If you’re like me, and you hate high heels, well, check out Roni Rabin’s article: High Heels and Pumps Now, Foot Pain Later. The article describes a study of people over age 66, which found that the women–who had worn heels most of their lives–had a lot of foot pain.
The researchers found that women who had mainly worn supportive footwear like sneakers or athletic shoes in their early years cut their risk of foot pain later by more than half. But…more than 60 percent said that in the past they generally wore high heels, pumps, sandals and slippers. Women who wore those were at the most risk of hindfoot, ankle and Achilles’ tendon pain.
This is hardly new news. But the Times now serves old news with a side of patronizing snark:
“I think women need to.. realize that what you’re buying could have potential effects on your feet for the rest of your life,” said the paper’s lead author, Alyssa B. Dufour, a doctoral student in biostatistics at Boston University. “It’s important to pay attention to size and width, and not just buy it because it’s cute.”
Men make much better choices, the study found; fewer than 2% wore bad shoes.
Amazing! Men picked flats every time! But those silly women–they only care about looking cute! I forwarded the link to my fellow Harpies under the subject head: This article fucking irritates me. Sure enough, it irritated them too.
SarahMC: Men are smart enough to choose not to wear high-heels. It’s a fact. EYE-ROLL.
PhDork: If only women, who live in a vacuum, were to realize that high heels are probably bad for your feet! When will they LEARN?
Forget the influence of Big Fashion, or the fact that women were often required to wear heels to their office jobs. No, it turns out women wear heels because they’re just vain…and dumb.
They even went that extra mile to have a woman force feeding us that Patriarchal bullshit.
Right. And my sister wore heels every day for years in her RETAIL JOB for funsies, not because her paycheck depended on it.
And the stores are just chock full of high-heeled options for my bf with his 10 1/2 EEE feet. He’s just smart enough to go for the sensible shoe every time.
Don’t even get me started on the lack of options for women with “wide” or “narrow” feet. I’ve long resented that men’s sizes actually take into account that there is more to foot size than length.
In the UK a few weeks ago, a leading Trade Union (the TUC) called for a ban on the requirement to wear high-heels in any job, on health and safety grounds. Unfortunately, as these things tend to happen, this was widely reported as an attempt to ban high-heels in the workplace, and caused a tremendous fuss from women defending their stilettos – mostly columnists, who don’t find they experience much trouble with their high-heeled shoes when they’re sat down at a computer all day. Nobody seemed to ask restaurant staff, shop assistants or flight attendants…
I’m already 6′ 2″, so heels do nothing for me — and my wife is 5′ 5″, so I think it would simply make her jealous, since she can’t wear heels because of bad knees.
Joking aside, women can wear heels — just not all the time. I think most women are smart about it; The ones who who don’t think the matter through are the ones with later problems. The New York Times needs to keep its opinions to itself, and simply report facts.
@TheGoldfish: Right you are. I wrote about it here:
http://www.harpyness.com/2009/08/10/high-heels-now-officially-nsfw/
And of course, there were women commenters who fell into the “you can have my stilettos when you pry them from my cold, dead toes” camp.
@NefariousNewt: I couldn’t help but wonder about the >2% of men in the study who reported that they didn’t wear flat shoes.
Were they professional drag queens? Prince? Tom Cruise? Unlikely, since the study was of people in their 60s!
To the “cold, dead hands” crowd: I had bunion surgery at age 23. Let me tell you that having your foot bones sawed in half and pinned back together with actual screws will make stillettos much, much less appealing. Now if only we could get over the idea that women must wear heels to be considered sexy or professional.
Becky – they were all like Nicholas Sarkozy and have adopted the new craze for Meels aka Man heels – check out the evil Mail if you doubt me, they have piece on it (either them or the guardian, I can’t remember which). If only more men wore meels then this piece might make some sort of sense, alas as it stands it’s crap.
@becky: a couple of days ago there was a picture of Russel Brand on Jezebel wearing high heeled boots, like at least inch and a half, and I made some comment about it and someone replied that she sees guys wearing similar high heeled boots in London a lot right now. But you know, only women every shop based on “trends”
@emilyanne: ha! jinx. I saw your comment AFTER I hit refresh.
UGH! I have to wear heels to look professional! Sometimes I really hate the NYT. I’m lucky that I sit at a desk all day I guess.
