These boots are made for walking, Nancy
Sinatra told us in the 1960s. But it seems these days, these boots and shoes
are made for tottering into a function looking like you’ve already drunk a
bottle or three of wine. The vertiginous heels you see
women stumbling about in are certainly not made for walking.
I was watching the celebs stagger
into an awards ceremony and only one thing occurred to me: “Why? Dear God,
why?”
It pains me. Not the shoes,
because I don’t wear these towering five
or six inch heels, having given up fashion for comfort some years ago.
It pains me because of what these
shoes represent. Why are women hobbling themselves
so they can’t stride out and take their rightful place in the world? Is looking
good more important than being strong? In my view it is the equivalent
of Chinese foot-binding – designed to keep women in their place.
Let me give you a little history
lesson.
You can’t hear me but I’ve got my
lecturing voice on – the one that makes my nephews’ and nieces’ eyes roll back into
their heads with the expression, “I suppose I’d better look as if I’m listening
to the boring old fart.”
Back in the mists of time it
became the custom in China to bind tightly young girls’ feet so they couldn’t grow.
It was considered attractive and men
liked it – of course they did, for some scholars say foot-binding subjugated women
by making them more dependent on men. It restricted their movements and
enforced their chastity, since women with bound feet were physically incapable
of venturing far from their homes.
Let me tell you this process in
detail (turn away now if you are squeamish).
Take a child of between four and seven
and soak her feet in warm water or animal blood with herbs. Cut her toenails
and give her a foot massage. So far, so good.... except for
the animal blood.
But then you have to break all
the girl’s toes except the big toes and wrap the feet extremely tightly and
painfully in cloth, forcing those broken toes back towards the heel.
Each day, unwrap the feet and
rebind them, pushing the toes back under the foot arch which will break under the
strain.
This means the feet never get
beyond three to four inches (7.5cms to 10cms) in length. If you can’t imagine how
small this is, take a look at a ruler or tape measure.
In a euphemism that beggars
belief to 20th century ears, this was called turning your feet into three- inch
“golden lotuses”. And these “golden lotuses” were seen
as the ultimate erogenous zone, with Qing dynasty pornographic books listing 48
different ways of playing with women’s feet.
Personally I’d rather have huge clown
feet which no one except a chiropodist ever touched, but that’s probably just
me.
Thankfully, footbinding was
banned in 1912, although some of the more rural Chinese villages continued the practice
quite late into the 20th century.
Now, however, "hobbling" feet has
become a status symbol yet again, although it's something women have done to themselves rather than have it imposed on them by men.
Women who gasp in horror at any
unhealthy junk food passing their lips don't seem to mind the prospect of bunions, bony growths, hammer toes, foot pain
and “pump bumps”, where straps and the rigid backs of pump-style shoes cause a
bony enlargement on the heel.
I know, I’m old and boring, and admittedly
some of these shoes do look rather stunning. But as my mother used to say to me
when I refused to wear my school mac out in the pouring rain: “Pride feels no
pain.”
Before you leave:
You can follow me on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. As you can see, I have far too much to say for myself.
