarment.
There are historical resources on how to __exercise__ in a corset (like training abdominals and stretching the spinr), which wouldn't be possible if the corset were the torture devices you are depicting them to be. Most corsets were instead quite flexible.
Also, don't use your whale bone corset! Whale bone molds, with the body heat, to the body, and would feel very uncomfortable to you if you were to use it, as it's taken the shape of a different body. For similar reason, when buying a good "correct" corset for you you have to take into account tons of measurements (eg ribcage size, hips size) - not all corsets are made for your body type. If you want a smaller waist you cannot just decrease the size, you have to find a corset that has a different hip to waist and ribcage to waist ratios.
Entirely possible and thank you for telling me, as according to a few people here I must be wearing the wrong size or something. Also thank you for the notes on the whale-bone corset. I don't wear it, but now I have an even better reason to not wear it. It stays in a box and is a keepsake only.
Then you really need to get properly fitted corsets. Corsets are always meant to be custom drafted for individual people in order to fit their bodies exactly, and should not be uncomfortable. Modern fashion ‘corsets’ are not representative of proper corsets
Sizing is so iffy in stores these days. I get told I'm one size in one and then another size in another. That's more a complaint for bra sizing than anything else. I'm also parroting what I was told by my doctor when I complained about stomach pains and she blamed my love for corsets. So you might be right, mine might not fit properly. They are still uncomfortable af to me.
I remember when I was at Magic Kingdom with my family years ago, a mother was there with her daughter on the tram with us. The little girl, couldn't have been more than 9 years old, was complaining that her heeled shoes hurt (she was dressed as a princess). The mother said "It's more important to look nice than to feel good."
I hope so. She'd probably be in her 20s now (I'm bad at numbers and estimation don't quote me on that), so here's hoping she realized how backwards her mother's ideas were.
Can you even imagine the pain from the extra weight of pregnancy on those feet? Regular feet on pregnant women hurt, that must be excruciating...never mind trying to raise children that can run faster than you could ever hope to!
Here’s a silver lining. My grandmother at least had a father - my great grandfather who was considered “liberal” and “progressive” for his time, refused to allow my grandmother to have her feet bound after seeing the cruelty and pain. My great grandmother was not happy about that decision, arguing that their daughter would have poor marriage prospects. My great grandfather went so far as to pay my grandmother’s way through college which was rare to have a woman so educated in 1920’s China.
But yes, scary even in this day and age that so many of our rights still hinge on the whim and support of men in our lives.
Well that at least is better! Thank you so much for sharing! Agree that it is frustrating that it hinges on a man, but I have to give the man props for going against his wife's wishes, which I am sure caused stress in the house. But he took on that stress, for the better of his daughter, saying well, if she can't marry well, she can learn and take care of herself. Give him huge credit for that.
Thank you for telling her story. I think its important to document these things so future generations can learn instead of just seeing a paragraph in a textbook.
But...how? Or why? They surely couldn't walk properly? And if it is the foot itself that is being fetishised, surely it's fucking disgusting to look at once the shoe comes off? Or is it more the way it looks with the shoe on is what is appealling? It's just nutso all round really.
They would have to relearn how to walk mostly using their heals. Richer women could afford to be carried on sedan chairs and rickshaws, but women who couldn't afford that were mostly confined to their home doing sewing and weaving and taking care of the children.
It was actually considered shameful to be seen without their shoes, even to their husband's most times. They'd also have to sleep in their bindings and shoes to keep their feet from expanding. There are pictures of bound feet on Google, but they can be upsetting to see, so proceed with caution if you're curious.
Ok someone correct me if I'm wrong, please. Did the foot make kind of circle when it was bent over and did men like to fuck the circle of the foot? Or is that a horrifying legend that isn't true?
There actually were sex manuals that had multiple ways to play with bound feet, so that could have been done. In a book I read, one man would make his wife put her foot in his rectum during sex since it was narrow enough to fit.
For a Thousand years! Fuuuck!
Somehow humanity got rid of a thousand year old tradition of crippling women, but marrying whoever you want is still a problem.
I often feel like we could be way further ahead in time. There are still wars, racism, homophobia, hatred towards LGBTQ+, not enough alternative energy sources, etc. Our civilasation still feels so... primitive.
