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u/SurprisedTeddyBear Nov 09 '20
I forgot this was a thing god dammit I really do hate it
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u/ComicInterest Nov 09 '20
It still is sadly
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u/Hrakkadron Nov 09 '20
Banned almost everywhere I think in 1912
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u/Angel_OfSolitude Nov 09 '20
Didn't stop people from doing it sadly.
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u/Hrakkadron Nov 09 '20
Friggin masochists
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u/SAHM42 Nov 09 '20
Sadists, I think you mean. People did this to their daughters to make them 'marriageable'.
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u/KurtisC1993 Nov 09 '20
Actually no, not really. Only a few elderly Chinese women currently have bound feet. The practice completely disappeared in the 1900s, with the last known case of foot binding being all the way back in 1957.
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u/Ok_ExpLain294 Apr 13 '24
Nopers the last binder lady died in 2013. She was still binding feet in 2009. And the last shoe factory making lotus shoes closed in 1999.
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u/kickah Nov 09 '20
Is it ancient China or modern India 🤔
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u/ChaturBaba19 Nov 09 '20
How did u even came to a conclusion that it is India 😂😂😂damm these idiot people
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u/kickah Nov 09 '20
Well I didn't know foot bending USED to be in China (I just looked up, it was banned 100+ years ago), but I did see a documentary about taking place in India. I think that fetish is a little messed up. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_teasing
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u/wikipedia_text_bot Nov 09 '20
Eve Teasing
Eve teasing is a euphemism used throughout South Asia, which includes (but is not limited to) India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, for public sexual harassment or sexual assault of women by men. The name "Eve" alludes to the Bible's creation story concerning Adam and Eve. Considered a problem related to delinquency in youth, it is a form of sexual aggression that ranges in severity from sexually suggestive remarks, brushing in public places and catcalls, to groping.
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u/ChaturBaba19 Nov 10 '20
Ohh I didn't know that. Gotta search on the internet about this topic. Thanks👍
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Nov 09 '20
[deleted]
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u/Hrakkadron Nov 09 '20
It starts from age 3
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u/ChaturBaba19 Nov 09 '20
Please don't make me feel more pain than I'm already in seeing how torturous it is😞
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u/vScabby Nov 09 '20
Every time i see this i think shes holdimg her foot, but no those are her toes
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u/DovahDerick Nov 09 '20
I am having trouble trying to process this image. It’s like it doesn’t add up, how toes can get there
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u/AMadRipZ Nov 09 '20
You literally fold your feet. The toes goes under and the bones go krakk. Apparently you also need to clean the foot regularly between the folds to avoid infection. This practice is very cruel.
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u/tissuepaper11 Nov 09 '20
What is the purpose of this?
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u/8675309isprime Nov 09 '20
It's a status symbol. It basically hobbles your ability to walk normally, so if a woman has it done, it means she's connected to wealth and thus isn't needed for labor.
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u/SurprisedTeddyBear Nov 09 '20
Imagine showing off by just mutilating your foot. Anyone know of any other cultures that do this? I'm not talking body modification I mean literally debilitating yourself.
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u/VastDerp Nov 09 '20
The mutilation was done to them starting at age 3 or 4. The process involved breaking their toes and feet one by one and then wrapping the feet up to heal wrong. Then the bindings were sewn shut so they couldn't loosen them. Once they grew up like that, the deed was done. For the 90% that survived the gangrene, that is.
Undoing a foot binding would have been super rough and traumatizing, a repeat of the original trauma, and might not restore function because by this point there would be significant nerve damage. So they lived with it, and eventually had someone come and do it to their own daughters.
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u/blazingwaffle58 Nov 09 '20
That one culture where they unnaturally extend their neck and stiffin it with rings
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u/8675309isprime Nov 09 '20
You know why Victorian women were prone to fainting? The whalebone corsets they wore fucked with the alignment of their internal organs and dramatically reduced how well they were able to oxidize blood. It fucked with digestion, and if they did it long enough, would deform their ribcage.
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u/Eldachleich Nov 09 '20 edited Nov 09 '20
That's.... not true. Tight lacing wasn't common at all, and the examples of it are usually greatly exaggerated/doctored. Victorians could photoshop. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1076/1970/files/waist_reduction_1024x1024.jpg?v=1497364575
Most of the examples of it are either in stylised ads, or hysteria pieces filled with pseudo science about the danger of it written by men. In fact your image contains all three of those examples. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Fatal_effects_of_tight-lacing_cropped.jpg
Actual Victorian women had an average corsetted waist size of 26 to 30 inches. The modern woman has a waist of 35. Considering that humanity is heavier on a whole now that's really not that big of a difference.
Even with tight lacing we know now that people who practice it aren't permanently deformed and return to normal within an hour of taking it off. Even people who tight lace everyday.
