matter. It could be said that Christian Louboutin hates women; his
shoes are quite possibly the most uncomfortable things in the world
to put on your feet. But as the saying goes, beauty is pain, and it is not
an uncommon fact that heels hurt your feet, quite a lot. Women, and
some men wear heels for elongated periods of time with no thought
to the burden on their feet. Women are now going to new extremes
to be able to wear the heel every day, going to the lengths of getting
silicone injected into the balls of your feet. Creating a comfort pad
inside of your foot, fighting the pain of a day in heels.
indicator of a woman’s status; a woman that can afford to have her
foot bound does not need to work. However like the damages of the
high heel, there are many connecting implications leading to life long
disability to these women’s health. The foot binding process starts
around the ages of two to five, wrapping the young girls foot with
cotton bandages around the whole foot making the heel compress up
towards the toes. The practice was banned in 1912, however there
are still some remaining Chinese women having to live with their
deformed feet unable to walk properly and in terrible pain.
The photographer David Bailey once said, ‘I like heels, women
can’t run away from me.’ Is this the most empowering statement
you’ve ever heard? Not really, feminists interpreted the stiletto as
‘symbolising female subordination.’ Yet is the power that you feel
when you put on a pair, enough to over power the male gaze? Ann
Magnuson said that heels make her feel “mythically omnipotent. I
felt a surge of power, knowing that I could lay waste to any man I
chose to destroy.”
Shoes are said to be a marker of gender, class, race and ethnicity, and
none like the heel point towards escapism,
sophistication and sexuality.
There are two types of woman, the one that loves heels or the one that
doesn’t. Whether you’re a heel novice, they’re not especially helpful
when it comes to chasing that tube, or even for general walking from
place to place. As Lady Gaga finds out often, yet she never gives up
on them? It works out as a bit of an irony really, the higher the heel;
the stronger and sexier, yet at the same time the more help you need
when walking. Help from the opposite sex perhaps? Psychologist
Rita Freedman says, ‘A woman in stiletto heels may appear powerful
and dominating, but she can’t do much more than stand there looking
provocative.’ Yet women have done it for many years now, and with
women today making up the majority of professional workers in
many countries, have we decided that we don’t need the heels, or
were going to do it even better in heels.
In China foot binding is a huge part of their culture, it is an attempt
to curb the growth of a girls feet, keeping them small in size. This
again is for the attention of the male gaze, bound feet became a mark
of beauty and was a criterion to finding a husband. It was also an
Photo credits from left to right:
Rodger Vivier illustration
Achraf Amiri illustration
Monolo Blahnik illustration
Jimmy Choo illustration
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