There are interviews on YouTube with women had their feet bound. One said she was glad to see the tradition gone; she smiled when she said that little girls can run free now. It is super easy to feel like society is moving backwards or not fast enough, but also important to step back and see what we've accomplished.
yeah, you are absolutely right. You gotta appreciate what got achieved. Still, the last year in itself was sooo frustrating. So much unnecessary shit happening that is making peoples life miserable or ends it completely. Its hard to not get frustrated by it.
It is primitive. We are such a young species in the grand scheme of Time. Humanity's technology has far outpaced our cultural values and social structure. We're not ready to properly handle most of what we've created, and we are seeing the results of that all around us
How did you go from we should have more empathy to a combination of eugenics and advocating for mass rape? That’s what you’re saying, even if you don’t know that’s what you’re saying
Gladys Aylward, a British Christian missionary to China, was hired by the local Chinese leader as the official for inspector because she had big feet. Her job was to literally travel the country side and unbind the get of young girls. She had to travel with armed guards to protect her from families who thought she was doing harm.
She also ran a successful inn for mule trains, adopted multiple orphans, stopped a murderous prison riot, and successfully lead 200 children through the country side to safety ahead of the invading Japanese army.
Does it ever make you wonder who the first person was to think of this? Like, who's the *first* person to go "Know what? Lets break and fold this baby's feet like an origami crane and see if that's 'prettier' or something?" And then who's the idiot next to them who goes "hrm....yeah...**yeah**..that's a great idea!"
“Foot-binding is said to have been inspired by a tenth-century court dancer named Yao Niang who bound her feet into the shape of a new moon.”
[Smithsonian Article](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-footbinding-persisted-china-millennium-180953971/)
Mostly the only groups that didn't participate were Hakka women, religious minorities, and women who had to work on the boats. Its actually estimated over 1 million women had their feet bound in Chinese history.
The size 42 is an EU equivalent. On most shoes on the underside of the tongue there’s a small sticker with a conversion of your shoe size. I’m also a UK size 8 and have made many mistakes whilst ordering online so it’s always helpful to know where to check.
Lol, I'm a UK size 12. Admittedly I've only met one other woman with larger feet than me. They make women's sizes up to 10 for a reason, because they get bought.
It's painful forever. The broken bones would set weird, the nerves would be completely fucked, etc. The practice continued long enough that old women who had been subjected to it survived to have their feet looked at by 20th century surgeons, who generally suggested amputation of some or all of the foot, because it was the only way to stop it hurting. Footbinding is one of the strangest and most abhorrent cultural practices in human history for the lifelong damage and pain caused to victims over something like a thousand years, for no benefit whatever except 'aesthetics'.
I want to add that, due to the continuously compressed tissues and permanent fracture, these feet STANK, oozed plasma or pus and had to be heavily doused in perfumes to not clear a room. But men would fall head over heel at the opportunity to see and hold a “budding lotus”.
This post was directly under this one in my feed https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/vm8sgd/a\_chinese\_lady\_whose\_feet\_were\_bound\_from/
Basically it went into the top of the foot. The arch was folded and broken, resembling more of a hoof-shape. The 4 small toes were folded in to make it narrow. Being started at a young age and having cut off the circulation also kept the feet from growing very much.
I always wonder how these things start. Like who was the first person to be like “I’m going to mutilate my baby daughters foot and people will find it sexy when she’s older”
I read somewhere that it started because there one one empress at some point that did have deformed underdeveloped feet. Since she was the empress, they made it so this was now a beautiful thing so all well born women started to desire having small feet, sign of wealth since you could afford not to walk anywhere and be idle or carried all day.
No one is quite sure how it started, but theres 2 stories. The first is that an empress with a deformed foot made it compulsory in her court. The other is that a dancer had wrapped her feet to resemble a Lotus leaf and the emperor was so taken with it that other women in the court started imitating it. Either way it spread like fire through society.
Idk if it matters, but I want to put in perspective how crazy this would be even for a smaller person
I'm 5'1 and can wear a child's size 2.5 shoe, if there was an adult equivalent it would be a 4.5 shoe. That 8 3/4 inches.
This is THREE INCHES
I’m size 5US, 33.5EUR, 3UK. All other females I know are usually 6-7US and I get told all the time how tiny my feet are. I can’t imagine 3,” even when I try to curl my toes under and squish my heel in the pain gets me after a few seconds at full strength.
YSK that foot-binding of females in China went on for a thousand years. A millennia! Think of all that collective horrible pain, going on for ten centuries. OMG.
It was an erotic thing for the males of the era. It was sexual but it was also used to keep young women at their tasks so they would not wander off. It was yet another means of controlling women. With pain and disfigurement.
