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That's a great article about women, including one with a partial foot amputation, who were rejected from the Cannes Film Festival in France because they weren't wearing high heeled shoes. The article highlights the pressure on women to do things that harm themselves for the sake of looking pretty or sexy.
Thankfully, the combination of nature and nurture turned me into someone who thinks independently, so I never wore high heeled shoes and have always felt they were stupid since they hurt your feet and make walking difficult.
When I was in middle school, I did a report on Chinese foot binding of girls' feet, which is an extreme version of the cultural phenomenon of high heels, and so I was familiar at a young age with the dangers of cultural fashion trends that harm people. This awareness and my appreciation of my natural body led me to avoid many fashion trends that can hurt you: high heels (which hurt the feet and body), cosmetics (which can damage skin and hurt your eyes), deoderants (which can irritate the skin), and shaving (sharp metal dragged repeatedly over the body including the delicate skin of the underarms? No thanks).
But even I felt the lure or allure of high heels when I was a child. I remember in 4th grade, two girlfriends and I got the notion to buy high heeled shoes, and so one of their grandmothers took us to the mall where we all bought a pair. I felt very guilty because I knew high heels symbolized being a woman and being sexual, and I knew my parents would *not* approve of my having bought some! My girlfriends proudly wore their high heels through the mall and back to the car. I was too embarrassed to do that, but I recall at home sometimes taking the spiky shoes out of the box and looking at them a little wistfully.
As I've gotten older, I have much less patience for self-inflicted harm than I did when I was a child. Watching "Dancing With The Stars," I get irked that almost all the women are dancing in high heeled shoes to look sexy. This must be horrible for one's body, and as a dancer I would never harm my joints and the rest of my body by dancing in high heeled shoes.
I feel annoyed that no one on "Dancing With The Stars" comments upon and stands up for women's health. Instead, the judges and audience just applause the dancing in high heels, thereby promoting and perpetuating the harmful image that the epitome of female beauty is a woman wearing high heels, risking her health for beauty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JustJulia
Look at pretty much any old lady's feet to see what high heels do over time. My grandma wore sharp-toed pumps and has terrible bunions as a result. I like being extra tall and used to wear 3" or 4" heels to work with my suits, but now it's mainly just wedge sandals in the summertime.
Any sexiness created by high heels is negated if you can't walk in them gracefully.
Vanity and susceptibility to peer pressure are a dangerous combination. My former mother-in-law complained about the damage she did to her toes and feet from wearing shoes that were too tight when she was younger and vanity made her want to appear to have smaller feet.
I felt she was brave to switch in older age to larger, comfortable shoes, since I think she felt strong cultural pressure to appear "attractive" according to (stupid) cultural norms. I hope more and more women will stop doing things that hurt themselves...and, even better, never start.
I cringe when I see little girls in play high heels. I remember seeing Katie Holmes escorting her little daughter (Suri?) in public in high heels. She couldn't have been older than 5. Dangerous precedent to set for little girls but given the atmosphere of her parent's lifestyle I should not be surprised.
We have 3 Asian daughters and as part of their Mother Land Education we do at home I've included reports on foot binding. I'm surprised at the number of people who are unaware of how recently this was done. I've seen in person the shoes grown women with foot binding wore. Absolutely scary and disgusting to think of taking a young girl out of her play mode and putting her in servitude and property mode.
It's not just heels but also shoes with tapered toe boxes and/or toe boxes that are too narrow. Even shoes that claim to not be like that (Naturalizer, Clarks) are. This is why I live in sandals most of the time.
I squeezed my feet into regular shoes for a few decades. For a while I wore heels with pointed toes too.
In my late 20s I started to get bunions and stopped wearing heels the moment I noticed it--I was so grossed out that my feet were actually deformed from shoes!
However, it's super hard to find shoes with toe boxes that are not too narrow and aren't tapered. IOW, shoes shaped like healthy feet are hard to find. Anyone know of a ballet flat that's healthy for your foot? I'm looking.
We have 3 Asian daughters and as part of their Mother Land Education we do at home I've included reports on foot binding. I'm surprised at the number of people who are unaware of how recently this was done. I've seen in person the shoes grown women with foot binding wore. Absolutely scary and disgusting to think of taking a young girl out of her play mode and putting her in servitude and property mode.
I saw a documentary several years ago and the process of foot binding is torture. There is a YouTube
Video (won't post it, too graphic and disturbing) "History Day Documentary: Chinese Foot Binding"
It posts that it's 11 minutes long but there is something wrong with the last third (jumbled pixels).
The typical size of the bound shoe was 4".
Although it has been banned, high heels have become the substitute.
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Last edited by baileyvpotter; 05-26-2015 at 10:11 AM..
Reason: error
I am very short. Even with heels, I am still short lol But I don't care. I am fine with being short. It has it's pros and cons, but I am still fine with it.
I Like to wear stuff for comfort now. I want it to look nice, but I don't wanna be miserable just for vanity. I prefer flat shoes. The shoes I wear most are crocs, usually with socks. lol
I used to wear heels all the time, back in HS. But I rarely touch them now.
Nothing, unless the woman does not like them either in terms of comfort or looks. I find them very sexy on many women, makes the butt and legs look incredible.
Sometimes I would not mind a woman wear ONLY high heels.
A pair of High Heels is a Containment/Control Device for females.
Other such devices, all invented by males, are Corsets, Bras, and Burkas.
And pre-nups.
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