poem (ahh)

grandmother, proud to be Guangdong-born

worked splay-toed in fields

beside her Hakka men but chose her own

prudish imprisonment by pressing

breasts flat until at seventy

they drooped to her waist

on a hot day she bid me fetch a cloth

to wipe the sweat from her chest

and then she slung her dugs over shoulders

so they hung like leathery scarves

slide 1

In Stanza 4, the poet sympathises with real world people who decide to change the very essence of themselves with things like plastic surgery, their intimate private parts just to satisfy men/social beauty standards. It speaks about how women have to change themselves just to fit into the world, and just to impress the men, the women's only worth is to satisfy men in this worth with private parts of themselves. The poet uses a tone of pity and slight disapproval about how a woman has to do so much in order to feel approval for existing in this society.

slide 2

From the picture on the left, some people end up looking unnatural after plastic surgery. Overall, it is estimated that there were over 23 million plastic surgery procedures performed worldwide in 2020, and women get around 92% of cosmetic surgery procedures. So many individuals want to look younger, better, for society to notice, and the poet's heart aches for them. Plastic surgery doesn't always go well, even if the client is satisfied they might end up looking worse than before. This shows the absurdity of wanting and having to edit our own bodies for society and for men.

slide 3

How many of yall think she's pretty? How many of yall think shes ugly? This shows that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and society (men) decides beauty. The beauty to please men hasn't changed

slide 4

The poet then sympathises with more women who hurt themselves by succumbing to the beauty standards, like wearing uncomfortable high heels and constricting her body to look more attractive in society's eyes. The poet feel for these women who are willingly uncomfortable, and refers to these women as one of the people around her, as a group of people. This implies that she has more empathy for these women as they are people she cares about and feel that she belongs in that group of people, and her heart hurts for people who go through these unnecessary pain for beauty.

slide 5

In the 1800s, tightlacing was practiced in Western culture. The practice involved wearing a tightly laced corset to make the woman's waist thinner and push her breasts up. However, this also led to the deformation of the woman's internal organs, along with physical pain. Similarly to foot binding, tightlacing is a result of the societal expectations of beauty that women have to conform to.

slide 6

The persona establishes solidarity with other women, saying that they will "awaken" to their "fullest freedom", meaning that they will free themselves from the restrictions set upon them by society. The persona paints an optimistic future, where women will be able to achieve "real" beauty, beauty that isn't illusionary or fabricated, becoming beautiful in the way that the women themselves define it, not how society defines it.

real world

Now let's move onto several pieces of modern art that relate to the poem "Unbound Feet" and its themes.

The Barbie movie is a movie that illustrates the expectations that the world sets on women, the patriarchy and the female experience as a whole. This is an impactful speech made in the movie that sums up the struggles of womanhood. It emphasises the themes of the poem, talking about the world will criticise you even if you are beautiful, and you will never be enough.

This is a song that talks about beauty standards, how girls are so influenced by peer and societal pressure, leading to them changing their appearance. However, their efforts are always futile because "pretty isn't pretty enough anyway"

This song was written and sung by Melanie Martinez. In this song, she makes a statement against plastic surgery, how it is a facade and will fall apart one day. She feels that women are pretty enough, and it's the world that needs to change its expectations, not the women themselves.

lastt

An example from real life is korean plastic surgery culture. In Korea, it is considered normal for young people to get plastic surgery to change their appearances. 1 in 3 korean women from aged 19-29 have had procedures done. This shows how deeply plastic surgery is ingrained in their culture and how it is considered normal to change yourselves to fit society's expectations of beauty.

Let's end this presentation on a high note. "You define beauty yourself. Society doesn't define your beauty." This quote emphasises the message of the poem as a whole.