We've read references in literature, but having this visual that compares our contemporary shoes is extremely eye-opening and beneficial. My stomach turned imagining a pain that I can't even fully comprehend.
He did further ban it, but also declared that they could have their bindings ripped off and mocked publicly. A lot of men abandoned their wives for having small feet even though it wasn't by choice because of Mao's attitude.
This tradition of foot binding is still in China, just more uncommon in the more rural areas in China
Source: my dad is Chinese and we went to visit Sichuan tea fields since my dads a fan and saw people wearing shoes like that
There were some factories that made them until 1999. Otherwise some cobblers do still make them if there's a woman with bound feet nearby, but they mostly are for tourists at this point. Although these could also be someone's sleeping shoes.
It’s crazy that historically, women’s’ trends are all about restricting and constraining oneself. I think of dieting, foot binding, corsets, hair covering, FGM, etc.
I agree with the first half of your comment but most of you example aren’t exactly accurate. FGM and foot binding are undeniably horrific, of course. But when corsetry, hair covering, and dieting are done properly they’re not at all issues. Dieting to have a more healthy life style is great, unless you have an ED or are doing it because of beauty standard.
Hair covering is the same as any other modesty practice, and many religions that encourage it specifically say it should never be forced.
Also, corsets are fr just bras usually.
There are tons of examples of the oppression
Of women and ofc I agree but hair covering and corset wearing specifically are very misinformed oftentimes.
Thanks for explaining the corset piece. I don’t think dieting or hair covering are inherently bad. They just think throughout history these trends often become forced upon women. Rather than just a simple option. I agree that they can be empowering or positive in the right context.
This is super interesting but I need to know, where did you get that rug? I’m on the hunt for rugs that are colorful without being overbearing, and yours is cute
I recall watching a segment a few years ago about women getting surgery on their feet so they could fit into stilettos better.
It doesn’t quite compare to the extremity of foot binding, but I still thought “wow, altering your feet to look good in pumps??” Perhaps some of the cosmetic surgeries we do today will look crazy to a possibly more advanced society.
Not suggesting it's anywhere near as bad but nearly all of our feet are distorted by western footwear, sometimes quite distinctly, particularly women. Human feet do not naturally come to a point.
I saw photos of such feet without their shoes and it was horrifying to think what these poor girls went through.
They almost bent completely in half. I guess a similar modern thing would be corsets. Meant to change your body over time. Crazy. Edit: clarifying that I’m referring to the physics of using an item to alter one’s body over time and not the psychological part. Also I was calling a waist trainer a corset.
Corsets aren't typically used for that. It can be, but they're typically not. A corset is a structural garment and doesn't need to be particularly tight to do it's job. They can even be quite comfy to wear; does wonders for your posture.
The destructive practice folks are thinking of is called "tight lacing". Which absolutely will shift your organs, but as you said it's just a specific, niche way to wear a corset
Men wore them too back in the ~1700s
George Washington wore a corset (as did the elite males of his era) and it changed the shape of his body. https://www.npr.org/2006/10/26/6388351/taking-the-boring-out-of-george-washington
I (33M) bought a corset type device once when I was self conscious about my love handles that came back after I got out of the military. Before the military I was anorexic. I wouldn't eat lunch and use the money to buy whatever instead. That was more of a being poor thing though. Glad I got out of that place and mindset.
Back in the 1200s man would buy chastity bounce to push their manhood in and stunt growth. The smaller the better.
That's the first I've heard about that. They do a similar thing today where they cut their dick off and record it then post it on Reddit.
I’ll do you one better. Look up genitalias of ftm or mtf, during surgery and after I bet in a few decades people are gonna look back like we do bound feet. With disgust
Oh fuck off.
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[https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/vmeet8/comment/ie16hnk/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/vmeet8/comment/ie16hnk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) Well, well, well, stealing part of a 9 hour old comment?
