Rainy home

Check out these business dress for women images:

This following not about business dress for women,But funny：A boaster and a liar are cousins-german.A friend without faults will never be found.”Work fascinates me.” I can look at it for hours! ” Confidence in yourself is the first step on the road to success..Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.。OK！good!！Refinement :

Harbin Railway Station

Image by yewenyi
Well I traveled on the overnight train from Harbin. I had decided to travel soft sleeper. For those of you who are confused by this, in China is was politically unwise for class reasons, to have separate classes for the wealthy and powerful while everyone else had to travel in cattle class. So on Chinese trains, there is soft sleeper and hard sleeper. Soft sleeper is first class. There are 4 beds to a cabin. Hard sleeper is second class there are 6 sleepers to a section and no doors or walls (apart from between the beds). Normally in China I have traveled hard sleeper. However, I had decided as I had some expensive equipment with me to travel soft sleeper. So I ordered my bed at the station when booking my ticket. I took a lower bunk. In the future I think I will travel on the upper bunk.

Arriving at the station, I spent a while waiting for the train. In the end I got on the train. The train was full of first class carriages, and there were many of them (at least 10) and there were black Mercedes arriving on the platform, to allow their occupants off onto the train while only having to walk less than 5 meters. This is not a side of China I normally see. I shared my compartment with three very smartly dressed business women. There was a man who spoke English. We had a short conversation and then he left the train. So I was on my own from a language point of view. It is good to see that the Chinese do not have the same sexist hangups that many Australians have about mixed traveling. I would strike this bias in a few days from the Americans.

The train even had a power point (220 V Australian style) and each bed had it’s own TV and we each had a pair of head sets. When browsing the dozen channels, I came across a movie with Americans singing. I though – great, a movie in English. However, it turned out that only the singing was not dubbed. Everything else was dubbed.

The next day after a very smooth trip, I arrived in Beijing in the morning.

China Heilongjiang Harbin 20061031 IMG_0553.jpg

About business dress for women,This is about Cotton Dress and Exercise Tips.OK!
Refinement :

THE GEISHA

Image by Okinawa Soba
Yes, I know this is a long caption. One of these days I will cut it in half. Until then, here you go…

GEISHA. Also correctly called "GEISHA GIRLS", "GEIKO" [down in Kyoto], and "SINGING GIRLS". GEIGI is another form, but I don’t personally know anyone who uses this more obscure tag, and have not seen it used in the standard old references from the Meiji and Taisho eras. In any case, the generic term that covers all the variations is GEISHA.

MAIKO. In the old photo captions, Geisha-to-be understudies, were commonly called "DANCING GIRLS" (a close English translation of MAIKO). However, in Japanese speech and writing, they were often referred to as HANGYOKU (reference to costing half-as-much as a Geisha to hire for your party), and OSAHKU (the one who pours drinks). Of the three terms, one early Japanese writer on the world of the Geisha personally used the word OSHAKU more than he did MAIKO.

The post-WW2 squabble over the use of the term "GEISHA GIRLS" (as opposed to just plain "GEISHA") is discussed at the bottom of this flickr caption.

*

*

WHAT FOLLOWS IS SOME STRAIGHT TALK ABOUT THE GEISHA, and include short sections on relevant topics such as MIZUAGE; why some people confuse Geisha with PROSTITUTES; a look at SEXUAL MORES and the LOVE LIFE of the Geisha; and her job as an ENTERTAINER in a wide variety of venues from WILD PARTIES HELD ON BOATS to DINNER SHOWS held in the BROTHEL DISTRICTS. And of course, the reason she is here on Flickr in the first place — the Geisha’s job as a PHOTOGRAPHER’S MODEL.

The life and labors of a GEISHA in old Meiji-era Japan was a far cry from the anachronistic, though still pretty and talented Geisha of the 21st Century. Way back during the Meiji-era time of these photos, she was truly an integral part of Japanese society who was called upon for numerous social functions and odd "media" related jobs that sometimes took her far from the "Geisha House" we usually associate her with. The Geisha were very busy girls !

First, a few words about the above photo, and then we’ll get right to the REAL DEAL concerning these iconic symbols of "classic" old Japan.

THE ABOVE PHOTO is one of 260 hand-tinted, real albumen photographs tipped into the best editions of the 10-volume JAPAN — DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED BY THE JAPANESE (Published in Boston, USA in1897).

It was probably taken ca.1890-96 by K. OGAWA in his Tokyo studio.

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3340015545/in/set-7215…

Although there were plenty of other Geisha photos in this publication, the above image was chosen by the Japanese themselves to illustrate the only short but important statement in the book that specifically defined what a Geisha really did with her professional time. (The full statement is transcribed further below in this caption). I have amplified those comments with confirming descriptions from other sources.

There is quite a bit about the Geisha already on-line. Some of it is very good. The below is just my particular take on it. Some of what I say below will jive with what you see elsewhere, and other statements I make might be at odds with what you know. Some discrepancies might be due to my focus on the realities of Geisha life 100 years ago, whereas you might be thinking strictly of Geisha who inhabit 21st Century Japan. There is lots of overlap between the two worlds, but there are also differences.

No doubt, my life in Japan, and former profession as a photographer there had something to to with driving me to make this Geisha statement on my photostream. I hope that something in both the content and links will be of some value to you.

*

*

THE WORD GEISHA = GEI SHA 芸 者

[GEIKO is a Kyoto term for a GEISHA. Same thing. Six of one, Half a dozen of another]

The first character GEI 芸 is usually translated into English as Art, or the Arts.

The second character SHA 者 simply means Person, or Person who does.

Together they mean A person of the Arts. Therefore……ARTIST, or PERFORMING ARTIST.

Some translations say "ACCOMPLISHED PERSON"

That’s simple enough.

BUT….

SCULPTORS, PAINTERS, AND POTTERS ARE ALSO "PEOPLE OF THE ARTS"…. MAY WE CALL THEM "GEISHA", AS WELL ?

NO.

The two Chinese characters for GEISHA are specifically reserved for the women in this so-named Geisha profession who have been trained from childhood in the Performing Arts such as Music, Dance, Speaking, or Singing for the purpose of entertaining others in venues clearly defined for them.

ENTERTAINERS is probably a better translation of the word, but that, too, is far from sufficient, and is more likely to conjure up images of Stand-up comedians or Lounge Singers in a Las Vegas Night Club act. Besides, there is already a general Japanese word for TV Personalities and "entertainers" in this category : 芸 能 人 GEI NOH JIN. (Notice that the first part of that word also uses the same 芸 GEI character used in GEISHA).

Actually, there is no good English equivalent for 芸 者, as the Geisha is purely a Japanese phenomena. Not even their neighbors, Korea and China came up with the exact same thing. Thus, it is simply better to use the word Geisha, and simply know what the word entails when you are talking about her.

IMPORTANT QUESTION : Returning to something already touched on above, if "Geisha" literally means "Artist" (or "A Person of the Arts"), then what words(s) do the Japanese use for other "Artists" like painters, sculptors, potters, engravers, and etc ?

EASY ANSWER : There are many other words in Japanese to describe the various artistic disciplines and art related subjects (some that use the same written character GEI 芸 of GEISHA as a part of the word or words, and others that do not include GEI). This goes for the different Japanese words used for Artists who are painters, potters, engravers, sculptors, and etc.

Even in English, we know that a RECORDING ARTIST is not the same as an artist like PICASSO or MICHELANGELO. The Japanese language is the same, and they have everybody covered with the right words and titles for whatever the heck they do.

NOTE : FOR AN IMPORTANT DEFENSE OF THE TERM "GEISHA GIRLS" AS AN ALTERNATE TO THE TERM "GEISHA", PLEASE SEE MY COMMENT APPENDED TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS CAPTION !

*****************************************************

THE TRUE-LIFE JOB DESCRIPTION OF A MEIJI-ERA GEISHA

The GEISHA (along with their MAIKO understudies) were in a class of their own.

Beautiful, talented, intelligent, and quick-witted — they were also, on occasion, full of passion for the men that pursued them.

Although it is understood that they were NOT prostitutes, what they did in the old days (and even what they do now) has always been a little bit fuzzier in most peoples minds. The most common [and partly accurate] perception is this :

The "Geisha Girl" sings and dances the night away while pouring drinks, serving endless plates of hors d’œuvres, lighting the customers tobacco, making witty small talk, raising eyebrows and heartbeats with coy looks and innuendo, and building the egos of the male clientele — all at drunken dinner parties held in the secluded, private "restaurants" attached to the famous Geisha Houses of the larger towns and cities.

Yes. She did do that. But in most cases, the Geisha of Japan entertained men at TEA HOUSES (Ochaya) scattered all over the open country and in urban Geisha districts.

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2819980890/

In the larger cities, she was also called on to provide "pre-show" entertainment to guests in the "Yoshiwara" brothel districts, prior to the customer moving on to another room for his encounter with a chosen prostitute. (This is discussed farther down in the caption).

While being hired out to these various venues via strict protocol (and unless she was a free agent) she would live at an OKIYA — a type of "boarding house" for Geisha and Maiko.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okiya

But, there’s more….

GEISHA ON PARADE

Geisha were also hired to "man the parade floats" and other stages set up for open-air, public performances during certain festivals. They would sing and dance, and also put on little skits and plays for the merry-making public crowds.

These exhibitions were held both in public park areas, as well as inside the walls of the "Yoshiwara" red-light districts.

And from the late-1870s to the early 1920s — the time of the photographs found on this photostream — there was also this very important aspect of a Geisha’s employment….

GEISHA WERE MODELS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS — Both IN and OUT of Character.

I have mentioned in some of my captions that the Geisha also served as models for the photographers, donning all sorts of garb to portray all classes of women in Japan. Some comments from flickr users expressed surprise (and doubt) that they were also "models", and wondered if that was really so.

Yes. Before the advent of Movie Stars, Takarazuka Girls, and "Professional Models", that was really so. From roughly the 1870s until the early-1920s, Geisha pretty much owned the world of fashion and character modeling throughout the photo studios of Japan. Please read this caption (and observe the photo) very carefully :

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3329199977/

But again, there’s more. Here’s another living witness from the past……

ANCHORS AWAY !!!

Professional Photographer HERBERT PONTING, who spent many years in Japan during the last decade of the Meiji era, was highly enamored with the Geisha, and hired them to appear in many of his commercial photographs.

Ponting , who was well aware of how the west perceived the Geisha, wrote in both defense and praise of them in his 1910 book , LOTUS-LAND JAPAN. In addition to his extensive use of the Geisha as hired models, he was also careful to explain that not only were they the entertainers at the dinner parties and tea houses already mentioned above, but also in popular demand to…..

(1) accompany the DINNER BOATS as companions and entertainers as they plied the waterways of parks and rivers

www.flickr.com/search/?w=24443965@N08&q=Yakatabune&am…

and….

(2) take part in outdoor PICNIC events.

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2517606012/

Keeping the above in mind, we will now expand the duties of the Geisha even more ! Here is the interesting and concise "MANIFOLD DUTIES statement referred to at the beginning of this caption, written in 1897 by the Japanese themselves during the Meiji era, in order to clarify a few things for those foreigners who erroneously thought that "real Geisha only work in Geisha Houses" :

♥ ♥ ♥

THE GEISHA

"……..A geisha receives from early childhood an elaborate training under severe discipline to fit her for the MANIFOLD DUTIES that await her. She is taught etiquette, grace, polite speech, playing on musical instruments, singing and dancing. She must learn GAMES, the SERVICE OF BANQUETS and WEDDINGS, and the art of dressing and making herself attractive. Her services are in demand at PUBLIC and PRIVATE ENTERTAINMENTS, and occasions of SOCIAL FESTIVITIES. She is purchased from her parents in early childhood under a contract by which for many years all she earns belongs to her employer…….."