Meels! I will have to check that out! But I’m guessing that if men are buying them, they’re a user-friendly, non-femme model–2 inches or less, and nice and chunky and stable, and without a pointy toe.
@Orchidthief: I occasionally wear heels at the office but I’d say 90% of the pumps I own are under my desk at work. I put them on when I get to the office, and take them off when I leave.
@Becky, me too. I wear flip flops from my car to my desk and when walking from meetings across campus, etc. (or weather appropriate flats). But sometimes we have all day events and I have to run around in heels and dress and by the end of the day my dogs are barking!
I hate heels. Hate them, hate them, hate them. Since I take public transit and often am forced to navigate treacherous street grates I also stopped wearing them to work and just keep them under my desk.
Sometimes I feel like the only woman in the world who despises heels. Most of my female friends are of the “cold, dead toes” variety and there are moments when I feel distinctly unfeminine in flats. Which of course is all part of the bullshit. However, these same friends would be just as ticked off at this article.
I have arthritis in the balls of my feet and toes (although I’m only 28) so wearing heels becomes extremely painful after about 5 minutes. I have the HARDEST time finding fashionable, affordable flats. I am not a fan of the “ballet flat” as they also offer no support or cushioning, and the nicer flats that don’t look like crap are ridiculously expensive. I feel like there just aren’t options for those of us who want to be both sensible AND fashionable!
Flip flops in the summer, ass-kickin’ boots in the winter. I suppose the latter technically have a heel, but it’s big and flat and clompy. And did I mention ass-kickin’? I’ll never get caught in a subway grate or not be able to hustle up/down stairs. I’m never sure whether i should pity or scorn the fashion victims I see everyday.
@PhDork a bit of both?
I’ve had issues for a while with the fact that women are ‘required’ – whether through workplace dress codes or simply social pressure – to wear shoes (and clothes too, but that’s another rant)that basically cripple them. I wear flats most of the time and heels only if I can take them off when my feet start to hurt. Over the years, I’ve found that my feet have changed shape as a result and I can no longer fit my foot into the heels I used to wear way back when. And since I’m not spending on new heels, I suppose I’m consigned to living out my days in unfeminine flats. My mother is NOT happy.
(My feet haven’t grown longer or anything – they’re just wider because my toes actually grip the ground and aren’t all squished in a point any more.)
[blockquote]@NefariousNewt: I couldn’t help but wonder about the >2% of men in the study who reported that they didn’t wear flat shoes.
Were they professional drag queens? Prince? Tom Cruise? Unlikely, since the study was of people in their 60s![/blockquote]
My guess is cowboy boots.
@Nefarious Newt: I’m 6 feet tall and like the extra hight in the heels. Many women (including a woman I had a date with) are over 6 feet tall as is First Lady Michelle Obama. The problem isn’t just thinking the wearing of high heeled shoes through. There are societal conceptions of beauty and sexiness to deal with. I hope that dreadful foot binding is no longer going on in parts of asia. One of the things going on is that men have been conditioned to associate women wearing high heels with sex and may women are aware of it. @ Becky: Why would you think being a drag queen was more rare among guys in their 60s? @ Fresh Peaches: Men have those problems too. I have very wide feet and cant find shoes wide enough to avoid cramped toes without getting a size longer than my foot. Where did your bf find EEE 10 1/2 high heels? Re: the NY Times article and quoted survey: I suspect that if there were the same proportion of men and women wearing high heels that the men would be at high risk of getting sprained ankles. Walking in high heels is hard to learn to do and can be dangerous. It’s true they are harder on the feet, tendons and ankle. From a troll’s perspective I associate them with dominatrixes and sexiness. There’s nothing quite like being on the receiving end of a well placed kick in the sphincter with a very pointy shoe. Is it a question of priorities?
The local courts attempted to implement a dress code of what was deemed to be appropriate foot attire for attorneys in Court. Nothing drastic, just closed toes, no strappy cocktail type sandals and the like. Women had a fit. Of course the majority complaining wore stilletos, strappy sandals and toe rings. I believe in Freedom of Shoe but feel that innappropriate footware can certainly affect people’s impressions. Especially in a situation where you want people to recognize your intelligence and not your attire.