However, foot binding was also a painful practice that significantly limited the mobility of women, resulting in lifelong disabilities for most of its subjects, including the inability to walk quickly and significant pain and discomfort while walking.

Beyond relationships, foot binding reshaped China’s architecture. The Chinese began building only single-story homes because it was so difficult for women to climb stairs. Streets and lanes were very narrow because the women needed to lean upon walls or railings when they walked [source: Ross].

Because foot-binding could only be afforded by the elite, poorer women were assigned to a lower social status.

Based on interviews with thousands of elderly women who experienced foot-binding, the study suggests it was used as a way to keep girls—in some cases as young as 5—on task producing handicrafts, such as spinning thread or weaving cloth, which could be sold to support their families.

Footbinding was first banned in 1912, but some continued binding their feet in secret. Some of the last survivors of this barbaric practice are still living in Liuyicun, a village in Southern China’s Yunnan province.

During the Qing Dynasty the emperor Kangxi (reigned 1661–1722) banned footbinding in 1662 but withdrew the ban in 1668 because so many Chinese were still practicing it.

However, women in Heian Japan did enjoy some rights and privileges, despite their situation not being ideal. Despite these so called privileges, women were still discriminated against. The most infamous case was foot binding. Foot binding originated in the tenth or eleventh century by dancers and courtesans.

Foot-binding persisted for so long because it had a clear economic rationale: It was a way to make sure young girls sat still and helped make goods like yarn, cloth, mats, shoes and fishing nets that families depended upon for income – even if the girls themselves were told it would make them more marriageable.

Foot binding was outlawed in 1911 because it was causing many deaths. During the process, young girls either couldn’t support the pain or they usually were infected. Binding your feet was very dangerous.

Foot binding resulted in the forward curvature of the lumbar vertebrae as a result of a woman struggling to balance and walk properly. Having bound feet shifted the burden of weight to the lower body which put pressure on the pelvis and led to pelvic pain.

Even when the Lord descends to any one of the mundane planets, He does so by manifesting His own abode as it is. Thus His feet remain always on the same big whorl of the lotus flower. His feet are also as beautiful as the lotus flower. Therefore it is said that Lord Kṛṣṇa has lotus feet.

The phrase “contacting the lotus feet of a guru” means to connect with a spiritual master to follow his teachings. It is considered an act of divine grace to be attracted to the lotus feet.

Krishna clarified that Radha had drunk very hot milk. He resided in Radha’s heart and the hot milk had scalded His feet, and hence the boils on His feet!

Krishna is always depicted as the Blue God. It means that the body is so transparent, almost as if it was not there. Krishna always stands with one foot firmly on the ground, the other foot crossed over, as though it is touching, but not really touching. It is elsewhere.

After the Nationalist Revolution in 1911, footbinding was outlawed in 1912. However, the practice did not truly end until the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Footbinding has been compared to other ways to “perfect” the female body, such as corsets and female genital cutting or mutilation.

Foot-binding was a practice first carried out on young girls in Tang Dynasty China to restrict their normal growth and make their feet as small as possible. Considered an attractive quality, the effects of the process were painful and permanent.