Although no definite reason or person has been identified as responsible for the birth of footbinding, there are a few theories. One deals with the Shang dynasty's last empress' malformed feet. Some say she had club feet, bound them in attempts to distil beauty from malformation, and convinced her "spouse to make the compression of feet obligatory for young girls" (Levy, 37). Another scenario involves the Mongols attempting to impair the health of the Chinese women in order to weaken the Chinese. Still another theory, and possibly the most credible, involves the Chinese women attempting to attain greater appeal. Footbinding was not started by women for want of greater self control, nor did it originate from foreign powers. Well bound feet brought honor to the girl's family. Binding feet was even thought to improve other parts of the feminine figure. Footbinding increased attraction by males, which led to a...