Lotosov cvet
Lotus Flower

Summary/Abstract: The human body is physical entity similar to the painter’s canvas on which culture, in which the body develops and resides, paints its unique designs. Cultural relativism constructs, among other things, the corporal identity of a person, who, immediately after birth, is given the characteristics of a certain sex. The unique, and on the other hand irrefutably universal custom of foot binding is a way of recognizing this cultural invention on the female body. Every civilization is familiar with some sort of modification of the female body in the name of beauty and beautifying, national and sexual marking, as well as a political- -religious opinion. During its history, the Chinese patriarchal society has produced a specific cultural pattern, inside which this “notorious” practice was developed. Even though this custom has not been practiced for more than half a century, the small foot has not ceased to shock with its complex symbolism. The moral appall of the West over this “obscene and grotesque transformation”, which seems to completely forget the rich tradition of the corset in Europe and America, is righteously manifested through feminist criticism, and criticism in general, which sometimes resembles the alleged colonial superiority, and which, in the well known euro-centric manner, by condemning Chinese history, directly, but unconsciously, condemns its own.

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