♥ ♥ ♥

"…..MANIFOLD DUTIES…."

Note again that her "services were in demand". By arrangement with the many Geisha Houses, THIRD PARTY businesses and "event coordinators" could hire the Geisha Girls as greeters, companions, helpers, up-scale waitresses and servers, special receptionists, singers, dancers, and at festival times, leaders of the games and fun — and yes, even as the popular and ubiquitous models for most of the photographic images portraying the various classes of Japanese women (from a Farmers wife to a mythical Goddess, if need be) in most of the classic photos from the Meiji era [1868-1912]. (See the above link to commentary that explains the increasing involvement of the Geisha as photographers models during the last half of the Meiji-era.)

Other books written later would further expand on the details of a Geisha’s life, explaining in many ways how she was an indispensable part of Japanese life and culture, as interwoven with the flow of society as were the silken threads of her Kimono.

REVIEW :

The Geisha served…..

(1) …..the festival-going, picnicking, partying, and ceremony-attending PUBLIC — both at indoor and outdoor venues at locations ranging from "RESTAURANT DINNER BOATS", to WEDDING RECEPTIONS, to staged events in the LOCAL PARKS.

(2) …..the rabble-rousing PRIVATE CUSTOMERS at parties held in banquet halls, tea houses, and the restaurants of the Geisha districts and popular tourist locales…..

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2808600486/

(3) …..the PHOTOGRAPHERS who needed poised and pretty models who knew how to take direction as they posed in all manner of studio dress…and sometimes undress.

(4)….the looky-loo tourists who partied in the Yoshiwara Red-light districts, and the men who wanted some song and dance entertainment before moving on to hook up with prostitutes at the famous NECTARINE No.9 and the other ubiquitous brothels of Japan.

Unlike the largely "decorative, anachronistic" Geisha of today, the Geisha of the Meiji-era were an integral, broadly functioning part of the society that gave birth to their very existence.

**************************************

WHY WERE GEISHA SO OFTEN CONFUSED WITH PROSTITUTES ?

This problem is often complained about, but rarely (or never) explained.

The Okinawa Soba answer to this question is an important one, so log it in your brain. I am also writing this to help instill a bit of patience in the hearts of Geisha-lovers who might be tempted to quickly pounce with disdain on those who, lacking a more intimate knowledge of the subject, continue to confuse Geisha with prostitutes.

Although everyone familiar with Geisha realities understands that they practiced their arts and entertainments in designated TEA HOUSES and GEISHA DISTRICTS, it has been generally forgotten that one of the other main entertainment venues for the GEISHA was in the YOSHIWARA [or "Red Light" Districts] found in the major cities scattered throughout Japan.

To say that a good portion of the hi-class "real world" Geisha of old Japan were inseparable from their non-sexual working association with Brothels might be hard to take for some modern "Geisha purists", but the fact remains that houses of prostitution is where fame and fortune awaited many of these talented women.

Even in Kyoto, there were some Geisha attached to Brothels whose talent and reputations exceeded that of the "Gion Girls" and their lively sisters along the banks of the Kamo River.

WHY WERE GEISHA WORKING AT BROTHELS AND "YOSHIWARA" DISTRICTS ?

Geisha were hired by Brothels to provide entertainment for waiting guests, as well as to be in attendance at various festivals and outdoor venues within the walls of the Yoshiwara. Geisha could be seen walking around, and riding in jinrikisha as they went to-and-fro about their business.

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2517606012/

Many visitors — both the curious looky-loos and the real "Johns" — sometimes made false assumptions about the women they saw, based on lack of knowledge about the broader female society that existed within the walls of these pleasure districts.

Both Japanese and foreign men who traveled from city and country-side to "get laid" would often partake of entertainment provided by Geisha — usually some song and dance while eating dinner or a light snack — prior to heading off to the rooms where the prostitutes awaited them.

Even the famous brothels — usually seen in the old photos with prostitutes lining the balconies — had large contingents of Geisha working for them to provide guest entertainment.

The fact that numerous Geisha worked inside these brothels in a non-sexual capacity, and were generally seen in their comings-and-goings throughout the Yoshiwara, would obviously lead to misunderstandings on the part of some guests — especially the FOREIGN men — who were not always clear about the distinctions of the various women they saw.

Over time, both writings and rumors proffered by some of these guests led to general confusion amongst the uninformed, who were not (and are still not) able to separate the two in their minds.

It might have greatly helped to quell the confusion if the Geisha held their dinners and other entertainments only outside of the Yoshiwara areas (prior to sending their customers on their way by ‘rickshaw to the "other side of town"), but such was not the case; the "Red Light Districts" — just like the dedicated "Geisha Districts" — were filled with Geisha at all hours of the day and night.

Again, the hard-working Geisha inside the Yoshiwara districts — many of whom the less-than-knowledgeable patrons could not tell apart from the working Prostitutes — wound up getting lumped together in stories about Japan, told by transient tourists and sailors to anyone who would listen upon their return home.

So, now you know. Understanding this will help you "Geisha Lovers" (who bristle at the ignorance shown by those who think the Geisha are prostitutes) to summon up a bit of patience as you kindly correct and explain the difference between the two very different professions.

************************************************

"MIZUAGE", SEX, and RELATED ISSUES

Depending on who you talk to, or what book you read, questions involving possible sexual aspects of graduating from Maiko to the rank of Geisha (or Geiko) — a ceremony or rite-of-passage called mizuage — cannot be avoided in any full discussion of the Geisha.

Some modern-day Geisha are adamant that the term mizuage, when applied to the world of the Geisha, is a non-sexual term of ceremony or graduation when a Maiko attains the rank of Geisha. Geisha taking this position today say that only the Oiran (high class prostitutes) used the term mizuage for the ritual deflowering — that is, the auctioning off of a younger girl’s virginity to the highest bidder — when describing the initiation of their young Kamuro understudies into the actual business of prostitution.

Those who adamantly take this position are correct, but only as far as it applies to the world of Maiko and Geisha of today.

(NOTE: Oiran and Tayuu are still around today, but have been "de-fanged" of their prostitution activities, and exist only to parade around as "cultural shells" of a bye-gone era. However, taking away their true sexual purpose as prostitutes, while still calling them Oiran and Tayuu is about as nonsensical as calling a guy a SAMURAI when he’s just posing in some old armor and swinging a plastic sword around.)

Keep in mind that, "Today" and "Yesterday" are two different worlds, and when reading the documentary narratives of the Meiji era of 100 years ago or more, one cannot escape the fact that Maiko attached to most (and possibly all) Geisha Houses during the pre-WW2 Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa eras did experience a sexual initiation into the rank and world of the Geisha.

AGAIN : The experts are right when they say that "Mizuage" as a sexual initiation (or rite-of-passage) for Maiko is no longer practiced. However, those who say "it never happened in the past except in the case of prostitutes" are completely wrong.

Although the old books and testimony of history are clear that many different ceremonies accompanied what was called Mizuage, they are also clear that sexual initiation was a part of it — obviously this was true for the world of prostitution, but also held true in the world of the Geisha. Here is a modern comment derived from someone well-respected when discussing these matters :

"…..During the Edo period, courtesans’ [prostitutes] undergoing mizuage were sponsored by a patron who had the right of taking their virginity. This practice became illegal in 1959. All maikos had to go through this ceremony in order to become a full fledged geisha. Once the mizuage patron’s function was served (of deflowering the young maiko) he was to have no further [sexual] relations with the girl.

Mizuage was not considered by geisha to be an act of prostitution. The ceremonial deflowering of the Geisha [-to-be] is not only a rite of passage, but a commercial transaction. The money acquired for a maiko’s mizuage was a great sum and it was used to promote her debut as a geisha……"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha

Liza Dalby is quoted in more detail here : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizuage

Referring to comments already made concerning the sexual deflowering of a Maiko, it should be obvious that the phrase "no longer practiced" clearly says that it was practiced.

Further, concerning the use and understanding of the word mizuage, what might have been the exact customs of the Geiko working in the Gion or Pontocho districts of Kyoto, might not have been the custom of the Geisha in Tokyo, Yokohama, or elsewhere in Japan. This remains a gray area of study with both regional differences and pre-and-post WW2 differences not completely addressed.

Unfortunately, no matter how orderly the "mizuage at the time of graduation" might sound, there were Geisha House owners who allowed high-paying customers to "initiate" the Maiko almost as soon as they arrived (!), long before any graduation to the rank of Geisha. That’s just the way is was.

Read this caption about the experience of the Geisha TERUHA — who was sexually deflowered as a 13-year-old Maiko — as a representative experience that must be considered in any discussion of mizuage, and the child-Maiko’s initiation into the Willow World of adult male patrons.

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/4446588770/

By the way, the "Federal" age of consent in Japan remains as 13 even in the 21st Century. The "No, it’s age 18" thing that Japan recently put up in the 1990s is actually a "misdirection law" or "facade regulation" to show Western countries that Japan is "civilized"…. and which all 13 to 17 year old girls easily get around with enjo kosai dating, and any other number of maneuvers…none of which are pursued or prosecuted by the authorities.

About once a year, the Japanese police will arrest a 16 or 17 year old "Soap Land" prostitute to prove to Western nations that Japan is cracking down hard on vice…upon which they return to their normal duties of patrolling and protecting the red-light districts…including the protection of the girl they arrested who has also returned to her profession in the "Soap Land", Cabaret", "Ryokan" and etc.

**************************************************

FROM MISTRESS TO MARRIAGE

To be a Maiko or Geisha meant you must be "single" — that is to say, not legally married. But the Geisha were human beings, and their "sisterhood" reflected the world at large when it came to matters of love and romance. The difference was how the Geisha were allowed to handle these "affairs of the heart" while still working within the rules of their profession.

Amongst them were those who fell passionately in love with a customer or patron — whether he be married or single — and she would become his mistress or lover on the side. That some (or even many) Geisha entered into these "dedicated and monogamous sexual relationships" with "patrons" who provided certain remuneration to their Geisha mistresses or lovers seems beyond dispute.

NOTE : While the above paragraph seems to state the understood "ideal" of "honorable Geisha-hood", a pre-WW2 Japanese writer on the subject felt that truly monogamous Geisha were a rare thing, and that the "norm" for Geisha was to juggle a few good patrons at the same time — at least as many as could be effectually alternated without them bumping into each other. Keep in mind that this was one writers opinion, and there are no personal anecdotes or "Geisha paramour statistics" to back up these suppositions. If such really was the norm, just how many of a Geisha’s "personal harem" were for "Love", and how many were for "Money" is something I will leave up to your imagination. In any case, even if a Geisha was discretely rotating a few men at one time, she was still not considered a prostitute. If it was today, American teenagers would probably call her a slut.

No doubt there were gold-diggers, too, and lesbians as well. And who’s not to say that many of them were just like many Japanese girls of today — totally lacking a libido of any kind.

