Foot Fetish Mentioned in Class Today....Say What?!

[Libertine]

Still...I suppose thinking that a mutilated foot would necessarily be a turn-off is a little naive...lots of modern women prefer mutilated penises, after all.

You're right- in fact I've never had a single girl complain, just express relief and delight before and after, (during, they tended not to be able to make any coherent sounds whatsoever). 😀

Sorry your own paramours have been less appreciative.

Ladies, if you wish to develop this into a separate thread since it is not my intention to hijack this one, I'm sure all us "Pruned 'n' Proud" men (the nice fellows with no hiding place for moths, etc.) would love to hear your points of view.

 

[c7_assassin]

You're right- in fact I've never had a single girl complain, just express relief and delight before and after, (during, they tended not to be able to make any coherent sounds whatsoever). 😀

Exactly my point, there's a lot of ignorance in our culture about what a penis is supposed to look and feel like. No need to be defensive; I assume your parents cut you when you were an infant. It doesn't make you a bad person.

 

[Libertine]

Exactly my point, there's a lot of ignorance in our culture about what a penis is supposed to look and feel like. No need to be defensive; I assume your parents cut you when you were an infant. It doesn't make you a bad person.

I wasn't cut, per se, but rather sculpted in order to achieve perfection.

But you're right, it didn't make me a bad person; various other things did.

Women only for the new thread, please.

 

[WorkInProgress]

I have no doubt that all of the fetishes that we know today have been around in some form in every era in every culture. However, I think foot binding can be better understood, with or without reference to fetishism, as part of a broad cross-cultural phenomenon that has spanned many centuries. That phenomenon is the subordination and subjugation of women, even in private relationships of ostensible love and intimacy. Practices that gave men ownership of women's sexuality have included the chastity belt, vaginal mutilation, and all the rituals of concubinage and sex-slavery. So foot binding, whatever else it may entail, is ultimately about male subjugation of women, men's control over women's bodies and women's sexuality. On a very important side note, here is a woman who is doing a lot to promote awareness around the world of women's rights to their own bodies: http://www.vday.org/about/more-about/eveensler . I heard her speak in New York a few weeks ago, and I'm a strong supporter of what she's doing.

 

[paracarl44]

I remember seeing it when I was a child, pretty disgusting.

 

[ticklernyc]

I haven't bee visiting TMF often, lately, and I do not post very much. However, after reading this thread and as someone who has formally studied Chinese History and Chinese Ethnology, I feel like making some comments.

I never really thought about Foot Binding and Foot Fetishism, but after some minor thought I am not sure how much Foot Fetishism there is in Foot Binding.

One of the things about Foot Binding was to create an aesthetically pleasing shape of the "Lotus Foot". However, how is this different from any other form of Body Modification to make one more attractive? Yes, the inner fold/cleavage of the Lotus Foot was supposedly also aesthetically pleasing and sometimes liken to a woman's labia. The same has been said about women's breast cleavage. There are descriptions of the eroticism and sensuality of seeing a Lotus Foot or seeing a woman unwrap her Lotus Feet. Is this any different from any other descriptions of seeing a women’s forbidden/private body parts, such as the Victorian thing about seeing a women's ankles?

There is more to Foot Binding than the aesthetics of the Lotus Foot. Foot Binding was a way of keeping women immobile and dependent. Foot Binding was a status symbol. Having Lotus Feet, generally meant that you did not have to perform physical labor. Foot Binding was also considered a "cultured" and upper class practice/manner. And part of the eroticism and sensuality of Foot Binding has nothing to do with Lotus Feet, but with the way Bound Feet make a woman's hips sway. You can not walk normally with Bound Feet, one's weight is shifted and one has to only step on their heels, and apparently this makes the hips sway in a certain manor.

I would guess that there is a bit of Foot Fetishism in Foot Binding for some, but there are other things as well.

Ticklernyc

 

[love feet]

Well, true enough, but let's not put on the post-structural blinders here.

It definitely seems like there's some cultural standard of beauty at work here that we don't happen to share. I'm just saying it doesn't sound like the same thing as a genuine foot fetish, because a foot fetish would involve some kind of sexual contact or sexual appreciation of the foot, would it not? And in this case, it's apparent that there was no sexualized foot-worship or anything of the sort going on, because the feet were meant to remain wrapped at all times.

This sounds more to me like wearing a corset; it's based on an ideal of beauty, but it's not the same as a fetish.

Yes its not about a a fetish it was more a fashion / beauty accessory!!