Abstract

If you discovered your neighbor broke her four-year-old daughter’s foot for the sake of beauty, would you intervene? Now, imagine you witness this scene as a visitor in Eighteenth-Century China, where footbinding was not only an accepted practice, but a sign of high culture. Would your status as an outsider change your decision? I will investigate one’s responsibility to step in when children who cannot consent undergo practices that seem cruel to an outsider but are accepted in their culture. I will keep in mind how my unique American identity has shaped my view as I address this ethical dilemma