Perhaps (unfortunately) it is the stories of those Geisha who did enter into "private, sexual relationships" — some developed while still teenagers — that has led to confusion about mizuage in specific, and the generally persistent but entirely mistaken notion that the Geisha was some kind of prostitute.

Suffice it to say, the Geisha were not prostitutes — either then, or now.

As just mentioned, the Geisha were all unmarried. However, they were also free to marry, though marriage brought an automatic end to their career as a Geisha. Like all human beings everywhere, some had happy marriages, some were only tolerable, and other ended in divorce. The famous Geisha TERUHA was married and divorced a few times, as well as having lived in a lesbian relationship for a while. She also had a daughter.

www.flickr.com/search/?q=Teruha&w=24443965@N08&m=…

Okinawa Soba has a friend who married a true Geisha. They are now happily married with a cute n’ spunky little daughter who’s a karate nut.

In any case, the Geishas everyday lives and the jobs they worked at were usually far from the romantic, and often highly-charged, sexualized images attached to them by romantic writers from the West.

In general, the Geisha were a hard-working lot who — looking back on those times — deserve far more respect for their contributions to Japan than most of the sleezy Politicians, Bankers, and Bureaucrats who formed a part of their regular customers and patrons.

Keep in mind that MOST of the female subjects depicted on the classic "UKIYOE" woodblock prints of old Japan were PROSTITUTES from the YOSHIWARA ("Red Light Districts"), and not Geisha.

****************************************

FREE AGENTS

There were independent Geisha — usually from among the more famous or popular girls who had "paid their dues" — who lived outside the dictates of a "Geisha House Mama", and plied their trade as "free lancers".

BABES AND BOOBS

Please note that many of the Geisha who appear half naked in my "BABES & BOOBS" set were the NEXT DAY probably busy at any number of venues — attending a wedding (as servers, helpers, and entertainers), at a public festival (dancing, singing, escorting guests, or playing games with the visitors — both young and old), or entertaining VIPs at a private banquet or ceremonial reception.

The occasional use of prostitutes by Yokohama photographers to appear as topless models in studio shots seems to have been during the first half of the Meiji-era. By the 1880s, the transition to using Geisha and Maiko as models had already begun in earnest, and most of the "nudes" seen today from the "Yokohama Albums" and the ubiquitous "penny postcards" are really Geisha, and not prostitutes.

www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&w=24443965@N08&q=Nud…

****************************************

THE GEISHA OF TODAY — "EMPTY SHELLS" or "LIVING ENCYCLOPEDIAS" ?

I have often expressed an opinion of modern-day Geisha being nothing more than "empty shells" of days gone by. However, I having seen the error of my ways, I duly REPENT…..sort of.

While it is a FACT that the Geisha of 100 years ago and more were a "necessary", integral, ubiquitous working part of broad swaths of Japanese society — and that the Geisha of today are NOT "integral — it is only fair to acknowledge the value of modern-day Geisha as "living encyclopedias" of an age gone by.

The modern Geisha keep alive the songs, musical heritage, classic conversational banter, games, stunts, and especially the immaculate hair, makeup, and beautiful kimono kitsuke seen in the old Studio Photos of the Meiji era. Their dedication to preserving this once-ubiquitous part of Japan’s social life clearly sets these modern-day girls and women apart.

And positive changes make the doing-it-by-choice 21st Century Geisha more appealing as a cultural institution than their original "sisters" who were sold into the business as children.

Stripped of need to draw on the sale of little girls to maintain their ranks, and of the custom of selling off the virginity of the 13-year-old Maiko to local bankers and bureaucrats, they are now above reproach in that regard, and their "decorative presence" for shutter-bugs and anachromaniacs has been nicely cleansed of such distasteful "culture".

On the other hand, their place in society no longer has the broad reach and involvement in the everyday life of Japan as it once did, and they have found themselves reduced in many ways to a niche, cultural decoration….not unlike the once-ubiquitous and socially functional Kimono that, for most of the young women across Japan, now comes out only on special occasions.

That being said, the Geisha must be recognized as "decorations with substance" — a "cultural anachronism" that, even in their smaller numbers, still defines a large part of the world’s romantic image of Japan.

Although the Geisha have now withdrawn behind the walls of the Okiya and Ochaya [Tea Houses] and specialized venues where the bulk of their entertaining now goes on, their talents in that smaller sphere — provided for a smaller range of clientele — are no less than what they were 100 years ago.

Just for fun, here’s an example of the many odd "games" passed down by the Geisha from at least the 19th century (and probably earlier) this little maneuver done by two Geisha is illustrative of the discipline and care given to maintaining and passing on traditions. Please look at the OLD PHOTO first (and my goofy caption), and then click to see the 21st CENTURY VIDEO of the same eclectic moves : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/4326647910/

Again, no matter how anachronistic these girls might be, they remain as pretty and talented as ever — a favorite subject for never-ending hordes of camera-toting tourists and locals hoping to catch a glimpse of them, and fodder for any number of books that try to "explain them" to the world.

I seriously doubt that they will ever disappear from the varied landscape that makes Japan the unique place that it is…and in that sense, the Geisha will always be — even more so now than in the past — the Immortal Geisha of a dream inside a fantasy, all wrapped in a mystery…

* * * * * * * * * *

NOTE : While the TECHNICAL descendants of the Geisha continue to ply their trade in Kyoto and other cities large and small, the PRACTICAL descendants scattered throughout Japan are now called BAR GIRLS or HOSTESSES who work in what are generally called "Snack" and "Lounge" bars — multi-story buildings and entire districts given over to their trade.

In one sense, you could call these Snack Bar Gals the "Poor Man’s Geisha" because they are accessible to anybody with at least ¥2,000 to spare. At least that’s what poor salarymen tell themselves, and then end up spending at least ¥10,000…. !

At the higher-class Lounges, Bar Girls in Kimono entertain Company Presidents, Gangsters, and Politicians (sometimes there is no difference between these three) and it is not uncommon for these customers to drop at least ¥50,000 a night to chat these women…hoping to score big-time, or gain a mistress along the way.

I have made a more light-hearted comment about these modern Bar Girls / Hostesses at this old photo of a couple of Geisha having a beer during their day off in a park :

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2328678706/

I hope the above photo and straightforward caption was helpful.

*******************************************************************

APPENDIX I : WHAT ABOUT "GEISHA GIRLS" ???

A Defense of the Compound Term "…GEISHA GIRLS…"

Several modern-day Websites and hard-copy sources that deal with (and attempt to correct) the eternally false perception that the GEISHA are a particular breed of Japanese prostitutes, usually say something like the following :

"…..The term "Geisha Girl" or "Geisha Girls" should never be used in reference to the true Geisha — either in the singular, or as a class description — as that term carries a connotation of prostitution, and refers to the class of prostitutes who, during the American Occupation of Japan following WW2, dressed in varied approximations of the true Geisha (and even called themselves Geisha) in order to lure young servicemen who only had nominal and exotic expectations based pre-existing false perceptions passed down by the ignorant and misinformed…."

In fact, the Wikipedia has this to say :

"….."Geisha girls"

"Geisha girls" were Japanese women who worked as prostitutes during the period of the Allied Occupation of Japan. They almost exclusively serviced American GIs stationed in the country, who incorrectly referred to them as "Geesha girls." The term is a mispronunciation of the word geisha. The mispronunciation persists among some Westerners.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that these women dressed in kimono and imitated the look of geisha. Americans unfamiliar with the Japanese culture could not tell the difference between legitimate geisha and these costumed prostitutes. Shortly after their arrival in 1945, occupying American GIs are said to have congregated on the Ginza and shouted in unison, "We want geesha girls!"

Eventually, the term "geisha girl" became a general word for any female Japanese prostitute or worker in the mizu shobai ["water business"] and included bar hostesses and streetwalkers.

Geisha girls are speculated by researchers to be largely responsible for the continuing misconception in the West that all geisha engaged in prostitution….."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha

To be honest, such pronouncements do sound very authoritative, and seem to settle the matter that the use of the term "Geisha Girls" — when referring to actual Geisha — is a complete no-no, such use simply reflecting the ignorance of the user.

Due to such indoctrination of today’s lover of all things Geisha. Okinawa Soba understands that this is how the term is general regarded today, and due to this sensitivity, I respect those do not want themselves or others to use the term "Geisha Girls" when referring to modern-day Geisha.

However…..the WIKIPEDIA and all the rest who toe this line are more confused than the poor G.I.s they are writing about.

Okinawa_Soba now goes on public record to inform all who read this that the so-called "scholarship" that produced (and still does produce) such post-WW2 anecdotal folk histories and condemnation of the term "Geisha Girls" is — generally speaking — simply the result of these writers placing their trust in other post-WW2 writers on the subject who were also copying others like them ad infinitum — none of whom ever took a serious look at (or gained an understanding of) the myriad pre-WW2 19th Century and early 20th Century uses of the term "Geisha Girls".

The sad result is that these amateur "scholars" and historical "spin doctors" have ruined the perfectly historical, valid, and acceptable use of the term GEISHA GIRLS.

First of all, the reason the American G.I.s used the term "Geisha Girls" was because that was a perfectly acceptable word for the true Geisha in the world they, their parents, and their grand-parents lived in. The fact that US Army Private Zeke from Battle Creek couldn’t tell the difference between a real Geisha and a prostitute in a Kimono had nothing to do with the already well-established use of the term "Geisha Girls".

Similarly, in the days after WW2, the term "Geisha Girl" no more (and no less) carried the connotation of "Prostitute" than did the term "Geisha". Geisha Girl and Geisha were equally acceptable terms for an actual Geisha even after WW2 (just as they were before WW2), and both terms were equally afflicted with the general confusion and long-running misunderstanding of what a Geisha really was.

The artificial division between the two terms is a late Western construct devised by a few well-meaning souls who wanted to protect the realm of the true Geisha, though while doing so remained (1) in complete ignorance of the original equality of the terms, and (2) not understanding that the young men of the Occupation Forces generally labored under the old and false assumption handed down to them that the Geisha were some kind of prostitute.

During the 19th and early 20th Centuries — the period of time during which the Geisha images on my photostream were taken, and during which time the Geisha were effusively written about and explained to the adoring world by both the Japanese, and foreigners in the know — the terms "Geisha" and "Geisha Girls" were used interchangeably with respect and approval across all forms of media. Books, Magazines, Newspapers, Periodicals, Photo captions, Stereoview captions, Commercial Products from that time can all be found using the terms "Geisha Girl" or "Geisha Girls" when describing the true Geisha, and not prostitutes.

Even in the Japanese language, the root of "Geisha Girl" can be found in the earlier appellation of Onna Geisha (女芸者) — "Woman Geisha" or "Girl Geisha", used to differentiate them from the male Geisha (or court entertainers).

Here is one example of thousands, and this by a Japanese writer also conversant in English : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3329199977/

If you are going to allow your modern-day use (or condemnation of) the historically-correct, bona fide term "Geisha Girls" to be dictated to you by a few lazy-assed American G.I.s and some prostitutes who wore Kimonos instead of skirts — along with late-20th Century, high-sounding, copy-cat "scholars" who never cracked open a book older than 1945 — then please go right ahead. Language and usage does change and Okinawa Soba will not stand in the way of it, even if the change is, regrettably, brought about by ignorance, as is the case here. You can’t unscramble scrambled eggs.

In the meantime, and in temporary deference to those who have (unfortunately) adjusted to the uncalled-for change in English usage, I will not call the modern Geisha of Japan "Geisha Girls here in my Flickr captions.

