Pratiques de société

Il est je ne sais quelle heure, mais je ne suis plus à cela près, je n'ai pas sommeil, et j'ai envie de parler de Lisa See. Elle a écrit un merveilleux livre il y a deux ans je crois, snowflower and the secret fan. C'est un roman biographique. Il parle d'un petite fille, née dans une famille très pauvre de la Chine impériale du XIX° siècle.

A l'époque, il y avait tout un rituel, on organisait un jumelage d'après l'astrologie. On associait deux petites filles, nées même année, même jour, même heure, en une amitié qui se devait d'être indéfectible. Et durer toute la vie. Snowflower est donc jumelée avec Lily, la dernière descendante d'une famille de haut lignage, mais déchue, ce qu'on n'apprend que tard dans le livre. Elles grandissent plus ou moins ensemble, se marient en même temps, l'une fait un très beau mariage, elle s'élève socialement, l'autre ne peut faire qu'un piteux mariage, et descend. Et cela la déprime, la dévore lentement. Et Snowflower perd toute connection avec elle, elle ne la comprend plus. Et quand elle voit qu'elle s'entoure d'autres amies. Elle se sent trahie, rompt tout lien...Puis Lily vient à mourir, assez jeune, des suites de sa mauvaise vie. Et là, elle comprend, elle ne l'avait pas trahie, mais, ne se sentant plus comprise, à cause de la différence de milieux, de l'intransigeance de son amie, elle ne pouvait plus lui parler de tout, et avait donc besoin d'autres gens autour d'elles pour cela. Ce n'était pas une trahison, elle l'aimait encore tout autant. Mais c'était une amitié dure et douloureuse pour elle. Et là Snowflower comprend la dureté qu'elle a manifestée à son égard. Voyant Lily se détourner d'elle, elle s'était sentie trahie, blessée. Elle ne voyait pas en quoi elle avait sa part de responsabilité là-dedans, à vouloir à tout prix que Lily fût comme elle, à ne pas comprendre qu'elle n'y arrive pas... C'est un très beau livre sur l'amitié, à l'époque où je l'avais lu, il m'avait fait comprendre et réfléchir sur beaucoup de choses, et de façon salutaire.

La raison pour laquelle je l'évoque, néanmoins, n'est pas tant celle-ci, que parce qu'il parle d'une pratique qu'on a oubliée depuis, le bandage des pieds des petites filles, des femmes chinoises...



Je vous donne quelques éléments, pour ceux qui voudraient s'épargner la lecture de l'article. On le fait à toutes les petites filles, sans cela, aucune chance de les marier. Parfois dès 3-4 ans. En général dès 7-8. Il 'agit de replier toute ce qui est les orteils sous le pied, pour les faire aller vers la plante des pieds, ne laissant que le gros orteil libre, et encore, et l'idéal, c'est d'arriver à faire se replier la plante des pieds en deux, comme une forme de u entre le talon et le bout du pied. Pour ce faire, on bande étroitement les pieds des petites filles, et on les fait marcher, cela casse les os, et permet de les faire repousser comme on veut. Au fur et à mesure on resserre les bandages, pour arriver au résultat escompter, environ 8 cm de pieds...



Beaucoup meurent entre temps, septicémie, douleur... On l'imagine très bien...
L'intérêt... esthétique... a priori. Et hautement symbolique en réalité. Une femme avec de tels pieds ne va pas bien loin sans chaise à porteur, elle reste chez elle. Femme dedans, homme dehors, déjà, ça doit évoquer quelque chose... Ensuite, c'est douloureux, c'est pénible, et peu de femmes ont des pieds "parfaits", plus ils le sont, plus elle pourra s'élever socialement, et sa famille avec elle. Cruel hein ... et surtout, c'est un gage de patience, de soumission, d'obéissance, de vertu. Elle a subit cela, et bien, elle sera une bonne épouse, et une bonne mère. Dans la réalité, les femmes étaient souvent très acariâtres, se vengeant de leur douleur en la rejetant sur les générations suivantes. Et de toute façon, savoir l'horreur que cela a été, et la perpétuer sur ses filles... sachant les risques de mort, leur invalidité après, et leur tristesse, leur douleur... sous peine de leur réserver un destin d'esclave, si ses pieds sont normaux... ça demande une certaine force on va dire...

Une marque de plus de la domination des hommes sur les femmes... que ce soit de façon physique : bandage des pieds, excision, etc, ou vestimentaire, par le voile détourné de son sens religieux... on sent l'angoisse originelle des hommes devant les femmes... pourquoi ? parce qu'on transmet le sang, leur sang. c'est l'excuse qu'on nous sert le plus souvent...

