Editing Foot binding (section)

===Feminist perspective===
{{Violence against women|sp=uk}}
Foot binding is considered an oppressive practice against women who were victims of a sexist culture.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yTvLQbaH81wC&pg=PA139 |title=Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical Interpretation |author=Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee |page=139 | isbn=9780791481790|publisher= SUNY Press |date=February 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rophdLUYIjcC&pg=PT246 |title=Footbinding, Feminism and Freedom: The Liberation of Women's Bodies in Modern China|author= Fan Hong|isbn=9781136303142 |publisher=Routledge|date=2013-04-03}}</ref> It is also widely seen as a form of violence against women.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ac2UAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA423 |title=Ordinary Violence: Everyday Assaults against Women Worldwide|edition= 2nd|author= Mary White Stewart |pages=423–437 |publisher=Praeger|date=27 January 2014|isbn= 9781440829383}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BOKAMXEA_jQC&pg=PA310 |title=Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence |volume=1 |editor= Claire M. Renzetti |editor2=Jeffrey L. Edleson |page=276&ndash;277 |publisher= SAGE Publications|date=6 August 2008|isbn= 978-1412918008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kNh3G6Pqdr0C&pg=PA6 |title=Gender Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives|editor= Laura L. O'Toole |editor2=Jessica R. Schiffman |publisher=New York University Press |date=1 March 1997|isbn= 978-0814780411 |page=6 }}</ref> Bound feet rendered women dependent on their families, particularly the men, as they became largely restricted to their homes.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fairbank|first=John King|title=The Great Chinese Revolution, 1800–1985|url=https://archive.org/details/greatchineserevo00fair|url-access=registration|year=1986|publisher=Harper & Row|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/greatchineserevo00fair/page/70 70]|isbn=9780060390570}}</ref> Thus, the practice ensured that women were much more reliant on their husbands.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Le|first=Huy Anh S.|date=2014|title=Revisiting Footbinding: The Evolution of the Body as Method in Modern Chinese History|url=http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/927/revisiting-footbinding-the-evolution-of-the-body-as-method-in-modern-chinese-history|journal=Inquiries Journal|language=en|volume=6|issue=10}}</ref> The early Chinese feminist [[Qiu Jin]], who underwent the painful process of unbinding her own bound feet, attacked foot binding and other traditional practices. She argued that women, by retaining their small bound feet, made themselves subservient by imprisoning themselves indoors. She believed that women should emancipate themselves from oppression, that girls could ensure their independence through education, and that they should develop new mental and physical qualities fitting for the new era.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cLd_h5Hh00C&pg=PA93 |title=Footbinding, Feminism, and Freedom: The Liberation of Women's Bodies in Modern China|author= Hong Fan |publisher= Routledge |pages= 90–96|date=1 June 1997|isbn= 978-0714646336}}</ref><ref name="qiu jin"/> The end of the practice of foot binding is seen as a significant event in the process of female emancipation in China,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cLd_h5Hh00C&pg=PA1 |title=Footbinding, Feminism, and Freedom: The Liberation of Women's Bodies in Modern China|author= Hong Fan |publisher= Routledge |date=1 June 1997|isbn= 978-0714646336 |page=1}}</ref> and a major event in the history of [[Feminism in China|Chinese feminism]].{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

In the late 20th&nbsp;century, some feminists have pushed back against the prevailing Western critiques of foot binding, arguing that the presumption that foot binding was done solely for the sexual pleasure of men denies the agency and cultural influence of women.<ref>Dorothy Ko, "Rethinking sex, female agency, and footbinding", ''Research on Women in Modern Chinese History / Jindai Zhongguo Funu Shi Yanjiu'' (1999), Vol. 7, pp 75–105</ref>{{sfn|Hershatter|2018|p=66}}