However, as concerns the Geisha in the old photos I post on this photostream, Okinawa_Soba will continue my absolutely correct, historical, affectionate, occasional and respectful use of the term "Geisha Girls" to refer to true Geisha of the pre-WW2 Meiji and Taisho eras throughout my photo titles and captions. And not only that, you can, too !

Outside of flickr, I will continue to call the modern Geisha of Japan Geisha Girls if I want to, and am fully prepared to answer on the spot those impassioned souls who, in their own ignorance, wrongly accuse me of being ignorant for calling a Geisha a Geisha Girl !

NOTE: I still call a “Female Cabin Attendant” a Stewardess, and don’t object when, in the 21st Century, the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards the Oscar for Best Actress.

****************************************

Now,excuse me while I return to writing my normally wacky titles and goofy captions that spoof our oft-misguided perceptions of old Japan. www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/2531017485/

About business dress for women,This is about Cotton Dress and wellness tips.OK!
Wonderful business dress for women:

Portrait of Woman in Fur Coat

Image by Wisconsin Historical Images
Studio portrait of a standing woman wearing a fur coat and fur muff, possibly Julia Schnurr or Snurr. Standing with draped support on left, with painted backdrop depicting stairway on right.

This image is part of a collection of over 6,000 glass plate negatives created by Charles J. Van Schaick. Van Schaick learned the art of photography after moving to Jackson County, Wisconsin. In 1885, he opened a studio in Black River Falls, Wisconsin and served as the town photographer for over 50 years. His work includes both studio portraits and richly varied and intimate snapshots of small-town, Wisconsin life. A portion of his photographic work is represented in Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy.

For more information about this image, click here:

www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=28694

Did You Know?

The Wisconsin Historical Society produces giclée print reproductions made from high-resolution scans of original source material from its holdings. Custom orders are printed on matte or semigloss papers using large format printers and archival pigmented inks. All print sale proceeds directly benefit the acquisition, preservation and maintenance of the physical and online collections.

E-mail business manager Lisa Marine for details. For more information, see our FAQ.

Check out these business dress for women images:

My edited the following,This is about Boat Shoes and Exercise Tips.OK!
This following not about business dress for women,But funny：A boaster and a liar are cousins-german. A friend is easier lost than found.By reading we enrich the mind, by conversation we polish it. Confidence in yourself is the first step on the road to success..Money is not everything. There‘s Mastercard & Visa. 。OK！good!！Refinement :

Three People on Ladder

Image by Wisconsin Historical Images
A man and two women stand on a stile of broad wood in the middle of a field. The man stands on the second step, wearing a coat, bow tie, and fedora, the two women stand behind him on top step, wind blowing the skirt against the body of woman in white dress, woman on left has her mouth open in a scream, the wind raising her hair. Halycon Brick Yard is visible in the background.

This image is part of a collection of over 6,000 glass plate negatives created by Charles J. Van Schaick. Van Schaick learned the art of photography after moving to Jackson County, Wisconsin. In 1885, he opened a studio in Black River Falls, Wisconsin and served as the town photographer for over 50 years. His work includes both studio portraits and richly varied and intimate snapshots of small-town, Wisconsin life. A portion of his photographic work is represented in Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy.

For more information about this image, click here:

www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=29251

Did You Know?

The Wisconsin Historical Society produces giclée print reproductions made from high-resolution scans of original source material from its holdings. Custom orders are printed on matte or semigloss papers using large format printers and archival pigmented inks. All print sale proceeds directly benefit the acquisition, preservation and maintenance of the physical and online collections.

E-mail business manager Lisa Marine for details. For more information, see our FAQ.

This following not about business dress for women,But funny：A man is known by his friendsA friend without faults will never be found.A stitch in time saves nine. There are no accidents..Love the neighbor. But don‘t get caught.。OK！good!！Refinement :

CHINESE FOOT BINDING (1)

Image by Okinawa Soba
Welcome to CHINESE FOOT BINDING 101, in FOUR PARTS — The story of how 4.5 BILLION Chinese Girls got a raw deal, maimed and crippled for life (with up to 10% suffering death) by a cultural outrage against nature that continued for a thousand years.

"…….what we do know is that the process of binding a foot was agonizing — so painful that by some estimates one girl in 10 died of shock in the first few days……" www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/03/23/200324…

NOTE : If you are here simply to read the gory details of HOW IT WAS DONE, that’s OK.

Please scroll down past the introduction and go to PART 1, where you will find plenty of INFECTION, INTERNAL BLEEDING, OOZING PUS, ROTTING FLESH, CHRONIC FUNGUS, GANGRENE, PUTRID ODORS, and the SNAPPING, CRUNCHING sound of little girl’s feet HAVING THEIR BONES CRUSHED AND BROKEN…..without anesthesia, and without mercy, making the TORTURE TECHNIQUES of the American CIA look like Mother Teresa compared to the UNRELENTING TORTURE OF LITTLE GIRLS practiced for a millennium by the HAN CHINESE of Asia.

SEX, SEX, and MORE SEX

SEXUAL ISSUES and SPURIOUS SEXUAL REASONS FOR FOOT BINDING are covered in PART 3.

WARNING : CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS AND SEXUALLY EXPLICIT COMMENTS REFERENCING MALE AND FEMALE ANATOMY USING BOTH SLANG AND TECHNICAL TERMS.

That is to say, NFTK. (Not For The Kiddies)

IF YOU ARE TOO SQUEAMISH TO READ THE HORROR STORY RIGHT AWAY, I WILL HELP YOU RELAX FIRST BY PLAYING A GAME. The Game is called FIND THE HEEL. Go to this link, and see of you can find the heel that used to be naturally rounded out behind the girl’s foot. If you can’t find it, and give up, just read the caption to find out where it went. After you’re done, you can come back here and continue reading :

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3461349265/in/set-7215…

You seriously DON’T want to read anything else, and just want to look at all the pics ?

Ok…..here’s my complete FOOT BINDING Photo Set : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/sets/72157617279516959/

Also, here’s the direct link to a stereoview (3-D) view of the above photo. You can always come back and check it out later : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3461351447/in/photostr…

********************************************

DISCLAIMER, and STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

What follows is not a racist rant against the nation we now call "China", so please relax.

Everyone in China did not practice foot binding, and many of the more sane Chinese were against it to the point where some regions and tribes enacted prohibitions against it. Therefore, the condemnation of this cultural practice which you are about to read is not a blanket condemnation of all Chinese who lived in China during times past, nor those who are descended from them today. It is certainly not a post against the Chinese Women who suffered so horribly. Neither is it a post against the young girls who were at times forced by their parents to break the feet of their even younger sisters. As for the Mothers who "fell in line" and allowed this male-directed madness to proceed, the words "Stockholm Syndrome" come to mind.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

What I have written below is a post against those particular men in China who initiated it and allowed it to take root, who promoted it, defended it, and perpetuated it in the regions where it was allowed by leaders who did not care. It is against those particular billions of men who came later and oversaw the continuing horrific pain and suffering of women and children while making no attempt to stop it, even in their own homes.

It is also a post against those particular men in today’s China who continue on in the spirit of treachery against women by allowing the stone-aged practice of FEMALE INFANTICIDE — via the lopsided, prejudicial abortion of tens of millions of devalued little girls — while letting the little boys live on, simply because they have a little pecker between their legs.

In a broader sense, it is also a post against every male chauvinist pig who has ever been born on the face of the earth.

Period.

****************************************

INTRODUCTORY RANT —- BOGUS CONCEPTS ABOUT CULTURE

Did Confucius ever say, "…If only one man crush and break daughter’s feet to destroy happy childhood, cripple her for life (and maybe kill her), he is CRIMINAL PSYCHOPATH and VERY SICK BASTARD…….. But, if one million man do it, it is RESPECTABLE and HONORABLE CULTURE…" ?

No, he did not. He was long dead by the time the insidious practice of foot binding came along. However, he probably wished he had said the above, and is now in the grave, kicking himself in the butt for not being the first to introduce this crime against women.

Confuse Us….er… Confucius was just another male chauvinist pig of the first degree, whose teachings helped lay the groundwork for the stupidity that was to follow. He will be discussed again later — in negative terms, of course — at the very end of this long 101 caption.

Further, in PARTS 3 and 4 below, the following people will also get smacked around : Modern-day, so-called "educators" who spend their time (1) groveling on the ground before the Idols of superstition and ignorance, (2) pandering to the sublime cop-out of "cultural relativism", and (3) appealing to adolescent "Time-Place" arguments while making immature pronouncements like "all cultural practices and beliefs must be respected on their own terms in the context of the age during which they occurred".

Here’s a preview :

Q & A.

QUESTION : What do you call a person who is the opposite of a "Cultural Imperialist"?

And by "Cultural Imperialist" — in the context of this foot binding caption, at least — I mean someone (like me, for example) who would like to rid the world of backward, stone-age, male-dominated, sexist, cultural practices that slash, maim, crush, cut, burn, break, torture, sexually traffic, enslave, rape, abuse, and suppress WOMEN and CHILDREN, simply because they are WOMEN and CHILDREN.

ANSWER : You call these anti-Cultural Imperialists "Time-Place Wackos", "Cultural Relativists", and the Malignant Mavens of "Moral Relativity".

They are the so-called "scholars", "educators" and "bureaucrats" of the world who excuse, coddle, and kiss up to ignorance, superstition, and male chauvinism wherever it is found on our planet (both past and present). They are those who cannot think outside the safe little box that they live in, or engage their brain in any independent thought — unless it is happens to be thinking about themselves to the exclusion of all others.

They are those who have no personal fortitude, guts, understanding, compassion, or meaningful values that they can extend to others. The have no empathy or interest in those on the other side of cultural or national boundaries who are being mutilated, crushed, or caged. By their "politically correct" passive omissions, and failure to SPEAK OUT AGAINST SUCH THINGS, they demonstrate not only their complicity, but their lack of interest in alleviating the adult-imposed physical abuse of WOMEN and CHILDREN the world over — with the un-spoken, self-serving, fortuitous excuse that since it’s not happening on their side of the fence, why should they speak out or even care ?

These proponents of MORAL RELATIVITY tell us that…..

(1)….. if one man in a village somewhere throws acid in the face of a 14-year-old girl before slitting her throat and roasting her alive — all because she had a romantic crush on some unapproved male — that this is a "heinous, horrible crime"….

But somehow…..

(2)….. if one hundred men in a village do it to one hundred women, the crime is no longer a crime, but is now suddenly and wonderfully transformed into "culture", and is "not to be judged or condemned", and is now "worthy of our understanding and appreciation in the context in which it occurs", etc etc blah blah blah.

This kindergarten-to-adolescent approach to life is called "Magical Thinking".

It is also called "Bullsh*t".

To cover their lame excuses, these "Moral and Cultural Relativists" clap their hands and say,

"……Whatever people do in other cultures, that’s OK…because it’s their Culture…."

They are the ones who put daisies in their hair, and dance around in circles singing,

"……. I’m OK…You’re OK…We’re ALL OK ! Let’s all just GET ALONG, and RESPECT WHATEVER EACH OF US DOES and WHATEVER WE HAPPEN TO BELIEVE……."

