High Heels WTF is it about

Oh I love shoes. All shoes. I have a worrying collection of shoes. Not to impress men or make myself feminine just because I love them. If I see beautiful shoes I have to buy them. Must confess on a daily basis I wear pumps, uggs or trainers but on special occasions I break out the big guns. I even have some 6 inch ones

I think high heels can look like works of art but if I wear them they just make me insanely grumpy. I'm happiest wearing flip flops TBH - shame I live in Scotland.

I tried to wear them for a while partly to look taller, partly because I felt it was necessary in order to look 'professional'. Eventually decided 'never again' because they were so uncomfortable and when I thought about it seemed so wrong and silly that I felt I had to wear something that hurt me and sometimes made my feet bleed and meant I couldn't walk or run properly when I needed/wanted to.

The more I think about it, and the more time passes since I've worn those things, the more weird they look on other people to me. They just don't make any sense, except maybe as fetish wear if you like that sort of thing, but then it's all kinds of wrong that women are expected to dress up in fetish gear just to look normal and acceptable at the office...

I try to wear them on occassion because I'm a short arse, but they make my feet hurt within about five minutes and I get serious blisters if I wear them for a whole evening.

I do wear wedges sometimes in the summer, but only very comfy near-horizontal ones (IYSWIM).

I am loving the lovely ballet flats you can buy at the moment - I live in mine, and my biker boots. At last! I am remotely fashionable!

I can't, and don't, wear high heels. I am sometimes told by my mother that I need to "learn" to, but I'm really not in the mood to torture myself just in order to pretend to be 5'10 instead of 5'6.

The only thing that annoys me, is that most beautiful and interesting shoes only come in high heeled version. So it's either boring dull flats or gorgeous, bright, eye-catching high heels.

early on, that is....

I had the heel awakening early one - I wore flat pumps to my high school prom and was the only one still actually wearing my shoes at the end of the night!

I have one pair which are quite comfortable as far as heels go - I got them from the girl's section of New Look so they're not very high. But they very rarely see the light of day. I may be a short-arse but it's flats for me all the way!

Even when I worked in a smart office environment, I just wore smart pumps.

Totally agree. I hate wearing high heels. Having said that, I do try and find the most comfortable ones I can find for work and I am about to wear a pair out tonight but I admit that that is purely because I've been socialised into thinking I should.

They are impractical, from a safety (e.g. being able to run away) and from a health perspective (sprained ankles!). I'm not sure men even like them that much so I don't know where the trend has come from.

There are a few women I work with who would want to distance themselves from the feminist movement yet they wear shoes/boots that are very sensible to work. So in some ways I think that they are more feminist than I am because they have rejected traditional notions of femininity that I still subscribe to.

I'm starting to see how heavy makeup makes women look like clowns now as well

I have eschewed high heels on principle since my feminist awakening After a while they start to look like instruments of pedal torture instead of objects of desire don't they.

I think a lot of them look good, but I don't generally wear them, and I agree they should be a lot less ubiquitous and expected.

I covet high heels. I have learnt from experience that the pain isn't worth it though.

I have about 20 pairs of heels upstairs and think they are beautiful but I never wear them!

Even though I agree in theory that they are hideous, in practice it's one piece of socialisation and fashion that I have bought wholesale.

I am so with you on this one!

They look awful, they feel awful, you can't run away in them - horrible horrible things!