Soit, personnellement, je m'en ficherai de savoir où va mon sang, s'il se perd, s'il se perpétue, je pense que l'esprit, l'éducation est plus importante que l'hérédité. Que c'est ça qui fait un fils. Mais peut-être je n'y comprends rien, je rate des enjeux, je n'en sais rien. Mais je ne comprends pas qu'on se mette dans des états pareils pour cela... ça me semble dérisoire... mais bon, c'est bel et bien là, et depuis mémoire d'homme, il n'y a pas eu de société matriarcale. Je ne suis pas pour une société matriarcale, pour changer, ou parce que je pense que s'il n'y avait que des femmes au pouvoir on n'aurait pas de guerre, regardez Thatcher et les Malouines quoi..., ou parce que je suis convaincue qu'on ferait tellement mieux. Je ne vois pas ce qu'il y a à prouver, l'intérêt de compétir pour l'avantage... ça mène à quoi... une domination sur l'autre, d'une absurdité à l'autre... c'est ridicule de lutter avec les hommes, on n'est pas pareilles, on ne fait pas toujours les mêmes choses, on ne les fait en tout cas pas pareil, mais ce n'est ni mieux ni pire, je crois... On pourrait se mettre d'accord sur cela et passer à autre chose... Qu'importe qui a fait quoi, quand le résultat est le même... Arrêtons de chercher une différence entre les sexes, elle est là, on la connaît, on en a fait le tour... et arrêtons de chercher quel est le meilleur des deux... on s'en fiche, la vie, ce n'est pas une compétition, à la fin, tout le monde meurt de toute façon. Et le trophée de la victoire de la femme sur l'homme, on ne l'emporte pas outre-tombe que je sache... Je ne prétends pas faire mieux qu'un homme, je prétends faire aussi bien. Et ça me semble juste et suffisant.

Chinese Foot Binding

By: Candace Hutchins

Throughout history in all cultures a common ultimate goal is to achieve beauty. Just as all people look different, all people have a different outlook on the question, what is beautiful? For some time in the nineteenth century, in America a definition of beauty included corsets, making women's waists as small as possible. Over time beauty has resulted in a lot of pain and in this instance, resulted in broken ribs and damaged internal organs. Body piercing and tattoos fall under the same category although the consequences are not as severe. Great pain has been suffered for centuries for women to achieve perceived beauty. Probably the most detrimental act was one that approximately one billion women in China have preformed for nearly one thousand years. This act, foot binding, was an attempt to stop the growth of the feet. Foot binding is a bizarre and terrible custom, yet it is hard to understand exactly what foot binding was like with the modern outlook we have today. The reason for women binding their feet went deeper than fashion and reflected the role of women in Chinese society. It was necessary then in China for a woman to have bound feet in order to achieve a good life.

The exact way foot binding started is not fully known. Several legends have been passed down on how foot binding originally started. The most common legend is about the Chinese prince Li Yu in the Sung dynasty (AD 960-1280) (Nadine 2). The prince's concubine, Yao Niang walked so gracefully it appeared as if she was "skimming over the top of golden lilies" (Chinese Foot Binding 2) To follow that, the "lily footed" woman became a model for China. A variation of this legend was that Yao Niang was ordered to bind her feet in the shape of half moons (Nadine 2). She was to do this so that she could perform an early variation of ballet, also called toe dancing for the royal court. This legend is probably the least likely to be true, because women with bound feet could hardly walk, let alone dance. The most likely variation of this particular story is that Yau Niang danced on a platform shaped like a lotus, as well as toe-danced within a six-foot high golden lotus flower (Jackson 28). Many women began to perform this artistic dancing style, and the dance looked best with bound feet. There are so many variations that it is impossible to know which one is true. A whole other legend is about the last Empress of the Shang dynasty. This Empress had a clubbed foot and did not want to be known as having this condition. She asked her husband to make binding feet mandatory for all girls (Chinese Foot Binding 2). By doing so, her deformed foot could now be considered beautiful. The origin of foot binding may not be clear; however the powerful affects foot binding left are apparent.

Once foot binding began, it spread quickly from the north, where it begun, to all parts in China. In the beginning, the custom was practiced only by court dancers, followed by all the women in the court. In 1273, the Mongols took over the Sung dynasty and started the Yuan dynasty. The Mongols supported foot binding for all the women in China (Chinese Girl 2). They supported mainly because it made the women less likely to be able to succeed (Jackson 19). In the mid-1300s, the Ming dynasty took the place of the Yuan dynasty. Foot binding continued to spread from the royalty, to the wealthy (Levy 26). Eventually, all classes of people had their feet bound. Poor people did so in hopes of improving their social status (Cummings 2).