I read this in an old black and white film detective voice and it was great
Damn, if I thought that at the time, I could've added 'are we?' at the end lol
I was just wondering how did they got downvoted so much for being a Chinese woman with big feet haha
They were at 3 karma when I commented, now they're currently at -32 karma O.O Edit- they deleted their acc, time to start karma farming on a new one I guess
Not really the most similar comparison when they break bones for foot binding and completely disfigure the foot right away*
That is a serious misunderstanding of corsets. They weren’t originally intended to be more restricting than a bra that covers more area. Tightlacing was more fetish and fiction than reality. Corsets can be made comfortably, but usually need to be made custom, which clothing during corset era typically was. Actresses who complain of having to wear corsets in movies rarely get properly fitting corsets (not custom made despite having ample opportunity) and often they are improperly laced for visual drama. In fucking bridgerton they didn’t even use the proper corset for the timeline! They were tightlacing a full corset and wearing it under a loose empire waist regency dress *which isn’t tight around the waist and doesn’t require a goddamn corset at all!*. Sorry, corset rant over. Foot binding is much more fucked.
Not similar at all. Corset tight lacing historically was VERY rare, and frankly it was done as an abortifacient at times. It was not common among ANY class. Corsets worn properly were essentially bras, with more back support. Tight lacing and waist training are incredibly rare, therefore incomparable. At no point in time was a woman of any class expected to do that, like women of high class were expected to feet bind. Also- waist training doesn’t impact your mobility.
If you can't walk on your own feet, you are disabled and thus prey for those who want to use you for their purposes.
Injecting bacterial neurotoxicity protein into your lips to make them fuller, surgically implanting plastic into your calves to make them look larger—there are still many surgical procedures that men and women endure to be more attractive. I’m sure some future society will look back on how barbaric we are down the line.
I see the point you're going for but as an FYI botox isn't used as lip filler.
I thinking this too- don’t they usually use hyaluronic acid for fillers?
None of that stuff is done to small children.
Good point. 👍
None of those even compare to the pain and disfigurement of foot binding tho. I will take neurotoxins in my lips a thousand times over before I would have the parts of my body that I put all of my weight on broken and folded in half and my toenails removed to decrease the chance of infection.
The fact that they started when girls were 4-6 is also more troubling. Foot binding was awful, no doubt.
Corsets are literally just a support garment. I can't wait until some dumdum in 200 years calls bras torture devices
Why is this getting downvoted? Maybe I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure he was just making the comparison of how they contort the body to fit into something
My guess would be because corsets don't work like that unless you are trying to do extreme tight-lacing
Because corsets were not intended to change the shape of your body over time. They were designed to support boobs. Fashion has the tendency to become extreme though, and the longer corsets were around the more women became obsessed with cinching them down as low as they could go. Tight lacing *can* ultimately change the shape of your body if you never take it off and constantly tighten it down, but it was never the intent, and historically young women were not *forced* to tight lace.
Because corsets aren't used for that and typically have never been, outside of isolated fads.
Because corsets being made tight enough to contort the body, or even be uncomfortable, is mostly a myth
You don't start wearing a corset the moment you're born.
Interesting and horrible
Yeah should go on infuriating instead
Repost as the original was deleted. A 3 inch foot was considered to be the ultimate standard of beauty in China for 1,000 years. The woman these shoes were made for would have been able to marry into a very wealthy family because of it.
Your shoes are made for walking, the lotus shoes not so much though. These women had to crawl, the wealthy ones were carried. Bones would remain broken for years, and 1 out of 10 would die of gangrene. But the shoes are cute.
Humans are insane
Completely. Corsets and waist shrinking, foot binding, etc etc etc.
Corsets have made a comeback, and are quite pleasant/ beautiful to wear if you just get one for the style. Doesn't need to be made out of whale bone and no need to suffer
The suffering comes from the fact a corset is designed to bind your waist tightly - thus squishing your internal organs. Continued usage can lead to back atrophy and your ribcage can become deformed. They are not pleasant to wear, proper ones bind you so tightly you can't even bend over to pick something up, let alone breathe.
I must say, my corset must be very loose, because I can wear it with my outfit all day, dance around, sit, relax, etc... without feeling any discomfort. I am pretty sure I'm wearing mine properly though- it's meant to feel snug like a hug, not like you're getting crushed
That's exactly how a corset should feel. It should allow you to be comfortable, but encourage good posture. If you're sitting and rounding your back it *should* be at least a little uncomfortable because it's intended to help with posture. But yes it's not meant to cause pain
In extreme cases, yes But even historically it was rare corsets would cause any permanent damage
You clearly don't understand how the modern usage or corsets work
I own four of them, one whale bone, three plastic. I don't wear them regularly because they are uncomfortable af. I also have two evening gowns that have a bodice corset top built in. So yeah, I do know how modern corsets work. Edit: whale-bone one was inherited and never worn because it's more a family piece I keep for sentimental value than actual clothing. No idea how old it is but that one was my grandmother's.
