Are High Heels Powerful Or Just Oppressive?
Posted by: Bianca Posterli
Filed in:
style
12:50PM, Thursday September 24th 2009
This season on the runways, Marc Jacobs made a bold move when it came to footwear. Instead of the normal heels that designers show as part of their collection, he decided that flats are in for spring. Women all over sighed that their feet could take a break from the stilettos, at least according to Marc.
But despite the pain, aren’t the added few inches powerful? Don’t you crave looking straight into the eyes of your male counterparts at work? Christian Louboutin, Giuseppe Zanotti, Jimmy Choo, and Manolo Blahnik are all empires built on the idea that women want to wear heels, desire the intense heights, and simply feel dressed down in flats.
Or should we all be taking a lesson from Marc? Are we actually oppressing feminism by squeezing our feet into those contraptions day after day?
We all know the dangers of wearing heels for hours—bunions, corns, calluses, shortening of the Achilles tendon, ankle fractures and nerve damage. Fear. And city girls are masters at the flats-to-heels switch. But will—and should—the medical problems stop our four-inch addiction and the possible oppression it causes? [MSNBC]
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*sam*
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 12:01 pm: [report]
I’m not graceful enough to walk in heels, so I just find them incredibly impractical. The medical reasons only give me an additional reason not to learn either.
amandabear
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 12:04 pm: [report]
Unless you wear them because you feel you must or because you feel like you’re not attractive if you don’t, then they’re just shoes, free of symbolism. I mostly wear flats, but I love a good pair of heels because they make me feel sexy and confident (plus a few inches taller, which, at 5’, never hurts). As long as you’re wearing what you WANT to wear, I don’t see how it’s oppressive.
cattgirl813
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 12:09 pm: [report]
@amandabear: Thank you for saying what’s on the tip of my tongue. If you don’t want to wear a stiletto, don’t. If you want to wear one, do it. Sometimes folks, a shoe is just a shoe. There’s no need for every item in a woman’s wardrobe to become politicized.
spatula
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 12:12 pm: [report]
I’ve never thought that much into them, I guess. I just love em
Jenn27549
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 01:09 pm: [report]
I look at them like I look at makeup. Yeah, maybe wearing makeup (and some particular styles of makeup) are “conforming” to some idealized beauty standard. I’ll go without sometimes and other times I won’t step out of the house without it on. But in the end I like having the option to improve my appearance with makeup—cover blemishes, highlight my eyes, hide dark circles, etc… Guys don’t have that tool in their tool kit. Same with heels. Usually look better in them and its nice to have the option b/c guys don’t have a footwear equivalent that helps their legs and asses look better and them taller.
Queen Frostine
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 01:28 pm: [report]
I own five pairs of shoes total, so I’m no addict. I have one “all occasion” pair of black heels. I wear them because it’s fun to be a little taller (I’m short). I don’t think I look “better” in them, I just think they’re fun. Most times I go barefoot.
Chebs
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 01:38 pm: [report]
I own a few pairs of heels that I wear when I want to feel extra pretty or dressy. I have a stupid hangup about my ankles and somehow wearing heels makes me think they look skinnier. But for everyday things, I wear flats. I’m already on the tall side, no need for me to get any closer to the clouds.
Laurel
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 03:01 pm: [report]
@amandabear—exactly!
Raugiel
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 03:26 pm: [report]
@ amandabear - Totally right! My only beef is when people expect you to wear heels. Any appropreate shoe for the occasion (AKA - no sneakers to a buisness dinner) should be OK.
Sofjna
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 03:29 pm: [report]
I love stilettos! All of my heels are at least four inches. I wear them because I think they are sexy, not because I feel I in any way need them. Plus, flats actually hurt my feet. The couple pairs of flat shoes I own have a one to one and a half in heel. Ballet flats- no way. I’m in pain wearing those.
PotteryGirl
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 04:52 pm: [report]
I’m 5’8 and don’t typically where incredibly high heals, but i love shoes and own a zilliion pairs - flats, gladiator, heals, CFMs…shoes rule. And really…does EVERYTHING have to be political???
gevlife
wrote on September 24 2009 @ 07:34 pm: [report]
it can be interpreted as opressive but it doesn’t mean it oppresses everyone. for me i like the way they look, but i cant wear them for more than 45 min without sitting down and not moving again. bad ankles- unstable. and make my heels cry :(
AlphaMonk
wrote on September 25 2009 @ 11:02 am: [report]
High heel shoes also empower women with looking sexy.
secretstevie
wrote on September 29 2009 @ 05:39 pm: [report]
feeling like every decision you make must somehow fit in to the ‘modern feminist’ agenda is oppressive.
i am definitely a feminist and you will definitely see me running errands, even at the grocery store in my 4-inch heels. why does everybody think that there has to be some mysterious feminist consensus? we’re allowed to all have our own opinions. as a matter of fact, ‘we’ should stop referring to ‘ourselves’ as some sort of inpenetrable whole. yeah i get the whole ‘strength in numbers’ theory but come on….
feminists are diverse, smart, sexy, amazing individuals who don’t feel the need to consult each other before putting on our shoes in the morning.