Shoes for Women - why is their pressure to wear uncomfortble footwear to 'fit in'?

'harpsi, men's shoes do have a heel. I don't mean a high heel, I mean a 0.5cm or 1cm heel. If you don't believe me, talk to my osteopath!'

your osteo may be selling you something
most women's shoes have a small heel too, see my example.
most flat women's shoes give perfectly good support
and walking barefoot is marvellously healthy and I do it am much as I can

I can add them to my basket (although get a warning message about minimum order value being 10 Euros). They do deliver to the UK (shipping cost 13.90 Euros for one pair, 14.90 Euros for two).

What happens if you try a different size (wondering whether it's a badly-programmed handling of some kind of out of stock message)? Which browser are you using?

e.g.

my trainers/Birkies etc have a slight heel of 1cm or so

not a valid point

Ha! I have flipper feet (from wearing sensible shoes/bare feet) but...no bunions!!!

harpsi, men's shoes do have a heel. I don't mean a high heel, I mean a 0.5cm or 1cm heel. If you don't believe me, talk to my osteopath!

There are lots of nice shoes out there a woman can walk all day in. But they probably won't have much of a heel Doesn't mean they dont look good.

a heel of one centimetre?
well most ballet pumps have at least that

I don't buy all this needing a heel or arch support stuff either. So are bare feet a bad design then? Mine seem to work fine... I went barefoot through most of my uni days (in South Africa where this is slightly less barking mad).

very good point harpsi

a lot of women from my mums generation bewail the fact they cannot wear flat shoes

but that is because their achilles tendon is abnormally and chronically shortened from wearing unsuitable (high heeled) shoes from an early age

oh, and the bunions don't bear mentioning

yes, and our ancestors presumably used to walk much longer distances, much more frequently
without the benefit of a two inch heel to help them

Some shoes currently in fashion have more in common with bondage than footwear. Think those ridiculous ones by Gwyneth Paltrow. They are CFM (come fuck me) shoes.

They are so ugly as well. The shoes.

Yes, but you don't generally go barefoot on concrete or paved surfaces all the time. The surfaces that we walk on aren't natural, less give (I'm guessing).

Oooh, love those sinology shoes, esp as I don't wear leather. But I just got a "forbidden" error when I tried to add a pair of luscious black velvet mary janes to my basket!

Do they deliver to the UK?

I've always wondered if that was spurious too Harpsi - if you go barefoot you don't have heels, and through history relatively few people have worn high heels at any time.

Men's shoes always have a heel (compared to ballet pumps or the like). Usually a cm or so.

In general though, I think fashion-wise I've been pretty lucky. When I was at primary Kickers or similar were the shoes to have, went through a slightly dodgy stage in the late 80s when it was all New Romantic stilletoes or winkle pickers (but ameliorated by the fact that my mum generally wouldn't let me wear them and so I had to change out of my sensible shoes round the corner from the house which limited the wear time [grin[), then into DM boots for the next 5 or 6 years which must be pretty good for your feet really.

go on speedy, explain that to me:
if flat shoes are bad for your spine (boots/maryjanes) why don't men's shoes have a heel?
and why aren't men terrifically crippled?

oh those velvet ones are LUSH

I quite agree with the OP. In the summer I mainly wear flat sandals (or flat canvas shoes/trainers when weather not so good). In the winter, mainly boots, either flat or with a very modest heel. I just can't walk in anything very high. And I don't drive, so need to walk reasonable distances most days. A lot of "fashion shoes" just don't allow for that.

I also can't wear ballet flats/court shoes most of the time. Partly because my feet just slip out of them when walking (unless they have a strap further up to keep them on) and also because many of them are just not wide enough at the front of the foot, and therefore rub/pinch on my toes.

but very very good for your FEET.
and very very COMFORTABLE.
so I walk a lot, everywhere.
and I have no problems with my spine... or indeed any of my joints at all :-)
I don't really buy it, tbh.
After all, men seem to manage without wearing heels

Or Office do this in black jersey up to a size 8 UK.

I've never got the shoe torture thing. I'm pleased I saw the light early on! At my high school prom, I wore flats - lovely suede pumps, but lacking a heel. At the end of the night, I was the only girl there still actually wearing her shoes! Those shoes were so comfy I went on to wear them in waitressing jobs until they disintegrated!

I'm only 5'3, so I could use the extra height, but I've always worn sensible shoes. Even when I worked in an office environment, I've gone for smart flat pumps instead of heeled ones.

Make-up too, I save for special occasions, because it's fun. I think men look good with a bit of eye liner, so I think they should start to wear make-up for special occasions, and women should stop wearing heels and limit make-up to special occasions too.

On the other hand, I don't get why men go on strangling themselves with ties (which, as far as I'm aware, all of them hate) and all wearing exactly the same uniform of a suit and tie in the office. Have they no imagination?

harpsi -- Sinologie? black cotton, black velvet, black denim

Unless you take a larger size than 41/42, in which case you are on your own...

seth - are you secretly the Pulp Fiction guy? (mind gone blank)...what's his name, the high-pitched voiced weirdo who directed all those gore flicks?