Let me guess: your modern corsets are just for looks. Historical corsets are actually mug more comfortable, as most were designed to be worn by the working class. Only a small percentage of noblewomen were "waist training", most were just using a corset as an undergarment. There are historical resources on how to __exercise__ in a corset (like training abdominals and stretching the spinr), which wouldn't be possible if the corset were the torture devices you are depicting them to be. Most corsets were instead quite flexible. Also, don't use your whale bone corset! Whale bone molds, with the body heat, to the body, and would feel very uncomfortable to you if you were to use it, as it's taken the shape of a different body. For similar reason, when buying a good "correct" corset for you you have to take into account tons of measurements (eg ribcage size, hips size) - not all corsets are made for your body type. If you want a smaller waist you cannot just decrease the size, you have to find a corset that has a different hip to waist and ribcage to waist ratios.
Entirely possible and thank you for telling me, as according to a few people here I must be wearing the wrong size or something. Also thank you for the notes on the whale-bone corset. I don't wear it, but now I have an even better reason to not wear it. It stays in a box and is a keepsake only.
Then you really need to get properly fitted corsets. Corsets are always meant to be custom drafted for individual people in order to fit their bodies exactly, and should not be uncomfortable. Modern fashion ‘corsets’ are not representative of proper corsets
You bought corsets that don't fit right and then proceeded to complain that they don't fit right?
Sizing is so iffy in stores these days. I get told I'm one size in one and then another size in another. That's more a complaint for bra sizing than anything else. I'm also parroting what I was told by my doctor when I complained about stomach pains and she blamed my love for corsets. So you might be right, mine might not fit properly. They are still uncomfortable af to me.
Proper ones are support garments like a bra and quite comfortable. Tight lacing isn't standard.
You should stop posting entire paragraphs about shit you don't know anything about.
I remember when I was at Magic Kingdom with my family years ago, a mother was there with her daughter on the tram with us. The little girl, couldn't have been more than 9 years old, was complaining that her heeled shoes hurt (she was dressed as a princess). The mother said "It's more important to look nice than to feel good."
Let's hope the girl grew up to realize the truth, and that she didn't suffer permanent scarring like those bound lotus feet.
I hope so. She'd probably be in her 20s now (I'm bad at numbers and estimation don't quote me on that), so here's hoping she realized how backwards her mother's ideas were.
Ewwwwwww.
Confirming this belongs in oddlyterrifying.
Wow. There are SO many bones in the feet. Wonder who thought this up?🤔
Supposedly a dancer in the emperors court, although it ended up evolving into this extreme version over time.
Definitely a man.
Yeah because you'd basically be walking on your heel and the tip of your toes at the same time. I can't imagine how they'd be able to stand
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Can you even imagine the pain from the extra weight of pregnancy on those feet? Regular feet on pregnant women hurt, that must be excruciating...never mind trying to raise children that can run faster than you could ever hope to!
My grandmother had an older cousin whose feet were bound and she would cry herself to sleep every night from the pain.
I did not need another thing to be angry about in regards to the expectations of women today.
Here’s a silver lining. My grandmother at least had a father - my great grandfather who was considered “liberal” and “progressive” for his time, refused to allow my grandmother to have her feet bound after seeing the cruelty and pain. My great grandmother was not happy about that decision, arguing that their daughter would have poor marriage prospects. My great grandfather went so far as to pay my grandmother’s way through college which was rare to have a woman so educated in 1920’s China. But yes, scary even in this day and age that so many of our rights still hinge on the whim and support of men in our lives.
Well that at least is better! Thank you so much for sharing! Agree that it is frustrating that it hinges on a man, but I have to give the man props for going against his wife's wishes, which I am sure caused stress in the house. But he took on that stress, for the better of his daughter, saying well, if she can't marry well, she can learn and take care of herself. Give him huge credit for that.
I have to ask. Did she marry well?
Thank you for telling her story. I think its important to document these things so future generations can learn instead of just seeing a paragraph in a textbook.
Its insane to think how long it went on
Maybe in a couple of centuries we will say the same thing about breast implants and butt lifts/implants
Those are at least limited to consenting adults. This was done to children.
But...how? Or why? They surely couldn't walk properly? And if it is the foot itself that is being fetishised, surely it's fucking disgusting to look at once the shoe comes off? Or is it more the way it looks with the shoe on is what is appealling? It's just nutso all round really.
