Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Foot binding

  • Chinese footbinding: A millennium of mutilation

    Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden   A high caste woman with her feet unwrapped. From Women Of All Nations (London & New York: Underwood & Underwood, 1911), 532. Via Wikimedia. Public domain. “Foot binding is the most incendiary and least controversial subject in modern Chinese history.”1 – Dorothy Ko, professor of History and Women’s Studies, Barnard…

  • Restraint: A foot-binding story

    Daniel WongPalo Alto, California, United States My grandmother is with me. She sits perched on the edge of the bed, where I’m lying with my feet propped up by pillows. My feet hurt from running. I’ve asked her to tell me another story, and for a moment she looks back down at her Chinese newspaper.…