My Asian mother is always telling me that in Asian countries, nobody buys thongs because they don’t want to permanently mess up the spacing of their toes. Consequently, only slipper-like sandals are found in the stores. (Although it seems to me that the Japanese are fine about thong sandals)
In the United States, I see the opposite. Almost all the summertime footwear in stores are thongs. (I’m talking about lighter footwear, not Birkenstocks)
So, that got me to wondering… does that really happen?
And if you’re visiting this thread because of the other kind of thong, perhaps the same question can be posed regarding the deleterious effects of butt floss.
Hmmm, the only changes I’ve seen to my feet are calluses between my toes. The spacings the same. Plus, the Japanese have worn geta for centuries so some Asians wear 'em.
But it is true shoes can cause permanent change to feet. Feet that wear shoes usually have less toe spacing that feet that haven’t worn shoes. I’ve definitely had changes to my feet from wearing heels. I’ve develped tailor’s bunions (on the outside joint of my toes) and both the little toe and the one adjacent have thickened somewhat in response to shoe pressure.
We lived on Kwajalein for 4 years and most of that time I wore flip flops/go-aheads/whatever, even to work.
I noticed no changes at that time whatever. However, upon returning to the states my feet seemed to have gained a half size. I seriously suspect, though, that most of this was just my perception. I felt like my feet were in a straitjacket when wearing normal shoes…in fact, to this day, I like a really loose fitting shoe, often a full size larger than my old size.
I still think my feet did expand a little bit, but this could be due to age for all I know…maybe feet do spread out as we get older.
Is this a modern-day backlash resulting from foot binding? (Extra click required, foot binding photos which some may find disturbing)
This site by the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists says,
but says nothing about affecting the spacing of the toes. He is probably discussing rubber flip-flops rather than the more stiff-soled thongs most commonly thought of as Asian. Not sure it matters.
Whut?!
As **tremorviolet ** says, what about the Japanese sandals that for thousands of years have been thong-like?
In India, *everyone * owns a pair of rubber thongs, since your bathroom is really your bath room - i.e., you get the whole room wet when you take a bath. Toilet’s separate.
Can’t say much about the other Asian countries. I do notice that my Chinese boyfriend’s mother has only the other kind of slippers at home, no thong-like ones at all. So maybe it’s true there at least.
Being afraid of messing up the spacing between ones toes seems funny to me, who lives in Hawaii, where we often go barefoot or wear “thongs”.
Many of my mainland friends have ugly feet, malformed toes from wearing too tight a shoe while growing up. :o
FWIW I’m Chinese and have lived in China most of my life, and I’ve never heard this theory.
A more reasonable explanation for the lack of thong type footwear in Asian families would be that it is customary to have a few spare pairs of slippers around for guests, as guests are expected to remove their shoes before entering the premises. Obviously for this purpose a non-thong slipper would be more practical, since one can wear it comfortably with socks, and one does not expect guests to have to remove their socks in addition to their shoes. That’s the reason that my family generally only had slippers at home, but the thong style sandal is commonly worn outdoors in warmer parts of China.
I recently had the chance to see Cesaria Evora in concert. She is from Cape Verde and has an awesome voice. She is known as the “barefoot diva” because of her propensity to appear on stage in her bare feet in support of the homeless and poor women and children of her country.
We were lucky to be in the first row, and seeing her feet I think the real reason she performs barefoot is beacuse she would have a hard time finding shoes big enough for her feet! They are huge!
Eh, I play barefoot on stage…especially now…
I must say, I’m jealous of people who live in warmer climates and can do it year round…but I even go to my classes barefoot…walk around campus that way, and a lot of things…the only time I wear shoes (regular dress shoes) is to work or to my “field experience days” when I have to be professional looking…
I wouldn’t say it has anything to do with a statement at all, like some people might use it for, it’s just comfortable…
I play acoustic guitar by myself on stage, so I don’t worry about moving too much, or pushing pedals as some guitar players do…I just think it feels so comfortable to be barefoot…it’s natural for me and I have always been like this, so I guess it works
sheesh, thongs are really common in china - especially in the countryside. when i lived in taiwan, thongs were known as ‘taiwanese motorcycle boots’ for the sheer number of motorcycle riders wearing thongs
Being a fan of World War 2 propaganda- I used to have a copy of a pamphlet that was distributed to US pilots who might find themselves shot down in China. It was how to tell the Chinese from the Japanese. Pretty racist but one thing that was interesting was that TOE SPACING was an indicator. It’s been awhile but I think the Chinese were supposed to have a wide gap between the big toe and the next toe because of the sandals they wore.
