XLII
Right through our civilization
Irrespective of time and race
Women have always sought to
Alter their figure and face.
The feet of upper class Chinese girls
Were bound from a tender age.
They could only hobble painfully
Around the marriage stage.
The giraffe women of Africa
With their long metal-ringed necks
Look unnaturally elegant - but
Their vertebrae must be wrecks.
There are other female mutilations
Too painful to mention.
Keeping a girl pure for marriage
Was the official intention.
To get her daughter firmly corsetted
The good Victorian mother made haste;
For who would marry a well bred girl
With more than a 20" waist?
Never mind if her rib-cage was deformed
Or if she tended to faint.
Victorian ladies suffered for beauty -
Moved gracefully because of restraint.
Men like women shackled and suppressed -
So some feminists claim,
But looking at current fashions
I don't think that men are to blame.
As we enter the 21st century
Women are liberated - and free,
But perhaps girls want a reason
For not being able to flee.
Why else would they wear restricting skirts
And such dangerously high heels.
They look extremely uncomfortable -
I wonder how it feels.
But before we get too critical
About what today's young girls wear,
We should recall the sixties -
Mini skirts - stilettos - armoured hair.
A peacock's large unwieldy tail
To show off his strength is essential
Do girls wear such high-heeled shoes
To prove their breeding potential?
July 2000
