Posted on 09/21/2014 4:50:52 PM PDT by WhiskeyX
The high-heeled shoe, or a shoe whose heel is higher than the toe, is a matter of contentious and heated discussion. Shoes in general have typically served as markers of gender, class, race, and ethnicity--and both the foot and the shoe have been imbued with powerful phallic and fertility symbols as evidenced in the contemporary practice of tying shoes to a newlywed couple’s car. No other shoe, however, has gestured toward leisure, sexuality, and sophistication as much as the high-heeled shoe. Fraught with contradiction, heels paradoxically inhibit movement in order to increase it, at least in appearance. Standing in heels, a woman presents herself already half-walking while at the same time reducing the length of her step, fostering the illusion of speed while suggesting the promise of an imminent fall. The higher and more unstable the heel, the more clearly these contradictions are expressed (Kunzle 2004). Doctors and scholars alike have argued about the physical and cultural effect, both positive and negative, that heels have had not only on women, but on society as a whole.
(Excerpt) Read more at randomhistory.com ...
“I’m 5’6” with heels.” - Woman
“How tall are you with a nice guy like me?” - Groucho Marx
High heels are not for walking except for a few minutes in around the bedroom.
All of which brings up the classic question:
Why do women wear high heels?
The answers in response to that classic question are typically as varied as they are numerous.
Well, I worked with a gal who was somewhat petite, she called shoes like that (which she wore) CFMs.
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