These are the same folks who stick their head in the sand and say,

"…..Throwing acid in young girls faces, and "Honor Killing" of women who don’t do what men tell them to do is their beautiful tradition ! It’s their time-honored culture ! Who are we to say that what they are doing is wrong ? Who are we to judge ? …."

Blah Blah Blah.

Getting back to our subject, here’s a REAL EXAMPLE from the Internet : "……However, let’s not condemn this practice [of foot binding] for we cannot judge it in respect to our own culture. To fully understand a practice such as foot binding we have to practice cultural relativism……" www.angelfire.com/ca/beekeeper/foot.html

I’m sure the writer of that Essay has no condemnation for GENITAL MUTILATION either, nor a host of other practices that are destructive of children. And I’m sure he has no condemnation for Japan’s long culture of SELLING CHILDREN INTO THE WORLD OF PROSTITUTION, and finds no fault with America’s long history and culture of SLAVERY, and SELLING HUMAN BEINGS ON THE AUCTION BLOCK. How nice….NOT. After all, "we have to practice cultural relativism".

Yeah. Right. Excuse me while I Barf.

Again, Cultural Relativism is just another euphemism and piss-poor excuse for not engaging the brain, heart, or any other level of logic or independent thought that goes deeper than 1mm into the skin of a rotten banana.

YOU MAY NOW SCROLL DOWN TO PART 1 FOR THE GORY DETAILS OF HOW TO CRUSH THE FEET OF INNOCENT CHILDREN…..

…..OR YOU MAY READ ON A BIT MORE IF YOU NEED TO GET CURED OF YOUR DEVIANT AFFECTIONS FOR TIME-PLACE, CULTURAL RELATIVITY :

If you really believe that human culture — both past and present — cannot be judged, then please send me all of your WIVES, GIRLFRIENDS, YOUNG DAUGHTERS, AND GRAND-DAUGHTERS.

I will return them to you completely SCREWED, BLUED, and TATTOOED, minus their CLITORIS and HALF OF THEIR VAGINAL PLUMBING thanks to genital mutilation carried out by using the rusted lid from an old tunafish can, their collar bones and shoulders WARPED AND TWISTED BY NECK RING EXTENSIONS, their once happy FEET CRUSHED BY FOOT BINDING, and their EARS and LIPS HALF-RIPPED FROM THEIR FACES and ENLARGED BY WOODEN DISK AND PLUG DECORATIONS.

And that’s just for starters ! On the way home from their trip, I will have them do a 6-month "Home Stay" in a remote village under TALIBAN rule. Woo Hoo !!!

Finally, so they can really understand the "beautiful and amazing culture of foot binding" as practiced in old China, I will personally take a sledgehammer to your daughters tender and natural feet before I send them home to you. And don’t forget : "…….what we do know is that the process of binding a foot was agonizing — so painful that by some estimates one girl in 10 died of shock in the first few days……" www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/03/23/200324…

Of course, since you have taught your children the sick values of "Moral Relativity", I’m sure they won’t feel a thing as internal bleeding and infection set in.

Oh…You say you only have a SON ? Great ! No problem ! Give me the young lad for a while, and I’ll take him to live with the SAMBIA TRIBE, where he can give BLOW JOBS to all of the men in the Village until their semen flows out his ears.

lrivera0327.tripod.com/

Now, give me your little newborn infant — for the sake of his or her health, I’m going to toss ‘em off a 50 foot building into a sheet — fireman’s style !!! Woo Hoo ! I’m sure the impact will knock more sense into your baby than you apparently have !

www.liveleak.com/view?i=8ed_1209300037

Yes, let’s see how culturally tolerant you are of Okinawa_Soba’s world-tour contributions to your young son’s and daughters international experiences !!!

On second thought, forget your kids. I want YOU ! I’m sending you off for a vacation to the land of Head Hunters and Cannibals for a cultural experience you will never remember — because you will be DEAD ! What’s that you say ? Cannibalism is a fine cultural feature of man — just as long as YOU are not the one being eaten ? HA ! That’s what I thought.

Cultural Relativism ? Give me a break.

Read This : www.flickr.com/photos/osvaldo_zoom/2044452206/

And many other extensive captions at these Photos : www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=Genital+Mutilation&amp…

There are some so-called "enlightened" and "educated" folks out there who think our world is some kind of PEACE LOVE DOVE FEST , and that we shouldn’t criticize OURSELVES and OTHERS for practices that are destructive to basic human life — failing to understand that we are part of ONE HUMAN FAMILY, and who share our ONE HOME, PLANET EARTH — and whose RACIST ATTITUDES allow for and placate those who would destroy the natural functions, liberty, and happiness of another.

Thank GOD (or MOTHER NATURE) that you who are reading this are NOT ONE OF THOSE "TIME-PLACE" WACKO TYPES ! However, on the outside chance that you are, the COMMENTS SECTION is now open for business, where you may put me in my Cultural Imperialist place.

And after you are done bashing me for my lack of respect for others, you may celebrate by having a drink (from a bowl) with this woman :

www.liveleak.com/view?i=9e2_1244159836

And believe me, I live under no ethic or law that requires me to have any respect for any culture whose actions and proclivities against women and children are born from male-dominated social structures, perpetuated and preserved by pampered men having the mentality of a mushroom.

Thank You.

Now, let’s move on to the destruction of a few Chinese girls feet — BILLIONS OF THEM !!!

None of us are above what you are about to read; that is to say, every human being has the capacity for doing evil things. The problem comes when individuals and societies don’t deal with evil things before they get out of hand. This custom of foot binding — practiced for a thousand years by about half the tribes and ethnic regions of old China — will be examined and ripped apart here as an example for all of us on what NOT to do, with implications for all other cultures of the world today that treat women like animals…..

***************************************************

PART 1 : HOW IT WAS DONE :

*** THE CHINESE METHOD OF CRUSHING THE FEET OF YOUNG GIRLS ***

SNAP, CRACKLE, and POP !

First, be aware of two gross fallacies floating around on the internet :

(1) There are several serious statements found across the Web that say things such as wearing high heeled shoes are just as bad for your feet as Chinese foot binding. The people who say such things are either blithering idiots, or as clueless as a rock under a barrel.

(2) There are also several serious statements found across the Web that say Chinese foot binding simply consisted of wrapping cloth tightly around the foot for two years to slow the growth and development of the foot. The people who describe it like that should get the "Nobel Prize for Making the Understatement of the Millennium", and are guilty of glossing over the horrific reality of what went on under those pretty white strips of cloth.

To those broad-minded souls who think that anything and everything falling under the umbrella of what we call "culture" is a wonderful thing, and that all of China was a civilized country of age and wisdom, then please read this barbaric description of what FOOT BINDING really entailed for the BILLIONS of little girls that were forced into it for ultimate "sexual" and / or so-called "cultural" reasons.

OK….. GRAB YOUR DAUGHTER (or your SISTER) and LET’S DO IT !!!

"…….At about the age of three to six years old, when the bones of the young girl’s feet were fully developed, the footbinding began. It was generally an elder female member of the girl’s family or a professional footbinder who started the binding. It was seen as preferable to avoid having the mother do it as she might be sympathetic to the pain of her daughter’s feet and loosen the bandages. The process was started before the arch of the foot had a chance to properly develop. Binding usually started during the winter months so that the feet were numb, meaning the pain would not be as extreme.

First, each foot would be soaked in a warm mixture of herbs and animal blood, this is to soften the foot to aid the binding. Then her toenails were cut back as far as possible to prevent ingrowth and subsequent infections since the toes were to be pressed tightly into the sole of the foot. To prepare her for what was to come next the girl’s feet were delicately massaged. Cotton bandages, ten feet long and two inches wide, were prepared by soaking them in the same blood and herb mix as before.

The toes on each foot were then pressed downwards into the sole of the foot until they were broken, and held against the sole of the foot. The foot was then drawn straight with the leg and the arch broken. The bandage would be repeatedly wound in a figure eight movement, starting at the inside of the foot at the instep, then carried over the toes, under the foot, and round the heel, the freshly broken toes being pressed tightly into the sole of the foot. At each pass the binding was tightened, pulling the ball of the foot and the heel ever close together. When the binding is done, the end of the binding cloth is sewn tightly to prevent the girl from loosening it. As the wet bandages dried they would constrict greatly, making the binding even tighter.

This binding ritual would be repeated as often as possible (for the rich at least once daily, for poor peasants two or three times a week), with fresh bindings. Each time the feet were unbound they would be kneaded to make the joints more flexible, then washed and the nails meticulously trimmed. Immediately after this pedicure the feet are rebound and the bindings are pulled tighter each time, making this process continually more and more painful. The unbound feet would regularly be soaked in a concoction (also considered a "special potion") that caused any necrotised flesh to fall off.

The girl was not allowed to rest after her feet had been bound, however much pain she was in she would often have to walk long distances on her broken & bound feet, so that her own body weight crushed her feet into the correct shape.

The most common ailment of bound feet was infection. Toenails would often ingrow and could lead to flesh rotting, if the infection got into the bones of the feet it could cause toes to drop off. Toes dropping off was seen as a positive, as the feet could then be bound even tighter than before. Disease inevitably followed infection meaning that death could result from foot binding.

As the girl grew older, she was more at risk from medical problems. Even after the foot bones healed they were prone to re-breaking. Older women were more likely to break hips and other bones in falls and were less able to stand up from sitting……"

The above was condensed in the Wiki from the following books : (1) Jackson, Beverly: Splendid Slippers. Berkley: Tenspeed Press. 1997, (2) Levy, Howard S: The Lotus Lovers: The Complete History of the Curious Erotic Tradition of Foot Binding in China. New York:Prometheus Books 1991, and (3) Cummings, S & Stone, K: Consequences of Foot Binding Among Older Women in Beijing China. American Journal of Public Health EBSCO Host. Oct 1997.

And finally THIS :

"……….It usually began somewhere between the ages of four and seven. Possibly even later if the family was poor and needed their daughter to do work around the house or farm. A bandage, ten feet long and two inches wide was wrapped tightly around the foot, forcing the [already broken] four small toes under the sole of the foot. This made the feet narrower but at the same time it made the feet shorter because it also forced the big toe and the heel closer together by bowing the arch of the foot. The bandage was tightened each day and the girl was put into progressively smaller and smaller sized shoes. The entire process usually took about two years at the end of which the feet were essentially dead and utterly useless…….

The feet had to be washed and manicured on a daily basis. If they weren’t manicured properly the toe nails could cut into the instep and infection could set in. If the bindings were too tight they could cut off circulation which could lead to gangrene and blood poisoning.

The feet had to be massaged and given hot and cold compresses to help relieve the pain and help improve circulation. If all this isn’t bad enough, corns would develop on the toes that were bent under and would have to be cut off with a knife. But wait! It gets worse! With the lack of circulation flesh would rot and fall off and sometimes the toes would ooze pus.

The pain was said to have been excruciating especially if this process was begun at a later age…… It is difficult to imagine the suffering that these women had to endure. Here is an account from a woman that went through this ordeal:

A CHINESE WOMAN TELLS HER TALE

"When I was seven my mother….washed and placed alum on my feet and cut my toenails. She then bent my toes toward the plantar with a binding cloth ten feet long and two inches wide doing the right foot first and then the left. She…ordered me to walk but when I did the pain proved unbearable, that night…my feet felt on fire and I couldn’t sleep; mother struck me for crying. On the following days I tried to hide but was forced to walk on my feet…after several months all toes but the big one were pressed against the inner surface……mother would remove the bindings and wipe the blood and puss which dripped from my feet. She told me that only with removal of the flesh could my feet become slender…every two weeks I changed to new shoes. Each new pair was one to two tenths of an inch smaller than the previous one….

