Wednesday, March 4, 2009

One thing I wonder

Normally, I'd just post a comment on Aubrey's blog, but the current
internet connection is too slow for that, apparently, although my
NetNewsWire RSS aggregator works great, and Thunderbird works maybe 50%
of the time.

So here's the comment:

Why wear high heels? As a male, and a not particularly left-leaning or
feminist one at that, they seem like a transparent attempt by men of the
past to control the mobility of women by designing shoes for them in
which it is impossible to run. I don't really believe they're
necessary, from a fashion or professionalism standpoint, and aren't the
drawbacks far greater than the possible advantages?

What are the advantages, anyways? Blisters?

My grandmother could not wear flat shoes, because her achilles tendon
had shrunk in the 90-plus years she wore heels, making it very painful
to wear shoes in which she could actually get around with some
reasonable degree of speed. For her, the strategy worked. Fortunately,
my grandfather was not abusive.

I think it's no coincidence that she was also forced to wear a corset.

Cowboy boots have a heel (about 1", by the way) so that your boots stay
in the stirrups. (Although Chuck Norris wears them because... well...
do you want to get kicked by one of those things?) And logging boots
have a short heel so that you can strap on the tree-climbing gear and
not have it come off.

What other explanation is there for women's high heels?

Just a soapbox of mine. Sorry.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So, you think rapists or at least violent assailants came up with the idea of high heels?

I've heard a few theories - the first and most obvious one is style and attractiveness. There is no disputing that a heel lengthens the leg and makes the calf muscles look more defined. Also, apparently they raise the buttocks in a suggestive way to be appealing to men. Maybe they are a tool used more to enslave men.

There is also an institutional stickiness problem. Many suits are now cut to a length and style that assumes heels - they just don't look right with anything else.

However, these things do not really apply to my situation. My "heels" are maybe an inch, and are very practical mary janes. Further, I seem to sprain my ankle on cobblestones even if I am wearing tennis shoes. This brings me back to my first point - why cobble stones!?