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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

High Heels WTF is it about

164 replies

FattyArbuckel · 05/02/2011 17:04

Why in this day and age do we STILL worship high heels

I think they are one step away from chinese foot binding and can't look around the pavements without cringing...

Really, why do women wear them? I think they look awful.

Rant over - just could not keep it in any longer today....

OP posts:
AnnieLobeseder · 05/02/2011 17:08

I am so with you on this one!

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

SardineQueen · 05/02/2011 17:11

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.

BuzzLightBeer · 05/02/2011 17:13

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.

Coleysworth · 05/02/2011 17:17

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

Original poster
FattyArbuckel · 05/02/2011 17:18

I'm glad its not just me...

OP posts:
Coleysworth · 05/02/2011 17:19

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

JessinAvalon · 05/02/2011 17:35

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.

AnnieLobeseder · 05/02/2011 18:55

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.

AnnieLobeseder · 05/02/2011 18:58

early on, that is....

ElephantsAndMiasmas · 05/02/2011 19:19

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.

FlamingoBingo · 05/02/2011 19:37

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! Grin

Ephiny · 05/02/2011 19:55

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...

TheCrackFox · 05/02/2011 20:04

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.

LilBB · 05/02/2011 20:21

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

sethstarkaddersmackerel · 05/02/2011 20:32

I put my heeled boots on the other day (school run, hole in tights, easier to don boots than change tights), and realised I hadn't worn them since before I was pg with 16mo, ie since before my feminist reawakening.

and it reminded me:
I wore them at work because I felt attractive in them and they made me taller, which brought me nearer to the eye level of my male bosses and students and therefore helped give me more confidence. But now that I am SAHMing the ability to walk is at more of a premium and I feel silly and less confident in them.

there is a great chapter in Beauty and Misogyny about shoes and the phrase she uses is that they are aimed at making women look 'different and deferent'. Now when I see a woman tripping along in heels I tend to think of that rather than that she looks empowered. I definitely feel more powerful now without them, but I didn't used to.

FlamingoBingo · 05/02/2011 20:40

I notice their bottoms wiggling too and think it just looks really, really silly - ridiculous.

And I find women who wear much make up (and I don't mean really heavy stuff, just what the majority wear) look like clowns, and I just feel really sorry for them that it's such a big deal to them that they can't show the world what they really look like Sad.

And when you read about women who say that they ahve to put make up on before they go into hospital to have their babies Hmm

What is wrong with our culture that has made us think that that is a good way to live!? That our faces are so shit we have to cover them up Sad

LilBB · 05/02/2011 21:26

On the issue of make up I had a female colleague confide in me that she thought another colleague didn't make enough effort at work appearance wise!! Moaning that she doesnt wear much make up, sometimes hasn't done her hair and dresses a bit off. I don't know why she confided this in me as I dont wear any make up, doing my hair consists of brushing it and my work clothes are black trousers and a series of white based blouses. I have to wonder why it bothers her? Job performance isn't affected by how we look and whilst it important to portray proffesionalism how do sky high heels, tight pencil skirts and a face heavy with make up do this.

crazycatlady · 05/02/2011 21:40

High heels can look very elegant if they fit properly and if the wearer can walk in them but this is so often not the case I do wonder why so many women torture themselves this way.

I wear heels, but only if I want to look really smart (meetings, weddings, nights out). The rest of the time I'm in boots, converse, flip flops, ballet pumps...

On the make up point, a female colleague of mine often quoted a piece of research that showed a direct correlation between the amount of make up worn by a female pitching for a client's business and the outcome of the meeting, i.e. the more makeup the higher the success rate. Sounds like utter bollocks to me, but if I can dig it out I'll link.

TryLikingClarity · 05/02/2011 22:08

I have also often wondered about this.

I asked DH what he thought about high heels and his reply was that if a woman liked them and could walk in them then fair enough. But for him he couldn't care less what shoes I'm wearing....

...Lucky for DH because I very rarely wear a heel higher than 3 inches as I just feel ungainly, off-balance and too tall.

I remember reading somewhere, but I can't remember where, that high heels are something to do with slowing a woman down so she can't run away as easily; so she is always in a small but persistant amount of pain and concerned with her appearance more than her comfort.

JessinAvalon · 06/02/2011 01:41

Typed out a post but thanks to the server backup it's lost.

Oh well, Barbara Ellen says it much better than me:
Even Minnie Mouse wouldn't wear heels that high, Victoria
Who was Victoria Beckham trying to kid, squiring her sons around a US theme park in five-inch heels? Most women would be aware of the throbbing "Bunion-Dunkirk" raging beneath the shoe leather (five inches, but no surrender). Such atrocities should be worn only to restaurants and even then one would have to be piggybacked in, and allowed to sob softly through the meal.

Men curious about the endurance test of super-high heels can reproduce the effect by balancing on upended tent-spikes, ignoring the sensation that their feet are being crucified. Which seems to be the point - Christ on the cross has nothing on Louboutin martyrs such as Mrs Beckham.

Posh has form for ridiculous attire. But high heels at a theme park? I've been to Disneyland and you have to whiz around very fast, hence flats are the only option. Bizarre then to watch Posh teetering in the manner of a Zoolander-themed stilt-walker. Perhaps other children thought she was one of the rides.

What a painful metaphor for the self-imposed prison of exhibitionism-cum-insecurity she seems to exist in. Female foot-binding has long been outlawed in China, but in the west one of our most high-profile women is happy to wear shoes that render her unable to hobble more than a few agonising steps at a time. If you're listening, Victoria, so not a good look.

BitOfFun · 06/02/2011 02:31

They look kind of ridiculously Louis XIV to me. But then I watch Marilyn Monroe trotting down the station platform in Some Like It Hot and forget why they look so silly...

Original poster
FattyArbuckel · 06/02/2011 11:26

I was struck by the sales woman for the show homes in my road wearing a black touser suit with high heels. She was slim, and smartly dressed, and years ago I would have thought her well presented and yesterday I found her massively bizarre and ridiculous. I was aware that most people wouldn't see her like that at all so it is me who has changed and is now out of sync...

I have stopped wearing make up to work recently since my self esteem has been boosted through counselling - seeing clowns must be around the corner for me!

OP posts:
Petalouda · 06/02/2011 11:31

Ha! Brilliant thread!

I've long-protested to my husband that high heels are only a micro-step away from foot-binding, and serve only to stop women escaping men.

Fortunately, I'm the same height as him so he doesn't push it, lest I tower over him and society's expectation of 'Big Man' & 'Little Woman'!

And no, DH, I won't be wearing "keep-ons" in bed for you. If you want a hooker, you shouldn't have married me!

Now, I'm off to look for more non-floral/mumsy maternity clothes that go with my skate shoes!

sakura · 06/02/2011 11:58

before my feminist reawakening (thanks MN Wink ) I wore high all types of high heels, dresses make up.

But now, like FattyArbuckel I've totally reshaped how I see women so the more make up they're wearing the more insecure they seem. Whether it's true or not is irrelevant, they look like they really want to please.. and it really stands out. Same with make up.
NOw, I still wear make up (although far less frequently than before since reading beauty and misogyny) but I really see it as a mask. It doesn't actually make women look better, it often makes them look worse...and insecure

sakura · 06/02/2011 11:59

that was "Same with high heels"

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