high heels high of of feminiism or demean woman to sex objects?

[lovelysongbirdie]

here

what a very odd article, imagine being told at work you must wear heels ?
surely this doesn't happen in rl does it?

Wear heels if you like or not if you don't but sod any company that tries to tell its female employees what shoes to wear. FFS.

Let's hope they've employed an occupational podiatrist to sort out all those bunions.

edam do some places really tell the female staff to wear heels? i just cannot beleive that

The piece you linked to is in response to a news story about a law firm that brought in a firm of 'image consultants' (now, there's an interesting way to make money from old rope) who apparently said 'WOMEN! KNOW YOUR PLACE!' Which is apparently teetering and not being able to run very fast.

Why is a law firm paying consultants to advise women how to look feminine?

they can't make woman though, can they?

It's the Daily Mail.

couldn't really read the whole article but the lawyer in heels thing is all a bit Ally McBeal, isn't it? I'm sure some places have recommended that they should be worn for appearance purposes, but I doubt it is enforceable.

I can't walk in heels higher than 2". I can't bear the very recent, now hopefully waning, Prada-induced fashion for 4" heels as there are no shoes I can buy (can't wear flats either)

Heels that high are so bad for you anyway - they throw your weight forward, causing your balance to go off so you have to tip your pelvis to re-balance, not good in the long run; to say nothing of the bunions and hammer toes! Plus there is a risk of shortening the Achilles tendon if they are worn constantly, and changing the structure of the foot, meaning that wearing shorter/flat heels later is uncomfortable at best. Madness...

The article does not say that employees have been told to wear heels.

It says that they've been told it's the best way to look feminine and professional. There's nothing about enforcement.

I guess you would expect employees to look professional. But it doesn't say that they've enforced looking feminine. Or even enforced looking professional for that matter.

mmoc, in the first opinion "bit", the writer was saying that some women WERE told to wear heels in the 1960s, to make them look attractive to men. I gave up reading the article before I got much further than that

years go i took a job as a xmas temp at debenhams my uniform was to be shoes of a reasonable height(not flat) and bare flesh cloured tights along with navy sirt of certin length and white blouse with debenhams scarf worn any way you like.

One of the female supervisors was rumoured to actually check you were wearing tights although this didnt hppen to me.

Years ago I was offered a job but told I'd have to wear make up. By an orange woman two decades older than me who looked like a victim of high-pressure sales tactics at a department store cosmetics counter.

Couldn't work out if she was blind or just jealous of my dewy, youthful skin.

pmsl edam!!!

As a massage therapist, I was told that I should always wear a touch of make-up - at the least, lipstick, mascara and eyeshadow.
I sweat like a navvy when I work hard, especially in high temps (like an un-air-conditioned clinic room) and my make up ALWAYS runs under those conditions (unless sprayed with setting lotion) so once I qualified, I never wore make up again whilst working!

The beauty therapist in my clinic was overheard telling another therapist that she thought I was unprofessional because I didn't wear make-up . (I am not one of those people who needs make-up to look human, btw, I very rarely wear it normally.)
Personally, I think having mascara panda-eyes would look a whole lot less professional than a clean (if slightly "dewy" ) face.

is it true that flight attendants have to wear heels? (the female ones, that is )

dittany, the only empowering thing I can think of with high heels is if you are holding one in your hand as an offensive weapon!

Although, when we did self-defence classes at my all-girl senior school, the sensei (sp) showed us a neat trick if attacked while wearing stilettos - stamp on your assailants instep as hard as poss, with a view to leaving the heel in his foot. Nice! (but empowering)

i like heels. i think they make me feel more feminine. sexy etc. and yes, i do feel they are empowering.

somewhat tongue in cheek, non?

I find it very hard to take seriously any article about feminism from the Daily Mail but will lay that to one side.

I love my heels but do see them as a method of making women less powerful or able then men. I went through a phase of rejecting my heels bt it did not last as I am quite vain and have chubby ankles and calves.

As a woman of 5"2 it is quite hard to tell of my year 11s though without heels as I need to look up to them.

I used to work for a Recruitment Consultants about 11-12 years ago.
The Area Manager (woman and DM reader) insisted all women wore skirts and heels

Right have now read the article.

What a crock of shit.

'I have been brainwashed by the fashion industry into believing these outrageously expensive and perilously high shoes will make me happier.'

Well don't be such a fucking sheep then, you stupid bint.

'I once wrote that if God had intended us to wear flat shoes, he wouldn?t have invented Manolo Blahnik.'

Yes and if God meant us to fly we would all have wings.

Honestly, what a load of utter tripe.

Right, I've just read an article by Fay Weldon published in the Daily Mail. Can the day get any worse?

Hells Heels are a construct. I feel powerful when I have put them on because I have watched umpteen movies and adverts where women smiling are shown wearing heels. The films do not include grimaces of agony, plasters, orthopaedic appointments or any form of inability to move. I remember this as soon as I start to walk downstairs in the bloody things.

I AM STILL FEMALE EVEN THOUGH I HAVE SIZE 42 FEET AND BUNIONS. F off Fay.

About 10 years ago when I was working as a chartered accountant, my firm used one of those "image consultants". The woman (aged about 50) quoted statistics on women who wore make-up earning more than those who didn't. She advised on acceptable accessories for us professionals - quality pen and briefcase for the men, co-ordinated and understated jewellery for us ladies.

I found it extremely patronising and rather outdated. It also detracted from the rest of what she had to say, some of which was very illuminating.

redsplodge, do you think maybe that is because a lot of old firms are quite entrenched in their old-fashioned ways? So that what seems outdated to you (and me, I have to say) would still work with the old fogeys men in charge?