Althouse: "High heels were seen as foolish and effeminate."

January 25, 2013

"High heels were seen as foolish and effeminate."

"By 1740 men had stopped wearing them altogether."

15 comments:

kentuckyliz said...: They still are foolish and effeminate.; 1/25/13, 5:04 PM
edutcher said...: I think another reason is that peasant women, walking barefoot but traversing all manner of up-and-down countryside, had better-looking legs and the wealthier women wanted the same effect.

But there's also the line "Men's clothing no longer operated so clearly as a signifier of social class, but while these boundaries were being blurred, the differences between the sexes became more pronounced".

Given the First Clothes Horse and the rise of the Slob Culture in the hippie dippy days, I think we're going back to that.; 1/25/13, 5:12 PM
Big Mike said...: Back when men wore knee-breeches and hose it was important to have a shapely calf and ankle. High heels help create this effect. When long pants started to come into vogue, there was much less need for uncomfortable, leg-shaping shoes.; 1/25/13, 5:12 PM
DADvocate said...: I marvel at the things women put on their feet. The last couple of years some form of "witch shoes," as I call them (black high heeled shoes or boots with pointy toes), seem quite popular with the younger generation where I work. Some of the women have obvious difficulty walking in their high heeled/platform shoes, but the need to be 3-4 inches taller overrides the risk of a broken ankle, leg or foot problems. "Vanity, thy name is woman."; 1/25/13, 5:17 PM
Methadras said...: Someone tell the guys in 1970's that it was gay back then too.; 1/25/13, 5:39 PM
Fritz said...: I'm OK with that.; 1/25/13, 5:42 PM
Geoff Matthews said...: And as a man who has never been pressured to wear them, I say thank you.; 1/25/13, 5:52 PM
Patrick said...: Whew!; 1/25/13, 5:53 PM
Robert Cook said...: If only women would stop wearing them.; 1/25/13, 7:35 PM
ampersand said...: Foolish,effeminate and And dangerously funny as well; 1/25/13, 8:20 PM
Richard Dolan said...: Well, a decent pair of boots (Lucchese) has a 1.75 inch heel. Wouldn't wear any other boot.; 1/25/13, 8:34 PM
Richard Dolan said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/25/13, 8:34 PM
Anonymous said...: I wish they'd brought the word "coxcomb" out of retirement instead of coining "metrosexual".; 1/25/13, 8:40 PM
Ryan said...: Someone forgot to tell Tom Cruise.; 1/25/13, 10:06 PM
Gene said...: I don't know why more women don't object to all the noise high heeled shoes make when walking down a marble corridor. It's like being in a room with a bunch of demented elves nailing together dollhouses or wooden trains. I thought modern women wanted to be accepted for their brains, not their sex appeal. Yet they can't seem not to flaunt their sexuality in a business setting.

A couple weeks ago I was watching a female astronomer at a TED conference talk about the moons of Jupiter (or some such thing) but even she had to show her cleavage. Come on girls, give us boys a break. When you're taking about science, keep your boobs in your blouse.; 1/25/13, 10:30 PM