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empire, feminine shoes, heels, High heels, how high heels are masculine, masculine shoes, why high heels are not feminine
High Heels are not feminine…!
Before you throw your stilettos at me, please, let me explain.
You see the ‘high heel’ was originally created for men. That’s right FOR MEN around the world, to show higher status, to help ride animals, & to fight with weaponry. The shoes were bold, powerful, and masculine. Empires such as the Ottoman, Egyptian, Persian, Italian, & England all fortified its use into their culture & fashion.
Then the horrific happens:
Oh no!!! You mean to be more masculine, women decided to WEAR HEELS?!!
Now fast forward to the period of where women wanted ‘equal rights’ and in order to bring women equality in the work force, women wore heels. They understood that the shoes did several magical things for them:
*puts them on the same height level as the average man
*makes up for the deficiency or difference in women compared to men
*gives them a sense of strength, power, & command
But we know femininity is soft, submissive, & sweet. It is also very gentle and unassuming. So due to its nature & purpose, femininity cannot be activated with high heels. Femininity accepts the role of a man being strong, powerful, & in command. She must be at his side as his compliment not his competitor.
Now, where does this leave us? I have plenty of heels, so what should I do?
I don’t know if I will donate them all, but I am sure of this: I not only feel more feminine without them, but men are less intimidated to approach me when I wear flats or a very low heel.
Until I figure out the best & generous way to dispose of my high heels, I will continue to wear tennis shoes, flats, & low heels as I enjoy the company of masculine men 🙂
Sources:
The Feminine Princess 
I find it interesting that you feel more Feminine without the heel as they have the opposite effect on me! That being said, your history of the Heel (and “when” / “how” it became a Feminine item) is more than a little incorrect in some respects.
The truth of the matter is that the heel became popular for one reason: It was worn by and therefore associated with Royalty; it was quite common in times where the Monarch was the most powerful person in the Country for them to be “Trendsetters” so to speak- and we see this same phenomenon with Celebrities today (we see them as successful and powerful, and so we (or most) seek to emulate them or draw their inspiration from them)… As a result, it was commonplace for the Nobility to mimic the Royalty (and it was often required to survive at Court, to boot)- and quite common for the Commoners to mimic them both. You can see this quite clearly, even, during the 1800’s when Ballet Flats became far more popular in France and the Americas- two countries which had clear Anti-Monarchy sentiments at the time they fell out of favor.
In other words, both men and Women at various points in history wore them- with trends and heel heights often changing independently for the Sexes throughout the course of their wear, and with Nobility and Monarchical figures often being the ones to set these trends (much like Queen Elizabeth did the White Dress that we all know and favor as a traditional Wedding staple today). They became very unpopular after a while, though. The next time they appeared, it was the Victorian Era. Yet it wasn’t until Dior that they really became popular again; it was his release of the New Look after WW II (which historians all agree very much revolutionized the Feminine look for the 20th Century) that they specifically became associated with Women as a quintessentially Feminine item.
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Thanks for sharing your perspective on history! I learned even with royalty, men wore them first. I also believe each woman will feel differently about heels, as well as other things, but from my perspective it gives women new power to equal the gender differences & I’m into celebrating the differences; not erasing them 🙂
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It’s not my own perspective, it’s the accepted academic viewpoint. I would also disagree that it’s erasing the differences between the sexes- especially considering their modern meaning and social consideration as feminine items. But we both, at least, agree that each Woman feels differently about them!
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