Minty, pointing out what I consider a distorting or destructive practice from China is not some attack on Chinese culture or people in general. And yes, putting women in tight corsets to force their bodies into a figure eight shape was a lame idea, as are stiletto heels, by the way, although I wear them.
There's no comparison to what these little girls and women in China had to endure, however. It was weeks and months of crying, only to wind up with deformed feet which sometimes atrophied. It is what it is.
http://media.gettyimages.com/photos...for-women-with-bound-feet-picture-id453150506
Only look at the following pictures if you have a strong stomach.
http://gwulo.com/sites/gwulo.com/files/images/bound_feet.jpg
http://www.visiontimes.com/uploads/2013/07/chinese-foot-binding-051.png
Who can disagree that culture can determine standards of beauty? This was considered beautiful.
Dear Angela,
Once a symbol of beauty and status, foot binding, also known as lotus feet, was carried out in China since the 10th century, falling out of favour in the early 20th century before it was outlawed in 1911.
You know if you take a good look, there are lots of cruelty in human histories around the world. At least foot binding is no longer practiced.
One example I could think of is Female Genital Mutilation can also be called "Female Genital Cutting" or "Female Circumcision."Although the practice predates the birth of Islam, it has taken on a dimension of the religion. It is, however, a practice that is performed across cultures and religions, and should not be considered to be strictly a religious practice, but also a cultural one.
We could argue that how could Muslim men find women without clitoris attractive.
How about those Koreans who hate their own face. Double-jaw surgery is the latest extreme addition to South Korea's plastic surgery fad.
There was a 23-year-old college who underwent double-jaw surgery killed herself. She left a suicide note explaining her desperation after the surgery left her unable to chew food or stop crying due to nerve damage in a tear duct.
Somebody had seen cases where the surgery had resulted in chronic jaw pain, a skewed mouth, misaligned teeth and an inability to chew or smile.
South Korea is a highly male-dominated nation where women need both brains and beauty, or often beauty more than brains, to get a job, get married and to survive in all aspects of life.
Plastic surgery, has become just another accepted way of giving yourself an edge in what is a super-competitive society.
So they do look better, but those Korean faces are not real. Koreans don't look like that naturally. I had an ex colleague from Sri Lanka who is obsessed about Korean Dramas. She actually told me that she thinks Chinese are NOT good looking Koreans are. Then she met some Koreans who are not stars and did not have plastic surgeries. She actually said to me, those are Koreans?! I thought all Koreans were good looking! It looks like propaganda is working well on her!
A small fair face with a "V-shaped" chin and jawline is considered a mark of feminine beauty in much of East Asia, along with a high-bridged nose and big eyes.
She is extremely dark, this Sinhalese girl and chubby. One day a Korean said to me, is she black? I am seriously laughing out loud here...
In North East Asia having dark skin is very undesirable, and she would be considered too fat for the East Asian standard of beauty. Good luck making friends with the Koreans!
She was so surprised what fair skin I got! Considering that I was originally from Malaysia. Well, my ethnic origins are of North East Asia, I am Han, Chinese.
Thank god, I was offered a better job, I don't need to listen to her rubbish speeches anymore!
My mum wears shapewear too! She loves sweet foods, everytime she goes somewhere on vacation she puts on weight, I on the other hand prefer savoury foods and I eat very little so I never had a weight problem. Now all my lady colleagues are copying me.