In summer my feet smelled offensively because of puss and blood;in winter my feet felt cold because of lack of circulation…four of the toes were curled in like so many dead caterpillars…it took two years to achieve the three inch model…my shanks were thin, my feet became humped, ugly and odoriferous…….. "

www.angelfire.com/ca/beekeeper/foot.html

ARE YOU STILL WITH ME SO FAR ? HAVING THE BONES OF YOUR FEET CRUSHED AND BOUND FOR LIFE IS NOT THE SAME AS WEARING A PAIR OF HIGH HEELS TO A SOCIAL FUNCTION ON FRIDAY NIGHT.

If you cannot figure that one out, it’s probably time for your milk and cookies.

THE CHINESE WOMEN SPEAK : www.josephrupp.com/story1116.html

Do you want to delve more deeply into the psychological factors that — after the practice became entrenched in China — caused women to willingly go along with it all, being "bound together" with other women in their suffering ? You may go back and review the above two links, and also this excellent paper that discusses it all from a base context of immigrant foot binding practiced in the USA : userwww.sfsu.edu/~epf/2001/chang.html

A VERY IMPORTANT TOPIC OF DISCUSSION THAT REMAINS PARTIALLY UNRESOLVED, AND OPEN FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION : WAS THIS A MINORITY PRACTICE OF THE HAN CHINESE, OR A MAJORITY ONE ? Or, was Chinese society split RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE ?

One paper (already quoted above) makes the general remark that "….In some areas and among some social groups, such as the Hakka in southern China, women’s’ feet were generally not bound and even among the imperial courts of the Ming and Qing dynasties the practice was not strictly observed. Despite these exceptions, however, footbinding was more commonly practiced than not….." academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/studpages/vento…

In any case, ROUGHLY HOW MANY HUMAN BEINGS WERE CRIPPLED AND DEFORMED BY THIS PSYCHOPATHIC PERVERSION OF LUST AND CULTURE ?

RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD. ONE ESTIMATE GIVEN FOR TOTAL COUNT OF CHINESE GIRLS WHO HAD THEIR FEET CRUSHED AND BROKEN : 4.5 BILLION.

THAT’S ONLY A MEAGER AVERAGE OF 4.5 MILLION LITTLE GIRLS A YEAR over 1000 YEARS. WAY LESS THAN THAT NUMBER WHEN THEY STARTED IT, AND RUNNING TO THE TENS-OF-MILLIONS (OR HUNDREDS-OF-MILLIONS) A YEAR BY THE TIME MAO PUT A SERIOUS END TO IT ALL IN 1946.

4.5 BILLION GIRLS TOTAL.

EXCELLENT MAP showing FOOT BINDING BY REGIONS : www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/fall99/linzey/where.html

CONGRATULATIONS TO THOSE CHINESE LEADERS AND REGIONS THAT REFUSED TO ALLOW THE NATURAL LIVES OF THEIR WOMEN TO BE DESTROYED BY FOOT BINDING

***************************************************

PART 2 : THE PHOTOGRAPHS

The above ca.1900 photo was made in a hotel in Shanghai. Her mother is off camera acting as chaperon. The girl did not want to expose her feet, but stereo-photographer JAMES RICALTON offered her four silver dollars if she said OK.

Here’s the story in Ricalton’s own "cleaned up" words found on the back of the above photo : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3490090118/in/set-7215…

The deep 3-D version, with her feet coming right at you for close examination is next to this image in the photostream (or click here : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3461351447/in/photostr… )

Her feet may be seen again from a top angle, and in comparison with a low-class laboring woman’s foot in this rare 3-D photo :

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3461350093/

Here she is before taking her shoes off for RICALTON :

www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3461348795/

Here’s my COMPLETE SET OF FOOTBINDING PHOTOS on Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/sets/72157617279516959/

Just how small could they make their feet appear by pulling the big toe and heel even closer together in shoes made help them do that ? You’d be amazed ! Another flickr member has posted a great image to help you see it. : "…….. www.flickr.com/photos/22719239@N04/2283064557/

However, the few 2-D and 3-D pics right here in Okinawa_Soba’s FOOT BINDING 101 set are CREATIVE COMMONS licensed, and in nice, clear condition for immediate use if you need them for your blogs, collages, artwork, or homework assignments.

NO, I don’t want to see or hear any more about foot binding. TAKE ME TO THE KITTENS ! www.flickr.com/search/?w=24443965@N08&q=Kitty&m=tags

****************************************************************

PART 3 :

SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX……and even MORE SEX !!!

NOTE : The following discussion contains words like MASTURBATE and VAGINA. If you are sensitive to the use of such words (which are found in any English Dictionary), please skip to PART 4. On second thought, DON’T skip to PART 4. After all, why would you want to skip over the lovely concept of a man trying to have sexual intercourse with his wife’s sweaty, smelly foot that’s all covered with fungal slime ?

It is written in several places that Chinese men were culturally trained to think that the particular walking "gait" of a young women crippled like this was something VERY SEXY. How do we know this at least partly true ? Because the Manchu women — who were prohibited from binding their own feet, yet were aware that a few Chinese men thought it was HOT STUFF — came up with their own footwear that would cause them to mimic the gait of girls with bound feet, hoping to make themselves appear more attractive to men.

"…….The custom is commonly cited by sociologists and anthropologists as examples of how an extreme deformity by contemporary standards can be viewed [by men] as a source of "beauty and pleasure", and how immense human suffering can be inflicted upon girls [by men] in the pursuit of female beauty……"

A TIGHT FIT & A FIRM GRIP

"……This is plain in Chinese pornography; the upper leg of a woman with bound feet was supposed to be extra strong, and her vagina was said to be powerful. Men were supposed to enjoy a wonderful grip. In the paintings, in what- ever position the amorous male devised, he was likely to be holding his partner’s foot, invariably in a tiny white sock. The sock prevented the man from seeing, handling, or smelling the woman’s deformed foot….."

www.spectator.co.uk/books/20121/part_2/torture-as-a-text….

Apparently, men who allow their daughters to be physically tortured and maimed need an extremely tight vagina because they all have extremely small peckers — so small, in fact, that once inserted into the to target area, their little ding dongs cannot find or make contact with the sidewalls of a normal-sized vagina !

The (ahem) TIGHT VAGINA thing is commented on further at this lovely photo : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3461349265/in/set-7215…

And…SPEAKING OF VAGINAS….

LET A SMILE BE YOUR UMBRELLA

LET A FOOT BE YOUR VAGINA

"…….Bound feet were considered "intensely erotic". Qing Dynasty sex manuals listed 48 different ways of playing with women’s bound feet. Some men preferred never to see a woman’s bound feet, so they were always concealed within tiny "lotus shoes". Feng Xun is recorded as stating, "If you remove the shoes and bindings, the aesthetic feeling will be destroyed forever." For them, the erotic effect was a function of the lotus gait, the tiny steps and swaying walk of a woman whose feet had been bound. The very fact that the bound foot was concealed from men’s eyes was, in and of itself, sexually appealing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_binding

And then this lovely passage ……

"…….Unlikely though it may sound, it was said that the way a foot bound woman walked, mainly on her heels, tightened the vaginal muscles and enhanced the act of sexual intercourse. Whether this was true or not, like a modern-day foot fetishist, a Chinese man of those times would find the withered extremity to be highly arousing, even to the exclusion of the woman attached. Men would become aroused simply by a shoe intended for a bound foot. They would buy, beg, borrow or even steal these tiny shoes and pleasure themselves (MASTURBATE) with them or even drink from them…… While one man may just enjoy seeing his wife’s bound feet along with the rest of her body, another may adore the smell of dirty bindings. And some men even wanted to (ahem) pleasure themselves (MORE MASTURBATION) by treating the fold of a bound foot like a VAGINA……" www.dismalaesthetics.com/boundfeet.html

Using a crippled woman’s shoe to MASTERBATE with ?

Using the folded crack of a broken foot as a VAGINA ?

Holy Mother of God.

That’s right folks, who needs a HAND (or even a warm watermelon with a hole in it) when you have a smelly old crippled foot coated with dried pus to satisfy your sexual needs

So…what other writers and scholars are telling us is that — like gunpowder and movable type — the Chinese also invented Birth Control by diverting mens peckers away from the natural pleasure of the fertile vagina, to the inner folds of the bent, broken, and putrifying feet of crippled woman.

Uh huh. Ok. Let’s examine that.

Considering that they didn’t have IUDs and "The Pill" back then, we can always say that such a national fetish as having sex with a foot could double as a 100% Guaranteed method of BIRTH CONTROL. Yes, we can SAY that. However, the booming population of China even then seems to say the Foot-crack Vagina thing wasn’t all it was (ahem) cracked up to be "

Why ? Because it is also written in numerous places that……

…..an uncovered foot would also give off a foul odor, as various fungi would colonize the unwashable folds, and etc etc etc. Then again, we are thwarted by scholarship that states plenty of the foot-binder guys really got turned on by the smell of rotting flesh coated with pus and fungus.

YUMMY YUMMY !!! — LET ME SUCK ON IT !!!

"…….The mincing gait of these maidens, who could not stray beyond the limits of their room, bewitches men, young an old alike,” Pang-Mei Natasha Chang wrote in Bound Feet and Western Dress. “He who beat out all others in a drinking game downed his last from one tiny embroidered slipper whose owner lay waiting for him on the top floor of the teahouse.” Later upstairs, “In the intimacy of her chamber, she would unravel the bindings of her feet and reveal them to him. That evening, in a final moment of passion, he would lift her tiny unwrapped feet to his shoulders and thrust them into his mouth to suck…….."

factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=104&catid=4&…

Apparently, the sex drive of some of these guys was so strong that it made them oblivious to the putrid odors emanating from the "tasty" dried puss, bacteria and sweat that lined the dark and moldy cracks of his wife’s crippled feet (or those prostitutes of the Tea Houses mentioned above) as they dove in there to get their rocks off while fantasizing about even bigger, moldy cracks in the Great Wall of China !

Do you think I am kidding ? Here’s what one foot-bound women has to say about how romantic some of the men of old China could be : "…..To us, the smell of rotting flesh would be unbearable. But back then, men wrote poems about the rich smell……" www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/03/23/200324…

Can you just imagine millions of these guys over the centuries, smashing little girls feet to provide future foot vaginas for other guys just like them ? After all, who’s not to say that someone culturally brainwashed enough to demand that a woman have crushed and deformed feet, would not also be mentally warped enough to actually have sex with a foot by trying to force his pecker into the oozing, fetid, fungus-filled, puss-dripping, necrotic, smelly, pungent folds of his wife’s foot, or the skanky feet of the local prostitutes ?

WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING ???

OK….let’s keep going, here….

A WOMANS PLACE IS IN A CAGE THE HOME :

"…….The other primary attribute of a woman having bound feet was to limit her mobility, altering the means by which females were allowed to be a part of politics and of the world at large. It also gave the woman an irreversible dependency on her family. Thus bound feet became an alluring symbol of chastity, as a bound foot woman was largely restricted to her home and could not venture far without an escort to help her, thus denying any advances upon her and ensuring her total and absolute devotion to her husband……" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_binding

Beautiful ? Erotic ? Chastity by forced "Devotion" ? Yeah. Right. Some men should have their heads examined.

