New Comm Ave

I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot. -- Marilyn Monroe

If everybody had Marilyn Monroe's stance on high heels, we would all be wearing them. Men and women alike would both be tittering on the tiny heel of the stiletto to gain stature and obsess over the new masterpieces of the shoe gods such as Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo. We would all understand the shoe addiction of Carrie Bradshaw in the hit HBO series, "Sex and the City." Shoes are a constant obsession of our society, making appearances on the covers of the magazines, on the silver screen, and worn without fail by the celebrities on special occasions. They are fetishized and worshipped; shoe-ism could be its own religion. What's with the craze with shoes anyway?

I remember wearing my first pair of high heels. It was in second grade; I was the flower girl for my aunt's wedding. Donned in a gorgeous ivory dress full of frills and embroidery, my satin white pumps gave me the one and a half inches to make me feel like a 'big girl.' I remember feeling powerful and pretty in front of the mirror in the dressing room before the photo shoot. Not even three hours later, I was hysterical from the foot pain and wanted to chuck my shoes so Mother Goose's 'Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe' could have a prettier house. My feet were covered in blisters and for the rest of the night, I was happily running barefoot and dancing with my father at the reception and consequently ruining my perfectly beautiful dress. In aghast, my mom reprimanded me and gave me an excruciating lecture about what the shoes were for.

My response? A suitable reaction for a seven year old: "My feet hurt, so I took it off Mom!"

The appropriate question here is "What is the purpose of a shoe?" Its original purpose in the past must have been to protect and comfort the foot while treading on rough footpaths of gravel and dirt. This function can be seen perpetuated by the sneaker or the slipper, but as the heel of the shoe rises, the function decreases. In today's society, the heel of the shoe carries much of the definition of the shoe, in which it symbolizes class, stature, power, sexual independence, and the source of ultimate femininity.

The heel also causes the arch of the foot to rise, creating the illusion of smaller feet. Throughout history, smaller feet were the symbol of ultimate beauty. The ancient Greeks from circa 2000 B.C. interpreted the foot to be the symbol to distinguish men and women in art since statues were sculpted in such a way not to entice the other gender in a vulgar manner (Kippen 2006). The ideal foot for a woman was to be petite and curved. Christian art portrayed the foot in the same way: "Small and delicate yet strong enough to bear weight" (Kippen 2006). In its quest to achieve the common goal of beauty, the Chinese had a preoccupation with the 'Lotus foot' which lasted from the tenth century to 1911, in which feet were perpetually bound to stop growth (sfmuseum.org 2006). From the early age of 3, many mothers gave their daughters pedicures in which the four toes were bent inward and under the arch and bandaged only to be given a temporary release to bathe. It was bandaged and tightened until the foot would soon form the glorious three inch 'lotus' foot. These 'lotus feet' were the sign of extreme beauty. It is even evident in children's stories that small feet were angelic and beautiful; in the classic fairy tale Cinderella, Cinderella, disguised as a beautiful princess, leaves behind a glass slipper so small that Prince Charming goes all around the village to find the owner of the petite feet. Everybody else who arduously tried to fit their humongous foot into the tiny slipper failed to match the beauty that was of the beautiful girl with the two hideous stepsisters.

The moral of the story is not that if you work hard, all your dreams will come true. It's a simple story to say that small feet means beautiful. Big feet mean you're horrendously ugly.

The history of the heel dates as far back as 1000 BC, in which "the earliest precursors of stilettos were discovered in the tombs of ancient Egypt" (Schrum 2005). In Mongolia, men wore heeled boots for a tighter grip on their stirrups (NuHighHeels.com 2006). However, the origin of high heels is attributed to Catherine de Medici, daughter of the wealthy de Medici family of the 16th century, who in 1533 married the Duke of Orleans, who later became King Henry II of France. It is said that she traveled to France with several pairs of high heels and wore one for her marriage for grace and "to compensate for her lack of height" (Love 110). The style immediately caught on with the men and women of the French court and spread to neighboring countries as heels were worn as a sign of nobility throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. For the nobles, height equaled power and status. Women were seen wearing heels as high as five inches. Soon after, however, the ridiculous height of heels collapsed. In 1793, Marie Antoinette was seen ascending the guillotine scaffold wearing a pair of two inch heels and henceforth, the height of the heel varied each year according to that year's style and vogue (Enders 2006).

