Foot binding was a custom practiced on young girls and women for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the early 20th century.

The Chinese custom of foot-binding is commonly cited by sociologists and anthropologists as an example of how an extreme deformity by contemporary western standards could be viewed as a source of pleasure in other cultures and of how immense suffering can be inflicted on women and girls in the pursuit of so-called beauty.

Foot-binding resulted in lifelong disabilities for most of its victims, though as the practice waned in the early 20th century, according to a study conducted by the University of California at San Francisco, "some girls' feet were released after initial binding, leaving less severe deformities." However, some effects of foot-binding were permanent, especially if a girl's arches had been broken or other drastic measures taken in order to achieve the desired smallness. In the 1990s and early 2000s, some elderly Chinese women still suffered from disabilities related to bound feet.



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