The Culture of Beauty
... and Malakula, head binding began about a month after birth. Each day the child’s head was smeared with a burnt paste made from the candlenut tree to soften the skin. The child’s head was then bound with soft bandages made from the inner bark of the banana tree. Over this bandage a specially woven basket was placed. This process continued for six months to produce the desired shape. This cultural tradition originates with the basic spiritual beliefs of the people. They see those with elongated heads as being handsome or beautiful, and such long heads indicate wisdom. Head elongation was also practiced in France until the late 19th century and is currently practiced in parts of Vanuatu as well. In John Ligget’s book, The Tyranny of Beauty, he informs us that Burmese women have been known to stretch their necks up to 15 ¾ inches (54). They achieve this by layering rings around their neck in decreasing size. The women usually start the procedure at age six and continue to add a ring or two each year until they achieve the desired length. Once they have achieved such a length, they can no longer hold up their heads without the rings in place. If a woman is accused of infidelity, the rings are removed as a punishment. Women are not the only ones who go through such dramatic measures in the name of beauty. Young men in a tribe in Brazil have been known to insert enormous lip discs to increase the size of their lower lip. As a man, he will only remove the disc for washing. On feast days, he will decorate his lip disc with tassels and other decorations (Liggett 100). In another area of Brazil, women practice a similar lip disc fashion. They have been known to wear discs up to thirty inches around in both the upper and lower lip as a status symbol (Liggett 103). One of the most severe forms of body shaping is the Chinese tradition of foot binding. Foot binding began in China late in the T'ang Dynasty (618-906) and it gradually spread through the upper class during the Song Dynasty (960-1297). During the Ming period (1368-1644) and the Ching Dynasty (1644-1911) the custom of foot binding spread through the overwhelming majority of the Chinese population until it was finally outlawed in the 1911 Revolution of Sun Yat-Sen. However, even though it was outlawed in 1911, it was still practiced in remote areas until much later. There are several legends regarding the origin of this custom, one is that the concubine of a Chinese prince named Yao Niang walked so gracefully that it seemed as if she "skimmed over the top of golden lilies”. At that time, the "lily footed woman" or a woman with bound feet became the model in China. A second legend says that this concubine, Yao Niang, was ordered to bind her feet so that her feet would look like new moons. A third legend says that women bound their feet out of sympathy for an Empress with clubfeet. Even though the origin is unknown, it is a fact that foot binding stopped concubines and wives of the rich from straying or running away from beatings. Confucian teachings at this time stressed the superiority of men over women as a basic element of social order and this was a very effective method of restraint. Women accepted this excruciating pain because it was a part of their culture. The painful process usually began between ages four and seven. A bandage, ten feet long and two inches wide, was wrapped tightly around the foot, forcing the 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 ...