Ridiculous as it may sound, there was a time in history when men also wore high heels for fashion and power. It is said that Louis XVI loved the heel so much that he banned anyone not from the privileged classes from wearing them on the penalty of death" (Kippen 2006). From historical facts, we can see the power that shoes gave. It started in Ancient Greece where the great ‘Father of Tragedy' Aeschlyus pioneered stage costumes in which he wore cotharnus, shoes with elevated soles, possibly to show the difference in status of the characters (Trumbull 2006). It gave Catherine de Medici prestige, stature that she lacked had she stood next to her husband King Henry II barefoot. Kings and emperors alike wore heels. In 1926, the Japanese emperor Hirohito was crowned wearing platform shoes of 30 cm. Even today, we can see the pop sensation, Prince, wear his signature heels in concert.

Although vertically challenged men have also donned these shoes, high heels are an exclusively feminine accessory in today's society. High heels are a technique used by females to demonstrate their femininity and beauty. Aeschlyus' method of equaling heel height and status still holds true today as the stiletto is known to be the sexiest and captivating shoe of the industry. Since its advent in 1950, stilettos represent independence and have maintained its authoritative position. The structure of the stiletto has revolutionized the high heel to what we know today. With a heel the width of a pencil, the woman's body weight is shifted in such a way that "it is impossible for a woman to cower in high heels. She is forced to take a stand, to strike a pose, because anatomically her center of gravity has been displaced forward" (O'Keeffe 71). The stiletto heel was first pioneered in 1953 by Roger Vivier, who worked with Christian Dior. Vivier caused the whole world to drop their jaws (Hawkins 39). Stilettos effectively revolutionized the world of shoes, giving that intoxicating sensation to those who wear them and to those who see them being worn. The word ‘stiletto' comes from the Latin word meaning "small dagger" which makes reference to the "thin, sleek silhouette of the pencil-width heel that the shoe rests on" (Emami 2006). It serves two purposes: literally, it can be used as a weapon (there have been several medical cases due to these dangerous shoes) and contrary to its phallic characteristic, it is everything but masculine. As it gives height, it also demands authority, and for those power-hungry females, high heels provide the ultimate solution of female power.

Speaking of sexual attraction, the high heel adds height and gives an irresistible charm to the sexy feline wearing them. As Sharon Kiley Mack of the Bangor Daily News appropriately states, "High heels are what we wear across the bridge from awkward teenage girl to sophisticated women" (Kiley Mack Pg. S1). The heel causes "the pelvis to rock provocatively and make her legs look longer and slimmer" (Stone 27). According to Harper's Index, (I can't believe there is an index for such a thing) high heels raise the buttocks as much as 25 percent. The high heel is extremely feminine; Esquire magazine reiterates this mystical power of the heel in which "they taper the toes. They arch the instep. They lift the calves. They tilt the fanny and bow the back and oil the hips and sashay the gait.... They make the foot look shorter and more precious and yet add the formidableness of extra height" (Friday 463). For a woman who desires to attain that sexy image, high heels, specifically the stiletto, provide that ultimate sex appeal. Elizabeth Semmelhack, curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto explains that "stilettos function like lingerie… They reveal a bit about the wearer's private sex life or private fantasy" (Emami 2006). In our society, sex can equal power, and so by the transitive property, heels also equal power.

High heels, however, possess a twofold symbolism. In recent events, feminists have been on the rage to argue that high heels do not do anything but feed to the male fantasy of dominance. As much as the heel declares respect, ironically, heels make a woman extremely vulnerable. The heel enslaves the woman; a woman cannot slouch, cannot run, and cannot walk when tittering on their toes. They hobble and limp and scowl at the torturous pain the shoes give their precious feet. These limitations subconsciously attract men, giving them the notion that they must save these helpless, beautiful women. High heels are misogynistic devices, like the corset and the chastity belt, in which it is created to limit female movement and functionality and perpetuate the idea of feminine weakness and fragility.

