"The very fact that the bound foot was concealed from men's eyes was, in and of itself, sexually appealing."

So there are/were Chinese bounded foot fetishes, even though some men, who would only marry women with bound feet, didn't want to see them. I guess it was more of a status thing, anyway. But some people found it entirely sexy?

Does the same go for wearing a hijab or simply being modest? For example, does covering your hair or covering your boobs make it even more sexy for the guys when they actually do see it? Most guys I've talked to say they prefer long hair on a girl, so that wouldn't be entirely too strange to think about.

Chinese foot binding has always interested me.

Small feet were more desirable. I suppose that's still carrying on today. I hear lots of girls complaining that they wish they had size 4 or 5 feet instead of size 9. A weird thing to complain about, in my mind, but whatever floats their boat.

Also, apparently, binding a woman's feet meant she had high status or was rich for a while. That is, until it became a fad and everyone wanted to do it.

If a woman wanted to marry into money, she had better have her feet bound! It also apparently made her a bit helpless and less likely to be in power. It made a man necessary for her to be taken care of, and therefore she would always be loyal.

It was a painful process, and some researchers say that it immobilized the woman, but 70 and 80 year-olds were found who could still climb up mountains and work in the rice fields after the process. It causes a lot of health problems like gangrene and fungus. Also, the toe nail would keep growing. It would grow into the skin causing an infection and making a very bad odor.

But they found it pretty? Perhaps it is like plucking our hairs, wanting to be skinny, wanting bigger boobs, dying our hair, etc? I don't think I'd be willing to go that far to be considered pretty... but I'm not a Chinese woman in the 10th century in the Sung dynasty. I'm sure there are still people in the world that find this to be beautiful, but who am I to judge what is beautiful, right?

Would we find this beautiful if every girl in the world started doing it? What's your opinion of Chinese foot binding?

Text: lovelyish.com