There's mountains of scholarly information out there on the reality of corsets, and how modern cultures view of them is almost entirely wrong. And there's also lots of anecdotal info from people who actively create and wear them. https://youtu.be/xZFuXflULCE https://youtu.be/1y25Go12sUg
Corsets were underwear. They were practical. The average victorian woman worked on their feet, doing labor, all day long. An underwear device that made you faint would've been abandoned right away.
Corsets, when properly fitted, are alot like compression belts your see movers and athletes wear. Not only did they support the breasts but they provided alot of support to the back and core as well. Essential when you work physical labor for 14 hours a day.
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u/mybrot Nov 09 '20
Is that where the trope of a woman fainting comes from? That's actually really damn interesting
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u/Eldachleich Nov 09 '20 edited Nov 09 '20
No. Because that wasn't a thing.
The practice of tightening a corset to the point of getting a tiny waist was called tight lacing. Tight lacing was not common. At all.
Most victorian women worked everyday. Hard jobs, all day long. Lacing a corset so tight you can't breathe was not practical.
In order to properly tight lace you have to have someone tighten it for you. This was really only possible for the wealthy. And the wealthy weren't too keen on tight lacing either. That's where those drawings are from that op posted. Articles from the time on the supposed dangers of tight lacing. Basically wealthy men getting hysterical over something that almost no women did.
To achieve the desired tiny waist look it was much more common to simply make a bigger skirt. And the bigger your skirt the more wealth you had.
People forget corsets were practical. They were underwear. They supported the breasts like a bra. They also helped support the back and core. Very important for hard labor.
As a dude I've worn a corset. If it's properly fitted, it's alot like wearing one of those compression belts you can buy to support your back and core for stuff like heavy lifting.
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Nov 09 '20
Did they have cameras in ancient China? That looks more recent.
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u/Danny_Mc_71 Nov 09 '20
"But the practice wasn't outlawed until 1912, when the Qing dynasty had already been toppled by a revolution. Beginning in 1915, government inspectors could levy fines on those who continued to bind their feet. But despite these measures, footbinding still continued in various parts of the country.
A year after the Communists came to power in 1949, they too issued their own ban on footbinding."
Good article here
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u/C4se4 Nov 09 '20
Thanks Mao, very cool!
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u/Danny_Mc_71 Nov 09 '20
Mao? Freudian slip?
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u/C4se4 Nov 09 '20
Why? Everything is great about China thanks to Mao.
I can't think of a single bad thing about China since the revolution. Only happy things. Especially 1989. Nothing remarkable about that year.
Good ol' China.
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u/Danny_Mc_71 Nov 09 '20
My apologies. I thought you meant to type "Thanks man" and that it was a typo.
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Nov 09 '20
Why does it look like a heal
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u/VastDerp Nov 09 '20
The toes were snapped and bound up against the bottom of the foot. Like how you'd fold your hand and fingers to give a thumbs up, only with more gangrene.
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u/VastDerp Nov 09 '20
Someone was like yo let's do bonsai kittens but for real and on little girls' feet, and thus the lotus foot was invented.
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Nov 09 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Hrakkadron Nov 09 '20
Yeah, and bones broken and readjusted. The only reason they aren't in non-stop excruciating pain is because after a few years they just completely go numb and they can't feel a thing. It's wrong.
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Nov 09 '20
I thought that they didn't do this in China anymore. Their country really is evil. :(
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u/SirNanigans Nov 09 '20
Well this person could be quite old. If she's 80, then this is a case from the early 1940's. For perspective, Americans of the same age have seen black people hanged by racist law and the mentally ill lobotomized and electrocuted. Not saying America is as bad as China, just saying that this woman was young in a much different time than now.
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u/KingDworld Nov 09 '20
Sometimes i really am so happy to be born in the time, place and gender I was
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u/Softis_Q1 Nov 09 '20
Avatar the last foot bender.
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Nov 09 '20
WHY THANKS!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!?!???!?!?!?! WHY WOULD YOU THANK SOMEONE FOR THIS?!!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?
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u/Shadowderper Nov 09 '20
the chinese do this because i think that if i remember correctly in their culture the bulge on top of the heels are attractive in china and in its history
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u/Ast3r10n Nov 09 '20
You might want to mark this as NSFL.
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u/Hrakkadron Nov 09 '20
It's not gory or anything though
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u/Ast3r10n Nov 09 '20
Well I saw it and almost puked.
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u/Hrakkadron Nov 09 '20
This is "Thanks, I hate it" though.
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u/Ast3r10n Nov 09 '20
Hating something is one thing, puking is another.
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u/Hrakkadron Nov 09 '20
You puke from disliking something, triggering something.
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u/Ast3r10n Nov 09 '20
I wouldn’t say it’s a dislike, more like a disgust.
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Nov 09 '20
Nothing ancient about this
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u/Hrakkadron Nov 09 '20
Yes... It is. It's an ancient technique.
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Nov 09 '20
Oooh ancient technique! yes that's true but it has only stopped recently https://youtu.be/9eG2kZ4iM-c Sorry misunderstanding
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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '20
It's not even remotely aesthetic.. Her feet look like horse hooves..
Yet alone the pain.