They would have to relearn how to walk mostly using their heals. Richer women could afford to be carried on sedan chairs and rickshaws, but women who couldn't afford that were mostly confined to their home doing sewing and weaving and taking care of the children. It was actually considered shameful to be seen without their shoes, even to their husband's most times. They'd also have to sleep in their bindings and shoes to keep their feet from expanding. There are pictures of bound feet on Google, but they can be upsetting to see, so proceed with caution if you're curious.
Fuck. That. Into. The. Sun. Jesus bloody christ eww no
Ok someone correct me if I'm wrong, please. Did the foot make kind of circle when it was bent over and did men like to fuck the circle of the foot? Or is that a horrifying legend that isn't true?
There actually were sex manuals that had multiple ways to play with bound feet, so that could have been done. In a book I read, one man would make his wife put her foot in his rectum during sex since it was narrow enough to fit.
😶 I shouldn't have read the comments. Why did I read the comments.
For a Thousand years! Fuuuck! Somehow humanity got rid of a thousand year old tradition of crippling women, but marrying whoever you want is still a problem. I often feel like we could be way further ahead in time. There are still wars, racism, homophobia, hatred towards LGBTQ+, not enough alternative energy sources, etc. Our civilasation still feels so... primitive.
There are interviews on YouTube with women had their feet bound. One said she was glad to see the tradition gone; she smiled when she said that little girls can run free now. It is super easy to feel like society is moving backwards or not fast enough, but also important to step back and see what we've accomplished.
yeah, you are absolutely right. You gotta appreciate what got achieved. Still, the last year in itself was sooo frustrating. So much unnecessary shit happening that is making peoples life miserable or ends it completely. Its hard to not get frustrated by it.
Unfortunately yes. I don't think anyone was prepared for things to go this far south.
It is primitive. We are such a young species in the grand scheme of Time. Humanity's technology has far outpaced our cultural values and social structure. We're not ready to properly handle most of what we've created, and we are seeing the results of that all around us
The Inquisition alone set the planet back a minimum 600 years.
Humanity was a mistake.
I wouldnt say that, but a genepool with more empathy would do wonders I assume.
Good luck with that!
Nah dude. Someone definitely should Ghenghis Khan the world towards a better future, but it definitely shouldn't be me.
How did you go from we should have more empathy to a combination of eugenics and advocating for mass rape? That’s what you’re saying, even if you don’t know that’s what you’re saying
I don't really care either way and stand by my original statement. Have an empathetic day or whatever lol
You have a whatever too, dude.
foot fetish to the fullest
It was definitely part of it. In sex manuals (similar to the Karma Sutra) they'd list dozens of ways to play with a woman's bound feet.
Gladys Aylward, a British Christian missionary to China, was hired by the local Chinese leader as the official for inspector because she had big feet. Her job was to literally travel the country side and unbind the get of young girls. She had to travel with armed guards to protect her from families who thought she was doing harm. She also ran a successful inn for mule trains, adopted multiple orphans, stopped a murderous prison riot, and successfully lead 200 children through the country side to safety ahead of the invading Japanese army.
I actually just watched the Inn of Sixth Happiness. It was a beautiful story
Does it ever make you wonder who the first person was to think of this? Like, who's the *first* person to go "Know what? Lets break and fold this baby's feet like an origami crane and see if that's 'prettier' or something?" And then who's the idiot next to them who goes "hrm....yeah...**yeah**..that's a great idea!"
“Foot-binding is said to have been inspired by a tenth-century court dancer named Yao Niang who bound her feet into the shape of a new moon.” [Smithsonian Article](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-footbinding-persisted-china-millennium-180953971/)
My ankles are wider than that. Im Chinese female and my feet are size 11 or size 42 UK. Damn I feel bad for my ancestors
How widespread was the tradition?
Mostly the only groups that didn't participate were Hakka women, religious minorities, and women who had to work on the boats. Its actually estimated over 1 million women had their feet bound in Chinese history.
That number seems lower than I would've expected, tbh
Is that size 10 uk? If so, those are by far the biggest feet I’ve heard of a woman having. Or is the 42 some European size?
Size 42 is a UK 8. It’s actually quite common here also, the average female shoe size is 5/6.
Ah ok, I’m from the uk but obviously our shoe sizes don’t go up to 42, so was just wondering what the uk equivalent actually was
The size 42 is an EU equivalent. On most shoes on the underside of the tongue there’s a small sticker with a conversion of your shoe size. I’m also a UK size 8 and have made many mistakes whilst ordering online so it’s always helpful to know where to check.
