So, I have decided that today I’m going to write about the significance of wearing an anklet.
I was scrolling through Facebook when I came across the picture and quote below, and I felt as though the information given by this image was a tad odd, seeing as I personally knew nothing of the sort about the simple ankle jewelry and the image said “ widely recognized” and I was feeling left out of the “wide”. So I decided to do my quick research.
Anklets have been dated and recorded to exist and be worn by women for at least over 8000 years in South Asia, In Ancient Egypt since predynastic times, and in the US it became fashionable around the 1930s, so its safe to say that anklets have been for quite sometime.
~ Here is where I would like to note a quick little fact that folks love to gloss over.. that that Egypt is in Africa and perhaps other ethnic groups in Africa also wore “anklets”… I also researched this to simmer my boiling curiosity…
(See below, heavy bronze anklets worn by the Kasena Women of Ghana rarely seen today due to the Liberian government forbidding the wearing of them because it made them look like slaves… but we just gonna leave the extension on that discussion for another day….) ~
( Himba Tribe Women feet decoration.. Angola… It’s still an “anklet” yes.)
Ok Moving on…
In Egypt, anklets were worn by the Egyptian women of all classes as everyday jewelry. It was also worn by dancers as they strung the beads together for the sound that they made in concert with movement. The reason why anklets aren’t worn by the Egyptian women of today is due to the increase Islamic conservatism that is now exercised in Egypt where wearing anklets in public is seen as being immodest.
I’m still not coming up on the sexual activity thing in all this rich African history… moving on..
Over to Asia:
In India, the Rajasthani women wear heavy anklets to signify tribal adherence and in other parts of India, anklets were adorned with bells which were highly pleasing to the opposite sex and signified that women were around and that men needed to be on their best behavior.
(see below heavy Anklets similar to those of the Rajasthani women)
(See below Anklets with bells)
Today, Intricate anklets are a part of Indian bridal ensembles. (See Henna and Anklets for a traditional Indian wedding )
So we found marriage but still no sexual activity? Hmmm….. moving on…
In the 70s is when anklets became popular in the US and became favorite pieces among free-spirited fashionistas. But I still wasn’t finding any references towards the anklet and sex.
And here is where I got fed up and blatantly asked my search bar “Anklets and Sex” needless to say I found a lot of porn but I finally find the so-called “sexual revolution” and the mention of “hot wives” which make reference to married women wearing anklets as a symbol of availability and makes reference to the fact that the specific charms on the anklet is what would distinguish a “hot wife” from a random female in an anklet.
AHA! The sex anklet!
But my question was, how is this a practice and symbol that is ‘widely recognized’? I only found 2 articles that were basically verbatim to the image on Facebook, verbatim of each other and the date of one was written exactly 3 days ago!!
I really felt duped, information gets tossed around on the internet and I’m sure we are sometimes just fooled into assuming it’s the status quo and 100% true and real.
All in all, in 2019 regardless of religion, culture or age, it’s safe to say that stereotypes and even traditions in some cases are coming to naught and that is also why, whether or which side you wear an anklet on is in the grand scheme of things of absolutely NO importance.
How I really feel about this is that, I just really wish women could wear what they want without it being suggestive of sex.
For some girls, It’s just an anklet and what it means to her is what it means. So it’s not fair for people to be assuming that the girl with the pretty anklet would be interested in sex because she’s wearing something that has the possibility of carrying so many other meanings or absolutely no meaning at all.
And for my final statement. Boys can wear anklets too, but as I like to say that’s the extension on the discussion for another day.
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