This episode was suggested by a listener, Megan, on Facebook.

If you'd like to make a suggestion, you can do so on Facebook and Instagram at Morbid Curiosity Podcast, on Twitter, at Morbid Podcast, and on our website, www.morbidCuriositypodcast.com.

This episode contains discussions of what is modernly considered in Western countries as child abuse and the oppression of women.

We will also get into detail on the process of binding the foot after the ad break, which may be too graphic for some listeners.

If this isn't something you want to hear about,

this may be a good episode to skip.

Humans are fascinated by gore and violence, but even more so the mysterious and unsolved.

Interest in these disturbing and unpleasant subjects is called morbid curiosity, and it has gripped hundreds of people throughout the ages.

I am one of those people.

My name is Halley, and this is the Morbid Curiosity podcast. As Queen Bay says, pretty hurts. This simple statement speaks volumes today, but even more so for the past.

Humans, women especially, have gone to great lengths to meet societal beauty standards,

since before the ancient Egyptians painted their eyes with coal. A black substance traditionally

made from Galena, a lead ore, which is thought by some to have

caused lead poisoning. European women of the 16th to 19th century wore tight-laced corsets to achieve

a variety of body shapes. If not broken in properly, corsets can cause pain, fainting, and internal

injury. In Victorian England and post-Civil War America,

women ingested arsenic, a known poison, to appear pale and fragile. They used eyedrops made from

the toxic plant Belladonna to dilate their eyes. Even today, many women wear high heels

to appear taller and thinner, even though heels take

their toll on the joints of the spine, knees, and feet, not to mention blisters, ripped

toenails, shortened calf muscles, and fall injuries that can occur.

And there are myriad hazards when it comes to plastic surgery and injectables.

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