Sex and power of the Mighty High Heel Shoe!
High heels evoke both sex and power. They're both coquettish and dominant at the same time. This is its essence… its allure.
I watched a special the other night where Chris Rock was talking about strippers and their collective decision to wear clear high heel platforms, as if there had been a convention and the choice of footwear had been put to a vote.
I laughed, thinking, hey how did that come about anyway?
No idea.
In socio-academic circles, this would be a clear collective Meme as Dawkins would point out. And it is! It happened of its own accord. But the underlying agreement had its roots in the miasma of ‘sex and power’.
Strippers and hookers, and well, teases too, know this implicitly. High heels convey two messages to the viewer: one of sex and the other of power – Simultaneously!!
This is the allure of the high heel.
When someone wears 6 inch heels and clicks down the sidewalk there are two things happening at the very same moment, thrown into the air for all to feel. One is the feeling of subservience, the attitude of submission to the heel and to the sex it implies. The wearer of such a set of shoes is telling all about her she likes sex, enjoys looking sexy, is promoting sex and is open to the idea of sex. While the other message is of dominance, of power, of intrigue and mystery, that the sex beheld in the high heel shoe is hers to command and you better do her bidding if you want to come anyway near it!
This is the root of the fear and mockery of high heel shoes and boots. The high heels intimidates all. It is fearful to the woman to wear such heels because she is afraid that she can not muster up to that level of sexiness, that she herself could not perform to a level of sex the shoe conveys. What happens if she isn’t good at sex or is afraid of sex. The high heel shoe becomes Kryptonite to her.
Meanwhile, men go through a similar but distinctly irrational thought process of anguish. What if he can’t match the sexiness of the wearer? What if he is challenged and can’t be fulfilling to that sexy shoe clad woman. What if he can’t please her? Or even can he be with a woman such as that?
So the natural reaction is to fear the high heel. Mock it, assign them to the tacky and the slut. Ahhh, but that’s wear the high heel lives and that is why strippers and hookers use this power. They understand its psychic power, its underlying mystery and the sexy hold it has on us. And it only gets sexier the deeper down in the sexual nightmare of perversity it sinks.
As I always say, "If I have to have super powers, I guess I would have to be a villian. They wear the best damend clothes!"
Bless the high heel shoe. It knows how to live!
Heelfully Yours
Gillian
gillian@thefetishlair.comwww.thefetishlair.com
High Heels And Work... But of Course!
Wearing high heels to work? As far as I can see it is a good thing.
Why not wear them? In many cases it’s the best way to train your feet and you will attract the eye and admiration of everyone as you wear elegant footwear.
Some jobs prevent you from wearing them? Some will say.
Really! Umm … do you mean waitresing for instance? Not so. Here’s an interesting piece from the Baltimore Sun about those who wear high heels.
Samantha Vu has no problems with tending bar in 5-inch heels at Lucille's in Power Plant Live.
"It's only difficult when you're standing in one place for a long time," Vu, 27, said while serving gazpacho to a customer one recent Saturday night. "Otherwise, if you keep moving around, you don't get tired at all."
Or how about in a massage therapy clinic?
Luz Marina Tovar is on her feet all day long.And her choice of footwear for work as a massage therapist in Lutherville? Flat and practical, right?
Guess again."For me, the high heel is more comfortable ..., and I feel more elegant," said Tovar, 48, who works regularly in 6-inch heels at La Clinicia. "I never get tired of the higher heels!"Tovar -- who moved to Lutherville from her native Bogota, Columbia, four years ago -- is among a number of Baltimore-area women who have made pointy-toed, 6-inch pumps and stilettos an integral part of their workplace attire..
And there are many more women who have adopted the high heel at work and consider even a 2” heel a flat shoe.
Trish MacDonald, a local actress and producer at Uffington Productions Inc. in Baltimore, said women move differently depending on the shoes they're wearing."A woman in a pump or high heel moves sensually," said MacDonald, a regular La Clinica pedicure customer. "But the same woman in flip-flops walks a little ... sloppy."
Again, as I have said before, wearing high heels, once practiced, can be as easy as wearing any other shoe. You will gain a new sense of balance and be able to walk confidently over any surface area. I mean, can one run in flip flops? No! I’ve seen it attempted so many times and invariably one or both flip flops shoot off into the air or are left behind in the feeble attempt to run.
Like this person says:
MacDonald said she believes women are vain about their shoes because attractive footwear is "a confirmation of your femininity. Image is very important to me."
And I think the vanity works in the opposite direction. Those who are wearing flats, or beatup runners, or even flip flops recognize the fact they have shoddy footwear and instead of running out to get better shoes… just mock those who do wear high heels.
So wear you heels to work and relish the joy of wearing them everywhere.
Heelfully Yours
Gillian
gillian@thefetishlair.comwww.thefetishlair.com
High Heels Are Sexy Cool - Ask Adidas!
There are three types of persons when it comes to shoes…
Those who wear high heels, those who do not wear them… and then there are those who follow every faddish shoe style except high heels.
Why only three… well it’s basically an Aristotelian attempt to categorize those who wear shoes and the impact high heels have had on our society. (Hope you’re no bored yet!)
However you categorize it though, it does break down into some distinct groups. There was a time when to look fashionable and chic, a woman had to wear a good pair of heels. However, the 60’s came along and we as a society emerged from Marilyn Monroe, Jane Masnfield and Barbara Stanwyck (even Bettie Page) who all wore gorgeous heels into the era of hippies and flower children and the age of the flat soles.
