Legend states that the practice of footbinding was inspired by a 10th-century dancer, whose small feet entranced the Emperor. Wanting to emulate this dancer’s beauty- and perhaps attract the attention of an Emperor themselves- women began binding their own feet to make them as small as possible. Of course, most historians agree that this legend has little to do with reality. But it does offer some insight into the cultural attitudes towards foot binding. Obviously, small feet were considered very attractive in Imperial China, similar to the way that Victorian men idolized an unnaturally thin waist.
And small feet were considered not just visually stimulating, but a sign of refinement and sophistication. Women with bound feet were usually unable to walk normally. Instead, balancing on bound feet required careful, short steps. So women who had undergone the procedure often couldn’t work as effectively in the fields. A distinction grew between women with bound feet who families could afford to keep out of the field and women with natural feet who were usually agricultural workers like most of Chinese society. Bound feet became a symbol of status, and as is often the case with status symbols, attractive.
Bound feet also offered an air of mystery. Because the feet were tightly bound, the only time someone would see a woman’s feet were in the bedroom. In the same way that seeing a Victorian women’s ankles were considered scandalous and even erotic, men in China fantasized about seeing women’s bare feet. Bare feet were never depicted in art, even when the subject was painted nude. In many ways, the feet were considered the most intimate part of the body. The allure of the feet was in the fact that men never really saw them. The mystery made the feet an object of taboo speculation and desire.
In fact, bound feet were considered so erotic that a Qing Dynasty sex manual lists 48 different ways to incorporate them into sex. Even the foul smell caused by fungal infections in the folds of the feet was appealing to some men. And others argued that the folds somehow stimulated the growth of folds in the vagina and increased the thickness of the hips, making sex more pleasurable when your partner had bound feet. Bound feet had such erotic appeal that the size of a woman’s feet was even judged and separated into categories.
The perfect size of a foot was considered to be around three Chinese inches. Any foot this size or under was classified as a “golden lotus“. The next category started at four inches and was called a “silver lotus.” And any woman with feet over five inches was considered an “iron lotus.” The closer a woman’s feet were to the “golden lotus,” the more likely she was to get married. Thus, the foot-binding process focused on making the feet as close to a golden lotus as possible. And from the 10th century to the 20th century the golden lotus remained the standard for beauty in China.