Ihave never been a Birkenstock kinda girl. I have never worn flats, even at my height -- 5'11" and counting. I have never felt feminine in shoes with no heels; never found any comfort in "comfort" shoes (dowdy, dull, and dorky). I have huge feet, massive, size 10 and high arches, strong from dancing, and pale, milk-pale, soft, toenails always painted in some version of blood black (unless I choose silver, sometimes soft shades of cheap candy, pinks and lilacs). I have pretty feet.

I want them bound.

It has been speculated that foot binding began in the Southern Tang dynasty around 920 A.D. The emperor Li Yu demanded that his favourite concubine, "Fragrant Girl" (I want a name like "Fragrant Girl," but because of certain nasty habits of mine, I suppose the closest I'll get is "Nicotine Girl"), bind her feet in silken bands and dance on a golden lotus platform encrusted with pearls and jewels.

Eventually, the foot-binding trend caught on, and women inside and outside the palace began binding their feet. It became a status symbol among the upper class, who discovered more and more "effective" methods of foot binding, wrapping the feet so the toes would fold and shoving them into tiny shoes, known as the "Golden lotus." These shoes were silk, heavily embroidered, and usually no larger than three inches long. The women would wear the shoes until the feet contorted, the bones breaking and pus-filled sores developing gangrene; until they were only able to hobble, their feet becoming more hoof than foot.

Tighter and tighter bindings were wrapped, jamming the feet into smaller shoes until the desired effect was achieved, which sometimes involved the toes rotting and falling off. Foot binding was a way to ensure fidelity and chastity, and mothers began having their daughters feet bound between the ages of three and five, ensuring a husband who would find the deformity not only a symbol of female purity, but also pretty fucking hot as well.

Bound feet were supposed to cause a woman to walk so her body remained tense, enlarging her ass and tightening her cunt. This went on for about a thousand years until those feminist women put a stop to it, and the "foot reform" began, forcing women to remove their bindings (which sometimes proved more painful than the binding itself).

There is an old Chinese saying that "A mother cannot love her daughter and her daughter's feet at the same time." This is even true today, because my own mother always scoffs at my 5-inch leopard stilettos, and becomes very upset at my fashion stigmata of bloody ankles and bruised arches.

Foot binding has become a new kink in the hardcore S/M and foot worship scenes. Even though the feet aren't broken, women and some submissive men have been doing everything from binding them with rope and cord to forcing their feet into tiny shoes in order to alter their shape.

This is usually done by purchasing a pair of cheap canvas sneakers up to three sizes too small and wearing them constantly (even while sleeping) for a few years. People have been able to see a reduction in as much as three and a half shoe sizes. Not only does the appeal lie in changing the size of the feet, but also in the difficulty of walking in shoes which are a few sizes too small. Your slave can't really escape from you if she can't run, now, can she?

Up until 1911, bound feet were the focus of Chinese pornography, and the sight of bare, contorted feet drove the men insane. I don't think I'll be breaking any toes or bending my feet all the way back, but the idea of them being wrapped in black, silk ribbon while I struggle to move across the floor does have a certain appeal. I'll let you know what happens, if I can crawl over to my computer.