Paradoxically, women claim high heels make them feel liberated. They declare the heels reveal a certain sexual quality that they themselves cannot resist. The sexual characteristic of high heels was noticed even in the times of the Puritans; the Massachusetts colony passed a law stating 'All women, whether virgins, maidens or widows, who...seduce or betray into matrimony any of His Majesty's male subjects by virtue of...high heel shoes, shall incur the penalty of the law now enforced against witchcraft (Murstein 222)." However, today the sexual image is the image to strive for: "We do it for the image in the mirror, the reflection of ourselves as hot and in charge, an extraordinarily satisfying goal that we can live with more happily than with a man; who needs him?" (Friday 466) It is a desire that is fulfilled when the sexy kicks are worn, the desire to be "taller… and Amazonian" (Horyn Pg 1). Moreover, women find pleasure in buying and wearing these painful pumps. Kelly Rogers, owner of Plush shoe store at North Hills states that "shopping is therapy to many women. And in shoes you never have to worry about your butt looking too big or your arms too flabby. It doesn't matter how your dress size changes, your three-inch peep-toe heels is always going to look great on you (Thompson-Smith C1)." No matter how painful the shoes are, women continue to buy into this obsession, clearly displaying women's perspective on their masochistic desire just for the sake of vanity and power.

Masochism would be one relative term to describe why high heels are never dropped from fashion. Sarah Jessica Parker in her shoe-loving character, Carrie Bradshaw of "Sex and the City" explains this beautifully: "You have to learn how to wear his (Manolo Blahnik) shoes – it doesn't happen overnight... I've destroyed my feet completely, but I don't care. What do you really need your feet for, anyway?" Unlike Sarah Jessica Parker, I care deeply about my feet and was mortified to discover the complications high heeled shoes gave to our well being. According to statistics compiled by the Society of Chiropractors & Podiatrists, four times as many women complain of having foot problems as men. They aren't small problems, either. Well-known celebrities suffer through these major injuries too. Supermodel Naomi Campbell fell in front of the world's fashion press while modeling Vivienne Westwood in 1994. Sarah Jessica Parker tore ankle tendons while running in stilettos (Horyn G1).

Research shows that more than 80% of foot surgery patients are female and that the culprit is the ultra-uncomfortable tight shoes. Shoes that are too tight and too pointy result in painful bunions and other deformities ("USA Today" 1995) Starting from your itty-bitty toes, high heels are designed so you walk like a clumsy pseudo-ballerina all day. Feigel from the magazine "Runner's World" states that "high heels shift your body's weight to the forefoot, which places inordinate stress on the metatarsal heads (where your toes connect to the rest of your foot)". All of this strains your feet and can ultimately cause corns, bunions, ingrown toenails or heel spurs (30). Going up on the human anatomy, high heels take a toll on the calf muscles and the Achilles' tendon and cause them to shorten. These injuries result in tendonitis and tears on the Achilles' tendon. Since the body weight is positioned forward, heel strike is also impacted. Most of the natural shock absorbers in the body are overwhelmed by this new stance and resort to the knees to become the Atlas' burden of the body. The most alarming medical research is that high heels can soon be the new form of birth control. The pelvis serves as a "bucket" for the organs and with the body shifted forward, the organs are piled up on each other without any distinction between the organ regions. The huge masses of organs, called visceroptosis, then continually push on the pelvis, affecting gastric function "which leads to menstrual dysfunction, ultimately impairing fertility (Purdy 2006)." So it seems every single part of the body is negatively affected by these shoes. Yet, these high heeled shoes are a drug and the whole world is addicted.

Hey, but no pain, no gain? This would be the verbatim motto for stiletto lovers. Karen Robinovitz of the New York Times says "Call me a slave to fashion, but under no circumstances would I give up my Jimmy Choos." I believe I fall under a different category. While all the other women can be so called ‘slaves to fashion', I will run barefoot, be lectured by my mother again for not being womanly, and tend to my feet with care. Beauty is only skin deep anyway. I know I can be sexy without the stilettos. I'll choose to have better, healthier feet than have my legs look like voluptuous celebrities' such as Jessica Simpson's or Jennifer Lopez's any day.

• 2007 Spring
• Research