ADULT MEN PROJECTING SEXUAL DESIRES ON THEIR SON’S WIVES.

With all of those SEX and BONDAGE reasons for foot binding being bantered about, it might be good to point out that most marriages contracted among the MILLIONS and BILLIONS of Chinese who practiced foot binding were ARRANGED MARRIAGES — settled on at a young age, with the groom not even seeing his bride until the day they were married.

If such was the case, "scholarly" statements that say foot binding was for the purpose of "mate-baiting" or catching a man through "sexual attractiveness" seems to be way off the mark, if not completely wrong. That would not be surprising. So-called "scholars" have had a special talent for screwing up the annals of history on way more than one occasion.

So, either way — for SEX, or NOT FOR SEX — we can again rightfully ask the question : WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING ?

LET’S TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE SEX THING.

The SEX ANGLE basically is telling us that half the adult men in old China liked girls who hobbled around on BROKEN FEET, and wanted their daughters to look like that for their future, unseen husbands. If true, what was it about the way the foot-bound girls walked that allegedly "turned them on" so much ?

Let’s give it a try, and see for ourselves — BUT, WITHOUT THE PAIN !

THE "LOTUS GAIT", or TRY TO WALK A MILE IN THEIR SHOES

According to the photographer of the above image, who spent a long time in China observing these things (as well as a modern-day Chinese writer on the subject who agrees with him) this is what you do to mimic the final results of foot binding :

*****Walk around the room, or down the street on the heels of your feet. Don’t let your toes or the balls of your feet ever touch the ground. Go ahead, try it for a while ! How do you think you look doing that ? Well, that’s what more than a few scholars say the Chinese men FOUND ATTRACTIVE AND SEXY FOR 1000 YEARS.*****

I ask a NEW question : DID LOOKING AT CRIPPLED GIRLS, AS THEY HOBBLED AROUND IN PAIN AND SUFFERING ON THEIR CRUSHED AND BROKEN FEET, REALLY MAKE A GUY’S PECKER STAND UP ???

We’ll get back to that question.

SEX ?…….WHO NEEDS THAT ? …….JUST GIMME SOME TORTURE !

If we adhere to the contrary NOT FOR SEX opinion that says foot binding was NOT for the "sexual reasons" some sources maintain, then why did the men of China allow their mother-in-laws, wives, or the older sisters to break the bones of the little sisters feet ? Was it for amusement purposes ? Did it entertain psychopathic men who liked hearing the tortured screaming of little girls as they were held down and their bones broken?

If not, then WHAT ? We have to ask WHY the MILLIONS AND MILLIONS (actually, it was BILLIONS) of fathers who permitted it, allowing it to go on for centuries on end, without interceding or protecting their daughters. Period.

Here is a good NOT FOR SEX explanation :

A very balanced paper on the subject written in 1998 remarks that "….. One notable personality who aided in the spread of footbinding was the famed writer and scholar Zhu Xi (1130-1200 A.D.), whose commentaries on the Confucian classics would form the canon of Neo-Confucianism that would dominate Chinese intellectual and philosophical life for six subsequent centuries. An ardent advocate of footbinding, he introduced the practice into southern Fuijan in order to spread Chinese culture and teach proper relations between men and women, greatly influencing other writers who mention the practice as if it were normal……" academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/studpages/vento…

Zhu Xi was a "scholar" ? An "Intellectual" ? He was "Philosophical" ? An "ardent advocate of foot binding" ? "A spreader of Chinese culture" ?

Yeah. Right.

Actually, I think a more accurate description of the man would be "complete assshole, a total monster, and a scholar of total bullsh*t".

THEORIES ARE A DIME A DOZEN….. MAKE UP YOUR OWN !

OH NO…. BACK TO THE SEX THING…AGAIN ??? Of COURSE !!!

Just for the hell of it, Okinawa_Soba will now demonstrate how anyone can come up with anything to explain why half of China’s men wanted women to be maimed and crippled :

"…..The socially-contained RAPIST part of the men’s DNA expressed itself in the same biological and primitive reaction that SHARKS have when on the prowl to satisfy their hunger. That is, avoiding the healthy object of prey, and instead, going after the maimed, crippled, wounded, bloodied, and thrashing object in the water. Women were not "objects of love" (obviously), but rather "food" with which to satisfy the "sexual hunger" of the emotionally detached male’s hormonal state of mind. Therefore, seeing women in a crippled and wounded state aroused their primitive attraction to the easy "sexual meal" that couldn’t run away from them….. !!!

So…maybe seeing crippled women walking down the street really DID make a few Chinaman’s peckers stand up. Woo Hoo !!!

Let’s call it what it was, folks — A SICK, PERVERTED CULTURE BASED ON MOB HYSTERIA OF MILLIONS OF EMOTIONALLY IMMATURE MEN WHO WERE NUMBED INTO PSYCHOPATHIC INDIFFERENCE TO THE SUFFERING OF WOMEN BY EMASCULATED, WIMPY "EDUCATORS", SO-CALLED "LEARNED SAGES", AND INDIFFERENT LEADERS WHO WERE ONLY CONCERNED WITH REVIVING THE QUESTIONABLE STATE OF THEIR SOCIALLY-PICKLED LITTLE PECKERS, INSTEAD OF PROTECTING THE HEALTH AND WELFARE OF THOSE IN THEIR NATION WHO WERE CALLED BY NATURE TO BEAR AND RAISE THE CHILDREN OF THEIR FUTURE.

You can now call me Professor Soba, and quote my "bait-shop" theory in your next "authoritative and scholarly" paper on Foot Binding and Shark Feeding….and at your discretion, substitute "Lions and Tigers and Bears" (Oh My!) for the Great White Sharks.

NO EXPLANATION FOR CULTURAL INSANITY CAN ACT AS AN EXCUSE FOR IT

At the moment, even after reading numerous sources and commentary that give abundant "explanations, folk tales, spurious history, lame reasons, and piss-poor excuses" for this mass-lunacy in "time-place", I can only arrive at the same place I started — that the chumps who promoted and allowed it (such as "scholar" Zhu Xi mentioned above) were complete wimps. No explanation or excuse can suffice to get them off the hook.

Am I repeating myself here ? You bet I am ! Nails never get through a thick plank with only one whack.

So much for our review of Stupid Reasons and Asinine Excuses for Foot Binding

************************************************************************

PART 4 : OKINAWA_SOBA’S PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON THE MATTER

The following opinions are directed at (1) those now in their graves, who tortured and maimed the female children of China, and their Rulers who allowed it, and (2) those still living who think the CONTINUING mass extermination of millions of children, just because they are females, is still a good thing.

We have already asked,WHY DID THIS GO ON FOR SO LONG ?

AND WHY DID MILLIONS OF MEN ALLOW IT, TOLERATE IT, and PROMOTE IT ?

As with most things in primitive, backward cultures, it’s all about SEX, who’s in control, and who decides who is going to have it with whom — with a large dose if ignorant MOB PSYCHOLOGY tossed in for good measure.

I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST "RESPECTFUL STUDIES" ON FOOT BINDING. HOWEVER, AS YOU HAVE ALREADY NOTICED, THIS FLICKr CAPTION IN NOT ONE OF THEM. THE PRACTICE OF FOOT BINDING DESERVES ABOUT AS MUCH RESPECT AS A CANCEROUS MELANOMA GROWING ON THE TIP OF YOUR NOSE — IN FACT, IT DESERVES LESS RESPECT.

WHEN IT COMES TO THIS KIND OF TWISTED INHUMANITY, NO NATION OR CULTURE — INCLUDING MY OWN — IS EXEMPT FROM HARSH CRITICISM, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO THE SUBJECT OF ABUSE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

WE MIGHT SAY TO OURSELVES "…….IT’S OVER WITH, AND NO LONGER PRACTICED, SO CONDEMNING THOSE WHO FORCED IT ON LITERALLY BILLIONS OF GIRLS FOR 1000 YEARS HAS NOW BECOME MOOT. THOSE WHO DID IT ARE NO LONGER ALIVE, SO WHAT’S THE POINT OF MORALIZING ON THE ISSUE ?……."

TO THE CONTRARY, VOCAL (WRITTEN) CONDEMNATION OF OUR PAST FAILINGS AS HUMAN BEINGS SERVE AS A WARNING TO THOSE WHO MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO INVENT SOME EQUALLY CRUEL, STUPID, AND APPALLING THINGS TODAY.

FURTHER — BY EXTENSION OF PRINCIPLE — THE POSTHUMOUS CONDEMNATION OF THOSE WHO PRACTICED FOOT BINDING SERVES AS A DIRECT CONDEMNATION OF THOSE WHO, IN ALL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD, CONTINUE THE STONE-AGE, BARBARIC TREATMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE PRESENT DAY — MANY WITH THE SILENT APPROVAL OF THEIR TRADITIONS, CULTURE, AND RELIGION.

These are not racist opinions, but definitely ones that takes a hard look at a culture that endorses this crippling, maiming, or outright killing of girls — opinions that can be applied across the board to any barbaric idiots who like crippling or abusing children.

All nations usually rely on the positive aspects of their history, and contributions made to the world, as something to give the citizens of the nation a pride in their existence, and an esprit de corp with which to face the future. However, if you go back far enough, you can usually find things in any country and culture where folks really SCREWED UP.

Within the borders of America, the practice of HUMAN SLAVERY using ripped apart families abducted from Africa, and sold on auction blocks of American cities, is part of the shameful, hypocritical history and culture that built America. However, not everyone owned slaves. Yet some who did not, wished they could, while others were totally against Slavery. And even among those who were against it, there was a further sub-set of society who were not 100% convinced that African Blacks were 100% human !

In the end, America went to war with itself over the issue, and 600,000 Americans died fighting about it, and the future of the "Union". And as everyone who lives in America knows, that was not the end of trouble of the ex-slaves and their descendants, with the fallout continuing to affect both public and private attitudes on race right into the 21st Century.

Likewise, not everyone in old China practiced foot binding. Sadly, there were some people who didn’t crush the feet of their young daughters..but secretly wished that they could ! While some regional Chinese leaders had the guts to ban the practice for the tribes and regions around them, other regional leaders did not.

Yet the Chinese never went to war over the issue, and for a thousand years, half of the female strength of China was sacrificed on the altar of tradition, "male dominated culture", and — as described in the above section — the crushed bones of millions of screaming young girls.

4.5 BILLION of them.

A REVIEW OF THE NUMBERS (REHASHED AND EXPANDED FROM PART 1)

In an exchange of comments with flickr commenter ralphrepo (seen below in the comment thread) some estimates were discussed that put the total number of foot-bound Chinese women at any given time in history at roughly 40 to 50 % of the entire female population — making it initially sound like the USA dealing with "half of the Country" given over to the practice of Slavery. Some papers say it was way less than half, and others say “most of China”.

In any case, this practice cannot be said to have blanketed the Chinese Empire in maxed-out numbers. As ralphrepo said, if such had been the case, where would they have gotten all of the full-footed, laboring women of the fields ?

