36 SEX-LORE 



well known, for instance, that in China, where small 

 feet are natural, women's feet are tortured from in- 

 fancy by tight bandaging, until they become so 

 distorted that they can hardly serve their natural 

 purpose of walking. This custom, however, is now 

 on the wane, due to European influences, and it may 

 henceforth perhaps be possible for a Chinese belle to 

 find a husband though she have normal feet. In one 

 of the South American tribes a swollen calf is con- 

 sidered to add to the attraction of a girl ; and so they 

 wear, from childhood onwards, tight garters below the 

 knee in order to enlarge the calf by compression from 

 above. Even women of civilized countries are still 

 given to similar practices; note, for instance, the 

 squeezing in of the waist by modern women in order 

 to " improve " the figure. This is done by means 

 of a corset, and must necessarily impede regular 

 breathing and bodily movements ; indeed, it often 

 leads to serious disturbances of health. As if a 

 natural waist line is not far more beautiful than one 

 distorted by artificial methods ! Think of the Venus 

 of Milo and, in contrast to her, of the stiff whalebone- 

 sheathed models exhibited by the corsetiere. As a 

 matter of fact, many of our more advanced girls 

 given to sports and games manage to develop their 

 figures without the aid of such medieval appurten- 

 ances. 



There are other extremely quaint methods of beau- 

 tifying the human body. Among the tribes to which 

 clothing is still unknown, the whole of the body may 

 be used for decoration. Thus some primitive folk 

 paint their bodies half red, half white. Tattooing is 

 a very prevalent custom among savage people, and 