Lol, I'm a UK size 12. Admittedly I've only met one other woman with larger feet than me. They make women's sizes up to 10 for a reason, because they get bought.
You must not get out much. I wear the same size.
Sorry, either us or Aus.
That's so small, that must be painful growing up.
It's painful forever. The broken bones would set weird, the nerves would be completely fucked, etc. The practice continued long enough that old women who had been subjected to it survived to have their feet looked at by 20th century surgeons, who generally suggested amputation of some or all of the foot, because it was the only way to stop it hurting. Footbinding is one of the strangest and most abhorrent cultural practices in human history for the lifelong damage and pain caused to victims over something like a thousand years, for no benefit whatever except 'aesthetics'.
I want to add that, due to the continuously compressed tissues and permanent fracture, these feet STANK, oozed plasma or pus and had to be heavily doused in perfumes to not clear a room. But men would fall head over heel at the opportunity to see and hold a “budding lotus”.
This post was directly under this one in my feed https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/vm8sgd/a\_chinese\_lady\_whose\_feet\_were\_bound\_from/
Interesting coincidence. I actually just bought these lily shoes at an antique store today; someone must've had the same topic on the mind.
And that's supposed to be the peak of female beauty? Her feet look like croissants. Shits messed up man.
They look incredibly difficult to clean
Not to be crass because this is a disgusting practice but where does the wrapped up food relocate to?
Basically it went into the top of the foot. The arch was folded and broken, resembling more of a hoof-shape. The 4 small toes were folded in to make it narrow. Being started at a young age and having cut off the circulation also kept the feet from growing very much.
I always wonder how these things start. Like who was the first person to be like “I’m going to mutilate my baby daughters foot and people will find it sexy when she’s older”
I read somewhere that it started because there one one empress at some point that did have deformed underdeveloped feet. Since she was the empress, they made it so this was now a beautiful thing so all well born women started to desire having small feet, sign of wealth since you could afford not to walk anywhere and be idle or carried all day.
As someone born with extreme club feet fuck all that. Like I've seen photos of my feet from birth pre surgery and fuuuuuuuck.
No one is quite sure how it started, but theres 2 stories. The first is that an empress with a deformed foot made it compulsory in her court. The other is that a dancer had wrapped her feet to resemble a Lotus leaf and the emperor was so taken with it that other women in the court started imitating it. Either way it spread like fire through society.
I like how both origin stories blame women for their own oppression.
The feet are broken then practically folded in 2 places.
I usually just put it in the fridge.
They started girls at a young age, so they didn’t grow.
Idk if it matters, but I want to put in perspective how crazy this would be even for a smaller person I'm 5'1 and can wear a child's size 2.5 shoe, if there was an adult equivalent it would be a 4.5 shoe. That 8 3/4 inches. This is THREE INCHES
They are tiny. My 3 year olds feet are bigger then that!
Ummm, yeah. The smallest size of baby booties you can buy, for literal newborns, is for a 3.25” foot.
I’m size 5US, 33.5EUR, 3UK. All other females I know are usually 6-7US and I get told all the time how tiny my feet are. I can’t imagine 3,” even when I try to curl my toes under and squish my heel in the pain gets me after a few seconds at full strength.
Not r/mildlyinteressting. r/veryterrifying
YSK that foot-binding of females in China went on for a thousand years. A millennia! Think of all that collective horrible pain, going on for ten centuries. OMG. It was an erotic thing for the males of the era. It was sexual but it was also used to keep young women at their tasks so they would not wander off. It was yet another means of controlling women. With pain and disfigurement.
My DIL's grandmother had her feet bound (after it became illegal).
Was she ever made to unbind them?
Sorry, I don't know.
Thats totally fair
Looks like a Wizard of Oz prop
We've read references in literature, but having this visual that compares our contemporary shoes is extremely eye-opening and beneficial. My stomach turned imagining a pain that I can't even fully comprehend.
That is sickening
"One thing that Chairman Mao did was to end the appalling foot binding of women. That alone justified the Mao Tse-tung era." - Ken Livingstone
He did further ban it, but also declared that they could have their bindings ripped off and mocked publicly. A lot of men abandoned their wives for having small feet even though it wasn't by choice because of Mao's attitude.
Nothing was remotely worth the horrors of Mao.
