Otempora! O mores! Like it or not, throughout the centuries, almost every civilization has had its own sensitive style issues, especially when it comes to women. Europe had the corset, a tight, structured undergarment extending from below the chest to the hips that was in vogue from ca. 1500 until the early 20th century; China had foot binding.
For good measure: One story about the origins of the latter recounts how, during the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.)—the earliest dynasty in Chinese history supported by archaeological evidence—a concubine named Daji suffered from clubfoot. She asked the monarch to make foot binding compulsory for all girls attending court so that her own feet would be the standard of beauty and elegance.
A token of high-end social status, i.e. not needing those feet to go out and work, for millennia to come, the practice of foot binding gave women the opportunity for upward social mobility. Socially mobile they may have been, yet due to their literal immobility, the women whose feet were
