Shyheels

Just thought I would try to generate a bit of discussion on the forum. I’m part way through Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and am enjoying it. It is very imaginative. About the magic of books. I’d not read anything by him before, but picked it up on spec on the 99p special deal for Kindle books Amazon runs each day. They usually put out three books for 99p and I have been using that randomness to broaden my reading list. I don’t buy every day, but when there is a title that looks interesting by an author I’ve not read I snap it up. As a result I’ve got rather a backlog of books to read. Some have proven to be real turkeys despite the illustrious name of the author and others have been real finds.

I think that's a good idea, especially as regards other general topics and friendly exchanges. I certainly favour tall boots without heels, and wear them quite a lot, over skinny jeans. I’ve also taken, lately, to wearing cheerfully coloured Converse All Star sneakers as a means of fun self expression.

It would be nice to get more activity here. No reason we can’t

Yes, Not was the word that should have been in there. I have corrected it. I agree - it is great that girls have more openings and are not being pigeonholed but boys need the same latitude and there seems to be little movement in that direction.

I don't recall any interest in heels when I was young or that much interest in footwear in general, other than a general feeling of being left out because girls could wear interesting boots and boys could not. Then, as now it seemed unfair. It was not a fetish thing or an obsession, just a fashionable wistfulness that manifested itself in the autumn when new boot styles would appear in the high street shop windows and I would realise, ruefully, that all of them were 'forbidden' to me. Although there is much talk of genderless play and toys these days, nearly all of that is about making certain that girls do not feel obligated to stick to pink and girly toys, but feel free to explore their inner selves. Boys are still overwhelmingly directed to boys toys.

That’s quite true. I quite innocently fancied a pair of go-go boots as worn by a very pretty red haired girl in my class, never really giving any thought to the idea that they were strictly for girls. I’m not sure I was even fully aware of it. It was 1970 and fashions were quite colourful and fluid and I thought those boots were really cool. I don’t recall what it was that clued me in, but when I realised that I had been wanting a pair of girls boots I was mortified and relieved that I hadn’t yet asked for a pair, as I had been about to. That set me off on a course of distrusting my own tastes and style. I was in my mid-fifties before I finally dared buy and wear a pair of knee boots. Now I wear them all the time. And the world didn’t stop spinning. Nor did I attract the least bit of notice. Never did buy any go-go boots though...

I quite like knee and over the knee boots - I’m not fussed about the heels. I have several flat pair of tall boots which I wear all the time during the winter and do not attract the least bit of attention.

There was recently a late 15th century skeleton found in a construction site near the Thames, still wearing the pair of thigh boots he had been wearing when, apparently, he drowned. It is believed, from evidence provided by his skeleton, that he was either a fisherman or a sailor. Several pair of thigh boots were also found in the wreck of the Mary Rose. The 15th century thigh boots found on that skeleton are the oldest thigh boots known. Although simply made, and unadorned, they would have been expensive at the time. At that point in time - late 15th century - boots in general were fairly rare. They came into their own over the next century or so.

Well, I would be happy to participate

The reviews were terrible and I understand it has really tanked at the box office. It had a $60 milllion budget too! How anyone could spend that kind of money producing an essentially documentary movie like that is beyond me. It’s not like it’s a globetrotting visually gobsmacking David Attenborough series. So, no, I won’t be seeing it. Interestingly, though, I did read where a lot of the poor reviews from the audiences were because the guy wore heels - the public didn’t like it.

Age - it finds everybody.

I used to live in Newtown, ages ago, back in the early 80s, when it was a gritty, grotty student ghetto. Wished I'd had the foresight to have picked up one of those terrace houses that were going for a song back then...

Strolling up Pitt Street were we? :-) I wouldn't think ankle boots and 2.5 inch heels paired with jeans would attract any notice at all.

I think it is perfectly possible to walk gracefully in heels without adopting any overtly feminine gait. In fact I think a man who adopted such a gait would be rather less likely to walk gracefully in heels, since it would be unnatural. The human body male or female was not designed to wear heels. It is purely an acquired skill. We are more accustomed to seeing that skill in women, and thus expressed with a feminine gait, and so we naturally associate that grace with femininity.

I’ve never heard that. I am sceptical of any claim that women can naturally walk in heels - find even one podiatrist or osteopath who says women’s (or anyone’) physiology is suited to heels. Wearing them and walking well in them is an acquired skill. The height of heels and the counter-balance with awoman’s topside may create a more suggestive pose, but it in no way implies a need for a feminine walk to master heels. We make that association ourselves.

Women walk better in heels simply because they have endless opportunities to wear them and acquire the knack. Men are obliged to do do furtively, or occasionally, as opportunity offers. For women it is simply a matter of putting on a pair of shoes, just another day. In such circumstances a heel-loving woman is bound to be very, very much at home in a pair of heels.

There are lots of reasons men might take such a class - performers for one thing. Such classes are given here in England and are well attended by women - women who want to look graceful at a wedding, for example. Because we strongly associate heels with women we assume they have a natural gait for walking in heels. They don’t. Their ability to walk in heels is acquired, same as it is for men.

That would be an interesting experience

Same here. Makes me smile. I have done a lot of cycling - I mean a lot - as well as fencing when I was younger so I have strong and flexible feet and ankles which help a lot. Even when I first tried them on I could walk okay, just not with style. That’s the elusive part

I’d like to walk gracefully in them - not in a feminine way, but with masculine panache. I enjoy wearing them. Want to do it better, be fluent. Ike learning to speak another language, but without an accent. Something you Dutch people excel at!

Thank you. But I have a lot of work to do if I am ever to glide in them like some women high heeled aficionados I know!

Well, I wear them all day, but in my office I don’t walk terribly far, obviously. I eat lunch standing up, and try to get up from my desk every twenty minutes or so, and walk around, so I suppose I do a bit of walking through the day.

Nope, those particular boots are flat. I have brown knee boots with flat (low heel) soles and a pair of brown knee boots with 120mm stilettos. I wear my low heeled brown knee boots everywhere, and over skinny jeans. The boots are lovely. Custom made and fit beautifully. My stiletto knee boots I wear just in my home office.

Thanks! Ive published non fiction books before - travel and “coffee table” books but this is my first attempt at fiction! The brown knee boots referred to there are from France!

Thanks. I think in the long run the custom made boots are extremely good value - a bargain, really. The leather will last forever and the boots can be resoled. I can have them the rest of my life and enjoy them. The fit is perfect too, and on tall boots a good fit around calves and ankles is essential. It's one of the things that sets custom boots apart from those found in high street shops.