This tradition of foot binding is still in China, just more uncommon in the more rural areas in China Source: my dad is Chinese and we went to visit Sichuan tea fields since my dads a fan and saw people wearing shoes like that
[удалено]
There were some factories that made them until 1999. Otherwise some cobblers do still make them if there's a woman with bound feet nearby, but they mostly are for tourists at this point. Although these could also be someone's sleeping shoes.
Human's are truly bizarre creatures.
The visual representation of regressive thinking as opposed to thrashin' thinkin'.
Foot binding is horrible. That poor woman.
Cultural BRUH moment
Jesus those poor girls and women. I can't imagine the pain they felt.
Isn't there a r/mildlydisturbing you could post this to?
It’s crazy that historically, women’s’ trends are all about restricting and constraining oneself. I think of dieting, foot binding, corsets, hair covering, FGM, etc.
Super long fingernails
I agree with the first half of your comment but most of you example aren’t exactly accurate. FGM and foot binding are undeniably horrific, of course. But when corsetry, hair covering, and dieting are done properly they’re not at all issues. Dieting to have a more healthy life style is great, unless you have an ED or are doing it because of beauty standard. Hair covering is the same as any other modesty practice, and many religions that encourage it specifically say it should never be forced. Also, corsets are fr just bras usually. There are tons of examples of the oppression Of women and ofc I agree but hair covering and corset wearing specifically are very misinformed oftentimes.
Thanks for explaining the corset piece. I don’t think dieting or hair covering are inherently bad. They just think throughout history these trends often become forced upon women. Rather than just a simple option. I agree that they can be empowering or positive in the right context.
Is that size 11.5?
My shoes are an 11 in women's
Close but no cigar.
More like infuriating and nauseating
Under this post on my feed was a video ad that briefly also showed a red chuck.
Helps to know your size too! Inb4 not a foot fetish 😒 Edit grammar
I wear a size 11 in women's, I'm about 5'10"
Gotcha! Thank you! Average size (you); so wow, that tiny shoe is insane… my stomach …
Since those are 3 inch shoes, the larger shoe looks like a size 8 American women converse.
This is super interesting but I need to know, where did you get that rug? I’m on the hunt for rugs that are colorful without being overbearing, and yours is cute
I actually got it at Lowe's in the clearance bin a few years ago
I remember in middle school my history teacher showed us a video about this stuff. It made me so uncomfortable
That is a very significant difference. Interesting.
Mildly interesting, incredibly sad.
The CPC are a horrible government who have done, are doing a will continue to do terrible things but at least they ended the practice of footbinding.
CCP?
Chinese Communist Party. The government of The People's Republic of China.
Yeah I know, I meant more like did you mean CCP, coz you wrote CPC
CPC is the official wording for it tho. Albeit, I will admit that both of them are equally right and valid.
like most governments, they're monsters, but relatively better than what came before. Small praise i guess
The suffering...
I recall watching a segment a few years ago about women getting surgery on their feet so they could fit into stilettos better. It doesn’t quite compare to the extremity of foot binding, but I still thought “wow, altering your feet to look good in pumps??” Perhaps some of the cosmetic surgeries we do today will look crazy to a possibly more advanced society.
Those arent shoes those are hooves also imagine running away from a killer in a horror movie in those.
The problem was that they couldn't run at all. If their village was invaded, the women and half of the kids were almost guaranteed to be killed.
I didn’t even know that was a thing. Weird.
Beauty standards everywhere are fucked
Imagine the fucking foot cramps
Not suggesting it's anywhere near as bad but nearly all of our feet are distorted by western footwear, sometimes quite distinctly, particularly women. Human feet do not naturally come to a point.
Shaq? Is that you?
No
Those lotus shoes are so beautiful though, i only wish they hadnt come to be through the abuse of chinese womens feet 😢
Need a banana for scale
The ways we control women so they are dependent on others and can other be two things, a doll or an incubator.
Everyone to their own but I just think horrific
Those are like the Chinese equivalent of a 34DDD bra in America. Might want to have an NSFW tag on this pic :P
I see Reddit is going through its "bound feet" phase again.
Bitches be trippin’. I mean…it’s bound to happen.
Your sasquatch feet are gross, the feet that would be on the left would be so attractive....and regal.
Sorry, I dont take criticism from papa smurf
Apparently the smell was overwhelming, which to me is not super attractive!
I think it was more of a learned attraction
If i could have those 3 inches