Link? Yes please! (Woohoo! Another thing to distract me from homework! ;) )
I don't think that footbinding WOULD happen in the Avatar world. I think that bending does serve as an equalizing factor amongst the sexes, because really, it seems like it appears just as often in men as in women, and physical strength (which men TEND to have more than women) doesn't necessarily correlate with strong bending (like in the case of Azula and Zuko, or especially in extreme cases like The Boulder and Toph). Women seem to be just as capable of asskicking as men in this universe, so I think that it's straight up harder to "oppress" them, if you know what I mean. They wouldn't stand for it.
Plus, you know, benders have a lot of respect, it seems, in their respective cultures, and if there's something out there (like footbinding) that would harm their ability to bend (because it's all dependent on their forms, which involves footwork and strong stances) then, ipso facto, it would not become popular with the "elite" (benders) of society, thus wouldn't become popular at all.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-02-19 04:29 pm (UTC)I don't think that footbinding WOULD happen in the Avatar world. I think that bending does serve as an equalizing factor amongst the sexes, because really, it seems like it appears just as often in men as in women, and physical strength (which men TEND to have more than women) doesn't necessarily correlate with strong bending (like in the case of Azula and Zuko, or especially in extreme cases like The Boulder and Toph). Women seem to be just as capable of asskicking as men in this universe, so I think that it's straight up harder to "oppress" them, if you know what I mean. They wouldn't stand for it.
Plus, you know, benders have a lot of respect, it seems, in their respective cultures, and if there's something out there (like footbinding) that would harm their ability to bend (because it's all dependent on their forms, which involves footwork and strong stances) then, ipso facto, it would not become popular with the "elite" (benders) of society, thus wouldn't become popular at all.
That's my logic, anyway.