As I recall, it was the Chinese who practiced foot binding. The effect of swaying for the Japanese was achieved with tall wooden sandals.
Yamato nadeshiko and highborn Japanese ladies of the age were also expected to know how to use the naginata, a spear like weapon that's more like a sword on a long pole, to defend their home, children, and honor. This echoes the ladies of the frontier, who were frequently alone with children and I read that they also knew how to shoot.
However, you misinterpret my point, which was that the ideal woman (of the Victorian, or even older age) was the master of a type of strength at odds with the image of a weak, submissive Victorian female. The examples I gave agree with the OP's assertion that there are plenty of examples of strong women upheld as ideal even in the Victorian age.
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Re: mama too tight
Date: 2011-07-25 06:10 am (UTC)Yamato nadeshiko and highborn Japanese ladies of the age were also expected to know how to use the naginata, a spear like weapon that's more like a sword on a long pole, to defend their home, children, and honor. This echoes the ladies of the frontier, who were frequently alone with children and I read that they also knew how to shoot.
However, you misinterpret my point, which was that the ideal woman (of the Victorian, or even older age) was the master of a type of strength at odds with the image of a weak, submissive Victorian female. The examples I gave agree with the OP's assertion that there are plenty of examples of strong women upheld as ideal even in the Victorian age.