On the other hand there WERE some "laboring girls and women of the fields" who labored with crushed feet as well. They were put into this hellish position by fathers who wanted to "have their cake, and eat it too". 100-year-old text + my short comment about that HERE : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3489274333/

PHOTO TO ILLUSTRATE THE ABOVE SEEN HERE : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/3477857791/in/set-7215…

However, even at the lower estimates — even lower than the numbers hypothesized above (and given the large population to begin with) — the absolute numbers of crippled children and women in China is astounding.

The huge numbers involved made it one of the better-known "marks" of old Chinese culture — right into the 20th Century. In fact, there are many elderly Chinese women living with the still-crippling effects of it right now in the 21st Century.

For most of their common history, right up to the present day, quite a few Chinese have (as a political and cultural entity) considered themselves to be the Celestial Center of the World with all others around them considered to be Barbarians worthy of nothing more than a vassal state existence, owing homage to the great Chinese Kingdom.

However, any such "national pride" on the part of those Chinese who at any time during the past 1000 years practiced foot binding and female infanticide amounts to nothing more than a pile of raw horse manure.

Although some may jump out of their seats and run to the defense of these Chinese foot-binders because I just used the words HORSE MANURE to describe their personal politic of self-righteousness, and delusions of racial and cultural supremacy (al la the JAPANESE), please have no fear ! Chinese translators will be pleased that I likened their cultural practices to life-sustaining, growth-giving FERTILIZER !!!

However, the fact that half of the Nation allowed and promulgated the inexcusable, barbaric, and destructive practice of FOOT BINDING throughout their Empire proves that the Chinese Nation was just as infected with EVIL, STUPIDITY, and IGNORANCE as the rest of the world !

As already mentioned, half of WHITE AMERICA condoned (or turned a blind eye to) the complete slavery of BLACK AFRICANS and the SLAUGHTER OF NATIVE AMERICANS. As an American, I am painfully acquainted with National Stupidity when combined with Patriotic Arrogance and Pride of National Origin — and therefore, quickly recognize it when it rears its ugly head in my neighbors yard.

While living in OKINAWA, any time a resident Chinese makes any allusion to the historical greatness of their country, I toss two words back at them : FOOT BINDING.

I could say FEMALE INFANTICIDE, but too many other countries were on that bandwagon (and still are), providing a very comfortable global context for China’s practice of killing little girls simply because they don’t have a little pecker between their legs.

I could say CULTURAL REVOLUTION, but FOOT BINDING really brings any discussion of China’s past "greatness" to a very fast halt. Besides, it was MAO who "finally" brought a true end to foot binding in 1949.

Mao ? 1949 ? ….. No way. Foot Binding was outlawed in 1911, wasn’t it ???

The Wiki and many other sources report that "in 1911, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the new Republic of China government banned foot binding. Women were told to unwrap their feet lest they be killed". That was a good start, but in spite of the death threats, it was still carried on until Mao refused to take any "cultural bullsh*t" excuses for violations.

Prior to Mao, telling the Chinese in 1911 that foot binding would get you killed was like telling the Japanese today that parking in a no-parking zone will get you killed. In other words — it was not taken seriously).

Yes, Mao finally outlawed it. But why did those who practiced it for ten centuries need a law and a death threat from Mao to stop destroying the natural, physical lives of little girls? Millions of foot binders and bone crushers couldn’t figure it out before that? You know, like after the very first time some mentally deranged psychopath did the first one, you didn’t clamp down it ???

Nope. The men were too busy being un-feeling bastards, with no balls to do anything about it.

1000 years of maiming and crippling women and children for LIFE must be a WORLD RECORD for the longest running CHILD ABUSE case in the history of the planet.

This is an indicator of severe impotence FOR ANY COUNTRY (NOT JUST CHINA) when it comes to a national policy of cultural control.

CULTURE CONTROL

WE CANNOT CAN’T CHANGE OUR "RACE", BUT WE CAN CHANGE OUR CULTURE.

Culture Control ? You’re damn right !

Moving the discussion into today’s world, are you going to let folks move into your own "civilized country" and bring their "honorable and ancient practice of female genital mutilation with them ? Hell NO ! Foot Binding ? Hell NO ! Throwing acid in the faces of wives and daughters who don’t "please you" ? Hell NO ! "Honor Killing" ? Hell, NO !

You either put these people in Jail if they try it, or ship them back where they came from if they refuse to renounce that aspect of their culture ! Why ? Because we must, AS NATIONS ATTEMPTING TO BE CIVILIZED, PASS, AND CONTINUE PASSING MORAL JUDGMENT on inhumane or suspect cultural features of another Nations.

(For what it’s worth, many Chinese immigrants and descendant families living in the USA continued the practice of foot binding on American soil….and the White Americans were always trying to catch them at it to either (1) bring the perpetrators to justice, or (2) have the children removed from the home and placed in protective custody. However, the White man was not very successful in his game of cat and mouse with the immigrant Chinese.)

In the 21st Century world of GLOBALIZATION, you cannot "dumb down" the laws of Nations that are attempting to be CIVILIZED — that is, Nations that aim to improve the health, welfare, and equality of its male and female citizens.

Progressive nations cannot allow those who practice barbaric or stone-age cultural features of child maiming, torture, or subjugation of women to immigrate to your shores, or cross over your borders with indifference and impunity toward the human progress you are attempting to make.

That’s why we have borders, immigration control, and laws — and why the WASP Americans on the West Coast always tried to catch and prosecute the CHINESE Americans who continued to ignore American laws by acting like they were still back in stone-age CHINA — "stone age" as regards the treatment of women and children. (Albeit, those same WASPS were hypocritical PIN-HEADS for turning a blind eye to other racial injustices going on in the land, and for eventually tossing JAPANESE Americans into CONCENTRATION CAMPS during WW2 !).

Therefore, good for Mao….at least in the Foot Binding thing, where he tried to drag his country out of the dark ages with respect to women. I beg to differ with the old chap on a good pile of other things, though.

But, returning to the past…

If a Chinese Leader could say WE ARE GOING TO BUILD A GREAT WALL, and millions of people did what he said, then the SAME man could have said (as Mao did), NO MORE FOOT BINDING AND CRIPPLING OF OUR WOMEN. But….no Emperor, or any leader of any Chinese ever said it, or took pains to enforce it if he did.

And no Leader ever took another to task, or fought a civil war over it. Again, this simply shows that half of China was as much in the DARK AGES when it came to the treatment of Women as many other countries of the world.

For those who feel that China’s contributions to the world outweighed their treatment of women, listen up…..

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. A great and long history. Paper, gunpowder, fireworks, movable type, porcelain, chop suey, tofu, the Great Wal-Mart….er, I mean the Great Wall, etc etc etc.

So what ? Just because a couple of guys set off the world’s first bottle rockets is no reason to lay claim to being a great civilization. Greatness is determined by how men in a society treat their women — their mothers, wives, and daughters — and how they treat the weak and infirm.

CONFUCIUS

So, what do we have in China as far as culture and politics are concerned ? Today we have a country that is still killing off women because some old geezer named CONFUSE US….ooops, I mean CONFUCIUS… and his devoted disciples came up with some heretical nonsense that said MEN are better than WOMEN in the entire broad scheme of life and social order.

In other words, MORE HORSE MANURE ! (Again, that’s Fertilizer to the old Chinese)

OK. So Confucius lived 1,500 years before foot binding ever got started, and never had a direct hand in it. In fact, it was Confucius who came up with what we now call the "GOLDEN RULE" — long before it appeared in the Christian New Testament. That’s a GOOD THING, isn’t it ? So why drag Confucius into this ?

Here’s why…

Because Confucius was only including MEN in his own homosocial world of human order, and women didn’t even count for equal consideration in the matter of applying the Golden Rule — in fact, for the most part, he didn’t even want women around !

Confucious’s personal and adamant espousal of the Golden Rule, if expressed as DON’T CRUSH THE FEET OF A FEMALE CHILD IF YOU DON’T WANT TO GET YOUR OWN FEET CRUSHED would NOT be an application of his philosophy he would have approved of.

CONFUCIUS and the GOLDEN RULE

In other words, the GOLDEN RULE proclaimed by Confucius did NOT apply to women in the same way that the words "ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL" proclaimed by Thomas Jefferson in the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE did NOT apply to African slaves bought and sold on the auction blocks of America.

Today, Confucious’ discriminatory, so-called "Golden Rule" continues to be worshipped at the altar of THE SUPERIORITY AND DESIRABILITY OF MEN, and the WORTHLESSNESS OF WOMEN — except for their sexual use, and value as 2nd-class drudges in the home and the field.

And the RESULT of this philosophy in the 21st Century ? : TENS OF MILLIONS OF MEN (One China-based report says 50 million men) STANDING AROUND WITH THEIR PECKERS IN THEIR HANDS because the continuing "Culture of Confucianism" has led to the modern-day killing off females faster than a goose eats grasshoppers. No wife for you, Grasshopper !

Okinawa_Soba doesn’t make these things up :

www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/world/asia/11china.html?_r=1

FEMALE INFANTICIDE and ABORTION OF FEMALES in TODAY’S CHINA.

In the PAST, half of China crushed the feet of the little girls. TODAY, they go beyond mere crushing of the feet, and COMPLETELY get rid of any little girls (potential or otherwise) who are "in the way" of their "cultural need" to have a little boy !

May I facetiously suggest to my friends in China who believe that abortion is a sad, but "necessary evil (especially in light of your "one child policy") then why don’t you equally abort 50% of your conceived males — killing off as many men as you do women — while you are aiming for your one and only child ?

On the other hand, if a government mandated abortion is just too emotionally horrifying to consider, you can always just DUMP the little girls (but not down a well, please). We already know that GIRLS are being dumped : TIME MAGAZINE stated that even today, "…..girls still make up 95 percent of children in Chinese orphanages…."

The next time the rest of you see "Made in China" on on something, take a moment to think about the culture that’s producing your bargain-priced goods….then take a moment to kiss the feet of your own loved and wanted little girls.

tips:These are useful by me!,This is about Cotton Dress and Exercise Tips.OK!
Q&A–: Is a belt always necessary in business professional dress for women?
I have a few pairs of dress pants. Some are a set with a suit, others are plain slacks. All of my slacks have belt loops and my Dad thinks that it looks unprofessional to wear pants with belt loops without a belt in them. My pants are all perfectly tailored to fit my waist, and I haven’t really seen any younger females wearing belts around town.

Should I: A) Buy a belt, B) Remove the loops from the pants with a seem ripper, or C) Continue wearing the pants belt-less?

The following is the answer: (Hint: The correct answer provided by the users, does not guarantee the right.)

Answer by melissa w
If you remove the loops I think your pants would look odd. I’d say get a belt–it looks the most polished. I wear my pants with a nice black belt. Look at the link below for more hints on how to wear you suit.

Add your own answer in the comments!
These are useful by me!,This is about Diet Advice and wellness tips.OK!
This following not about business dress for women,But funny：A boaster and a liar are cousins-german.The wise never marry, And when they marry they become otherwise.”Work fascinates me.” I can look at it for hours! ” There are no accidents..Money is not everything. There‘s Mastercard & Visa. 。OK！good!！Refinement :

Grand Boulevard – Brooks Brothers

Image by grand_boulevard
Business and casual clothing for men and women – classically modern dress shirts, ties, pants, and sweaters. Legendary quality and customer service are a step away in Sandestin Florida’s Grand Boulevard.

business dress for womenBusiness Calendar for week of Nov. 29
Business Calendar for week of Nov. 29

Read more onBusiness Calendar for week of Nov. 29

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Your Message