Thanks to the Lisa See novel, "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" our book club will be discussing this fascinating book dealing with girls growing up in China over a century ago. The practice of "footbinding" is one I had never had much knowledge about, but this book started me looking into the practice. Small feet were thought to be a thing of beauty, and in order for a young girl to marry into a prominent family she would have to have her feet bound to keep them from growing. Between the ages of 4 and 7 the process began with mothers and grandmothers wrapping the feet so tightly that the toes would curl under the foot and break from the pressure. This was an excruciating experience which lasted for years for these little girls. In some cases girls could even die from their footbinding torture. Infections were common, which could lead to death. The feet would continue to be wrapped, and remolded into grotesque deformed cone shapes. This of course rendered the girls and young women and older women alike, weak and unable to do very much walking. The servant class were allowed to let their feet grow, and thus would give up the chance to every have a very successful marriage. The marriages were all pre-planned by the parents, and matchmakers, as well. Women in that culture for 1,00 years had no choices in how their lives would turn out. They were at the mercy of a barbaric and sadistic system of footbinding and caught in the web of a society which did not value them at all, or give them a voice.
Footbinding was completely outlawed by 1911, and had not been practiced in most parts of China, except the remote villages.
Lisa See helps us to understand the struggles the women have faced throughout this time period of history. Do we still suffer and put our young girls in jeopardy for beauty sake by exposing them to countless advertisements showing the ideal women as rail thin, and unrealistically beautiful ? Do we show unattainable goals to these young girls, subliminally telling them that they are NOT okay because they are REAL and are of average weight, or possibly larger sizes? What do we base our values on? Is it only how someone LOOKS ?