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China - Ladies' bound feet lotus
shoe "San Zun Jin Lian" - Late 19th Century
For Chinese men, bound feet were associated with higher-status love
and sex, carrying strong connotations of both modesty and lasciviousness.
Bound feet became a sexual fetish and were said to be conducive
to better intercourse. It was accepted that these golden lotuses
had developed not only an aesthetic appeal for the Chinese male,
but also a sexual one. A wide-spread male fantasy claimed that foot
binding produced the development of a highly-muscled vagina "full
of wondrous folds", with the tiny appearance of the foot arousing
a combination of lust and pity. Chinese pornography of the past
reflects a preoccupation with the feet, and the men who adored them
- "lotus lovers" - became the authors of the classics
of brothel culture that describe in detail the various shapes of
bound feet and the erotic practices in which they could be employed.
According to Chinese connoisseurs of the golden lotus, the mincing
walk necessitated by the bound feet contributed to creating a more
voluptuous and sensitive sexual anatomy, and tiny feet were celebrated
in poetry and song. |
Research and text by : W.A.H.M. Habraken-Oosterhout-Holland