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For hundreds of years, the erotic obsession with small female feet seems to have been an integral part of Chinese culture. Of course, it is now no longer possible to find out how many men actually shared this obsession. Perhaps only a minority ever did, and for the others it played only a very minor role or was even irrelevant. We do know, however, that the small size of the feet was the real attraction. Men usually did not look at the feet themselves, but were fascinated by the tiny “lotus shoes” with their special colors and decorations. Thus, the shoes as proof of the woman’s sexual desirability acquired a fetishistic character of their own. One might call this an “indirect fetishism”, an obsession with the cover of a desired body part rather than with the part itself. Thus, it may have been the obsession with a substitute of a substitute of the whole person. In any case, it is not easy to disentangle the various motives that might have been at work here.
Be that as it may, many forms of foot and shoe fetishism have also been known in the Western world. Not only the feet, but the soles of the feet and the toes have been, and still are, sexual fetishes for some men. This also applies to footwear, especially at times when very high heels or elaborate boots are in fashion. Other men are erotically attracted to panty hose, stockings or socks. Needless to say, all of this can also be found in a homosexual context: Some men get aroused by the feet, boots or socks of other men. Once again, one has to keep in mind that fetishism is a matter of degree, and that much depends on the circumstances whether it becomes a problem. In imperial China, no foot fetishist would ever have been considered abnormal, because his entire social environment took his erotic interest for granted and catered to it. Thus, the case of Chinese footbinding once again confirms an earlier lesson: Sexual normality and abnormality are not absolutes, but are defined differently by different cultures.
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“Lotus shoes”
The Chinese erotic ideal was a small female club foot of about 7-8 cm (3 inches) in length, the “golden lotus foot”. Slightly longer feet were called “silver lotus” (10 cm or 4 inches) and “iron lotus” if they were longer than that. The fetishistic fascination also included the respective shoes. From the left: 1. Porcelain wine goblets, length 8, 5 cm, Qing Dynasty. 2. and 3. Silk “Lotus Shoes”. 4. Photo of a Chinese woman’s crippled foot. Courtesy China Sex Museum, Tongli
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