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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Are high heels used to make women weaker?

329 replies

angell84 · 10/03/2020 14:06

I am in a cafe having a cup of tea with a friend.

A small woman stumbled in, in high heels that she could barely walk in. She was with a large domineering man - he was striding ahead, and she could barely keep up.

I looked at her, and I had a thought that I have had a few times.

Why do women wear high heels? And Why do the fashion industry keep pushing high heels at women?

They are uncomfortableto wear, they physically hurt us in the long run- I looked at a scientific study online before I wrote this. It said that wearing high heels weaken women's muscles.

And they make us incredibly weak and vulnerable - we are barely able to walk - let alone run, wearing them. I.e it suits men with bad intentions - for us to wear them.

Does anyone else think this?

OP posts:
LaurieFairyCake · 10/03/2020 14:08

Yes

Plus it's also to make them shimmy side to side to make it look pleasing to men watching their rears

For the male gaze

Sirzy · 10/03/2020 14:08

Unless they are being told they have to wear them then Yabu. I’m not a fan of heels so very rarely wear them, I know plenty of other women who love them and are rarely seen without. Each to their own!

fascinated · 10/03/2020 14:08

I agree.

LaurieFairyCake · 10/03/2020 14:09

I do also think that we should be able to live in a world where women are safe whatever we wear and where the victim isn't blamed for wearing attractive and fashionable clothes - or blamed for crimes against her

Hingeandbracket · 10/03/2020 14:11

i.e it suits men with bad intentions
Yeah if only men would stop telling women what to strap on their feet.

No idea of the point of high heels but there's an easy way to stamp them out - don't buy any, and don't wear any.

Isthistrueor · 10/03/2020 14:11

Totally agree and I’m baffled as to why women still struggle along in heels they clearly can’t walk in. I have no objection to women wearing them if they genuinely like them and find them comfortable (how they can, I do not know but I know some women are fine in them). I just think women who totter around like newborn deer look ridiculous.

Whydoesit · 10/03/2020 14:11

I agree. It doesn’t stop we wearing them very occasionally but when I stop to think about it I find the concept of high heels really quite strange.

fascinated · 10/03/2020 14:12

OPis right, though. High heels actively encumber you and therefore make you less safe. Why would you do that to yourself? Surely you are tacitly accepting the increased risk?

Seeitsortit · 10/03/2020 14:13

I used to feel empowered in heels - if a man wanted to be with me it was at my pace - plus I’m guessing she hasn’t heel height trained herself.......[thinks back to the days I could run in 4” stillettos whilst now wearing utility boots for work emocon].......

mauvaisereputation · 10/03/2020 14:13

Well yeah, but isn't this why hardly anyone wears heels anymore in the UK? Even compared to 10 or 20 years ago, you don't see them that much. No one wears them in the City, whereas it used to be absolutely standard for women's professional wear. Even nights out/weddings etc you see lots of women in flats in the UK, whereas if you go to Italy or Spain pretty much all the women are in heels. In other words it's an issue that women are resolving themselves.

Nicknacky · 10/03/2020 14:14

I think there is a big difference between a heel that adds height (I wear a block heel that’s a couple of inches high) and a shoe you can barely walk in. I can run in my heels!

RuffleCrow · 10/03/2020 14:14

Absolutely, we're sold all this guff about how they elogate your legs, make you look sexier etc. If it was about that, surely we'd just wear them prior to having sex, as a turn on? Why would we need to look sexy at work? Who gives a shit? Hopefully they'll go the way of the corset and just be reserved for goths/ kinky types.

ElderAve · 10/03/2020 14:15

I took the decision not to wear uncomfortable shoes ever again c. 8 years ago and I've never looked back. There's no logic to it but but I do think I look decidedly less polished and career minded than those who wear similar work clothes to me but do it with heels though. Although I can cover the ground quicker Grin

CandiceSucksCandy · 10/03/2020 14:16

Yabu.
I rarely wear heels, but when I wear heels, I wear HEELS and I love them.
Particularly my huge platform sparkly boots.

professionalnomad · 10/03/2020 14:19

i LOVE wearing heels
I choose to wear them to work every day. I love how I look, feel and walk in them.

Where them if you like them, don't wear them if you don't.

professionalnomad · 10/03/2020 14:20

wear - not where. Sorry.

Chickenwing · 10/03/2020 14:20

I love wearing heels. They do elongate the legs. No different to wearing makeup. No one is forcing anyone to wear heels, its a choice.

PlanDeRaccordement · 10/03/2020 14:20

Yes high heels are useless now. They are horrible on a person physically to wear. Deform your feet. Shortens the Achilles’ tendon. Back/hip problems.

They were invented in Ancient times for practical reasons and worn by men and women. But today, they are simply decorative and associated with sex work.

Pollypocket89 · 10/03/2020 14:23

I'll never understand why people care that much what others choose to do or wear when it has no personal impact on them.

There was a thread very similar to this on the feminism board a couple of weeks ago

Pollypocket89 · 10/03/2020 14:24

Associated with sex work?!! Jesus Christ

JellyfishandShells · 10/03/2020 14:25

Not exactly a new observation.

I’m not a heel wearer any more - my clothes are much more casual now, but I never felt as if it was being imposed on me by men when I did. Though my idea of heel height was not the towering type.

I then wore flats for a long time, but now find that I walk much better in block heels - more of a stride .

Herja · 10/03/2020 14:27

I don't, and won't, wear them. I can walk and run in them, but further and faster without them. I don't like the way they make me walk - chest out and hips swaying. I don't want to sexualise my day to day business.

I don't associate them with femininity, I associate them (especially since seeing photos of fetish heels to immobiliser women) with male power. I'll have no part in that.

Bezalelle · 10/03/2020 14:27

I'll never forget my Masters graduation. From the audience I watched the men striding confidently across the stage to receive their diploma, while (most of) the women staggered across in heels and stupidly short/uncomfortable dresses. Something isn't right with that picture.

CruCru · 10/03/2020 14:28

I can’t get too worked up about a low heel but I do think that some heels are just too high for work. Women dress smartly but then prance about on mega high heels. I have no idea how anyone can think while wearing them.

Original poster
angell84 · 10/03/2020 14:28

@pollypocket.

I am not really questioning some one's individual choice.

I am questioning the fashion industry - why they keep promoting high heels to women to wear. They are bad for physical health, and they put women at risk. And of course two of the biggest high heel designers are men. Jimmy Choo/Manolo Blahnik

OP posts: