Instead of writing it on Taoism like 90% of the rest of the class I decided to write on Footbinding, its creation, practice and effects on modern civilization. To do this, I decided to compare it to other forms of BDSM that were in full swing at the same time (aka tight-lacing and Japanese Bondage). Heres an into paragraph for all of you who don't read my journal
Fashion is one of the most popular forms of expression. It speaks of both the individual and of the relationship between sexes. It is through this relationship that simple concepts such as fashion become complex woven interests and practices known as Fetishes. Fetishism can be defined as: the individual displacement of private erotic feeling onto a non-genital part of the body, or onto a particular article of clothing in conjunction with its effect on the body. Although the concepts of fashion and fetishism have both been around for a very long time, they are rarely combined to create a cultural fetish which explains the phenomenon that occurs when a specific fashionable fetish is common within a huge population. Foot binding in China is an exception to this. It started out as a simple concept within a small population, but it quickly spread over the nation creating a stable, accepted part of sexual life. Foot binding is extreme in both concept and content and is generally seen as a despicable, degrading practice that demoralizes women. It is true that foot binding in its maturity is not an innocent practice, but by comparing its conception and evolution to other forms of Bondage-Discipline-Sadomasochism (herein known as BDSM) such as Japanese Shibari and European Corsetry as well as looking at foot bindings modern equivalent it becomes apparent that foot binding was not a unique concept and that its reason for creation was not as grotesque or strange at the time.