The process of foot binding started for the young girls anywhere from the age of four to six. It was done so early in her life so that the arch did not have much time to develop. The mother who was the one to bind the feet, and usually started the process late in the fall or winter, so the foot would be numb and the pain would not be as severe. The daughters' feet would first be soaked in warm water or animal blood and herbs (Jackson 39). The special potion that was used for this caused any dead flesh to fall off (Levy 12).She would have her toe nails cut as short as possible therefore not allowing them to grow into the foot. After she received a foot massage, the four smallest toes on each foot were broken (Chinese Foot Binding 2) This was not even the worst of the pain. The mother soaked silk or cotton bandages in the same liquid the girl's feet were soaked in. The bandages, which were ten feet long and two inches wide, were wrapped around the smallest toes and pulled tightly to the heel. Every two days, the binding was removed and rebound. This part of the process went on for two years. By this time her feet were three to four inches long. To assure the feet staying small, the ritual continued for at least ten more years (Hwang 1).

The process was very painful; every time the feet were rebound the bandages were pulled tighter. But besides just the pain of the process, there were many after affects that were detrimental to the young girls' health. The pain of the bound feet never stopped. The most common consequence was infection (Hwang 1). There were many ways a girl could get an infection. One was the ball of the foot would folding directly into the heel. A second was that the toenails continued to grow, eventually curling into the skin. This led to flesh rotting off, and sometimes even a toe. The worst part of the process was that the feet would practically die after three years. The feet being dead caused a terrible smell the girl carried with her everywhere (Chinese Footwear 1). Diseases followed infections, and death could even result from foot binding (Hwang 1).

Some girls made it through their youth without having any medical problems; yet the time when most women had health problems due to foot binding was in their later years. The women who had their feet bound were more likely to fall, less able to squat and less able to rise from a sitting position in their older years. The combination of the lower hip bone density, along with the fact women with bound feet were more likely to fall, put these women at an extremely high risk for hip fractures (Ling 1,2). Overall, foot binding had its beauty, yet the consequences were very severe.

Such a painful and crippling tradition could not be completely due the popularity and fashion it had at the time. There were many reasons mothers made the decision to bind their daughters' feet. Men in China in that era would not marry a woman who did not have bound feet. The man's mother was always responsible for making sure the woman he was to` marry had bound feet. If the mother of the man lifted up the woman's dress and discovered "clown feet," she would not allow her son to speak to that woman again. The mother of the man that she loved finding out she does not have bound feet was the most embarrassing thing that could happen to you (Jackson 62). Feet binding also divided men and women and upheld old Chinese beliefs. Foot binding kept women weak, out of power, and dominated by her husband. When women bound their feet, men could dominate more easily and not worry about women taking their power. The process took place so early, the young girl had no choice but to follow her family's order and have her feet bound. She was uneducated and considered foot binding necessary. Also, she was seen as an object to the men, to be observed and look pretty, therefore appealing to men mattered more to the girls than their health. The girl's life went on without having much control over it (Levy 42-46).

Foot binding sounds so terrible but it did not stay popular forever. In the mid-1600s the Manchus took over the Yuan dynasty to create the Qing Empire. The Manchus were strongly against foot binding. The Qing Empire began to charge people for having daughters with bound feet and prohibiting it in areas they could control. The practiced nevertheless continued. It had become so much part of the Chinese culture and family traditions, that the government could not stop it. The Chinese continued to see foot binding as a beautiful act although it was illegal (Jackson 48).

The nationalist revolution sparked the flame that was to destroy foot binding for good. The practice slowed down considerably from there. In 1911 after the revolution of Sun Yat-Sen, foot binding officially ended aside from a handful of women living in the countryside (Chinese Girl 2). Foot binding was more than a fashion statement, it was a way of life for about one billion women as well as the men around them. It took much more than laws and protests to bring foot binding to an end. Foot binding had higher consequences, greater appeal, and is more desirable than any other practice women implemented to be beautiful in history. It cannot be seen as a simple fashion statement. It was part of the society, the roots being buried under many parts of Chinese culture. It had roots in making a woman more desirable, marriageability, and higher social status. Foot binding not only crippled the women who went through the process but as well as crippled women in China for centuries. Being crippled by foot binding, they had such a little role in the government. It was a custom that started out to define beauty but ended up defining the way the society was.

Bibliography

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"Chinese Foot Binding- Lotus Shoes." Museum of the City of San Francisco. Internet. 06 November 2000.

<http://www.sfmuseum.org/chin/foot.html>

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Cummings, Steven R. and Stone, Katie. "Consequences of Foot Binding Among Older Women in Beijing, China." American Journal of Public Health. EBSCO Host. October 1997. 06 November 2000.

Hwang, David Henry. "The Golden Child." About Feet Binding. Internet. 06 November 2000.

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Jackson, Beverly. Splendid Slippers. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 1997.

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<http://starbulletin.com/98/03/10/features/story1.html>

Levy, Howard S. The Lovers: The Complete History of the Curious Erotic Tradition of Foot Binding in China. New York: Prometheus Books, 1991.