Bound feet blues

the long version

AUTOBIOGRAPHY: LITERARY. Bound Feet Blues is the very personal story of bestselling novelist and acclaimed performer Yang-May Ooi. A groundbreaking and wonderfully unconventional memoir, Bound Feet Blues is a performance in book form, interweaving personal stories, cultural reflections and a multi-faceted exploration of what it means to be a woman. In Chinese tradition, women with tiny bound feet were desirable as wives and lovers, their delicate feet seen as objects of both status and sexual fetish. What can the ancient tradition of footbinding tell us about the role of women beneath the gaze of men and the relationship between mothers & daughters? Drawing on her own history Yang-May creates a layered tapestry of meaning and exploration, deftly exploring themes of female desirability, identity and empowerment while giving the reader a compelling insight into her own incredible story.