Chinese bound foot shoe

Shoes

Technology is not always convenient or harmless to users, as we can see from the design of shoes. While shoes do usually protect the feet of the wearer from cold and sharp objects, shoes also reflect cultural values such as attractiveness or appropriateness for the person's gender.

In the most extreme case upper class Chinese women had their feet bound as children. Wrapping the toes under the arch of the foot produced beautiful and extremely painful small feet as shown in this photo from Elaine Hatfield and Susan Sprecher, Mirror, Mirror, (Albany NY: SUNY Press, 1986), p. 233 . Poorer families could not afford to cripple their women for the sake of stylishness.

The practice of footbinding is discussed in a term paper by Marie Vento. Some of the cultural dimensions are explored in the book Splendid Slippers: A Thousand Years of an Erotic Tradition by Beverley Jackson (Ten Speed Press, 1998) .

Although less extreme than footbinding, high heels worn by many modern women can cause physical harm to feet and legs, as described by Kim Christensen's High-Heeled Shoes and Musculoskeletal Problems and doctor Jennifer Wider's High Heels take a Toll on Women's Knees