This followed quickly with the woman’s movement who identified the offending high heel as a male oppressor and a tool to objectify the female form. True that went on but it’s hardly the high heel’s fault: the high heel was just standing around looking sexy and got caught in the cross-fire.
But the high heel was clever and went underground, seeking the safety of the fetish crowd and covert fashionista’s in Europe. It would survive to live another day. By doing so, it also covered itself with another cloak of ambiguity… the dark world of fetishism.
The high heel was cool again. Why?
Because as even Gwen Stefani, Jean Paul Gauthier and Vivienne Westwood soon realized… the most innovative fashion designs, the one’s who wore clothing and shoes to their dangerous edges, were the fetish crowds… “My props to the fetish crowd”.
The high heel emerged even sexier and more sultry than if it had stayed a household fashion item… I mean, if you want suburbia to wear high heels on a daily basis - that is a quick way to kill a sexy cool.
Okay. Now I’m sounding all “Sex in the City” and that wasn’t what I was going for. But you hear what I’m saying?
So it was this running through my head when I came across and interesting website about Adidas Running Shoes and some videos they did… and lo’ and behold there is Jenna Jameson in one video wearing not running shoes, but white platform pumps with a one and half inch plat and what seems to be seven inch heels. No running shoes. Even Adidas knows when to use the high heel!
Check it:
http://www.r255g255b255.netIt was an eye opener.
So let the high heel breathe again and let’s hope to all who enjoy wearing heels that it remains the property of dangerous…
We can only hope that some Religious Zealot denounces the heels as the work of the devil… that would make it even more sexy cool!
Heelfully Yours
Gillian
gillian@thefetishlair.comwww.thefetishlair.com
Why Are High Heels Considered Weird and Other Shoes Are Not?
Oh when will it stop!
Recently, I was at a music festival here in Melonville and lo’ and behold, I actually saw some really nice footwear.
Some were wearing heels, and I even saw a Muslim women wearing an attractive pair of 3” heels which just goes to show you that even restrictive clothing religions can be somewhat skirted.
And several pairs of pumps plus even a couple of Goths wearing some very nice bootage. And all walked (I even saw someone running in heels) just fine thank you much with no discomfort.
However…
And there’s always a however when it comes to modern footwear.
There were more horrible flip flops everywhere. I’m afraid women can outdo men when it comes to slovenly attire. (eg The bedwear which is sometimes worn out to things such as music fests)
Yet there is a new form of footwear which must be stamped out!
It is the Dutch wooden shoe come plastic sandal.
Ugly… I can’t begin to describe how ugly they are. The only thing that equals it in my mind was the fad (from British Columbia I might add) of the women wearing steel toed work boots out to restaurants and nightclubs.
These are not much better.
They make women walk like they’re wearing scuba flippers and the image is a mound of plastic encasing the foot similar to someone in a foot cast.
They must be stamped out.
And they say high heels are weird? Give me a break…
Heelfully Yours
Gillian
gillian@thefetishlair.comwww.thefetishlair.com
High Heels Will Make a Believer of You!
Why do high heels cause so much commotion?
In this world of Goths, cyber-goths, Geek-chic, skater wear, gangsta apparel where guys wear the clothing of people who hold nothing but disdain for them . . . or trailer park fashions… or the fight club look…
Why do high heel shoes and boots still cause the most consternation among the populace? It behooves me.
In fact, wearing high heels shuld be way done the list of those who 'stick out' in the crowd, so as they say.
I was walking the other day and heard some comments about my 6” heels, so I glanced quickly, as I usually do not pay attention to the Old Navy crowd nor consider their opinions even relevant, and... Sure enough... they were wearing Old Navy attire... from head to (gasp!) foot!
The understood meaning of their comments (the under story for you writers out their) is they were fashionably normal and I was not. Yet… all three of them looked identical. (does not that seem odd, I ask?) I had not seen this petty display since high school (admission: I was rocker punk then) and the same idea that because what they were wearing was what they considered normal, then everyone else was
not unless they donned the same clothing.
This childish attitude I though passed when I left being a teenager behind. However, there is this tendency in the world to force people to wear what they feel others should wear. It went on during the middle ages with the sumptuary laws of the 14th century where it was decreed that those of the lower castes could not wear what was worn by the nobility.
There are places still like that today, only because we’re soooo 21st century (ahem… Iran, I’m talking about you) where the government decrees that women can only wear certain types of clothes. This is not out of step or thinking with those who wear nothing but, and only, Old Navy clothing. Same thing, different screen door!
Oops! Sorry, this turned into a political tract … but you see my point?
So I guess stars like Nicole Kidman, Gwen Stefani, Halle Berry, Courtney Love… and many others, are not so fashionable (given the opinions of some Old Navy dressed pundits) given the fact they wear high heels on a daily basis. Yes, no one even considers them attractive or sexy… no way. But one secret ingredient to their sexy persona is the care and attention they give their footwear (or at least their people do)!
So I’ll continue to wear my extreme heels because I can. And I hold the opinion that those who can’t wear them will continue to mock those who do because that’s what they are reduced to doing! But men will always be attracted to those who wear high heel shoes and boots … and if you want to test the theory…go to a party wearing flats and then go to another wearing heels. The difference will make you a believer!
Heelfully Yours
Gillian
gillian@thefetishlair.comwww.thefetishlair.com
